Source: Atlanta JournalConstitution Contact: Email: Sun, 7 Dec 1997 Info: on writing to this newspaper by email at the above address is at: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/journal/jtalk.html Website: http://www.accessatlanta.com/news/ FBI, DEA PROBED IN JAILING OF GEORGIAN IN ECUADOR by Mark Sherman, Washington Bureau Washington Members of Congress are calling on federal agencies to explain their role in the lengthy detention of a Georgia native in an Ecuadorean jail. The case of Jim Williams has raised questions about the actions of the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the State Department. The most serious of these is whether the DEA and FBI pushed for Williams arrest in Ecuador, lacking evidence to take him into custody in the United States. "My theory is that it's possible that what they've done is kind of like the O.J. (Simpson) story. 'We know he did it, but we can't convict him. We know he's in it up to his neck and we don't have the goods on him. Let's let Ecuador do the dirty work,'" said Rep. Jack Kingston (RGA). "It's very possible that the FBI and DEA gave the Ecuadoreans what they needed to arrest him," Kingston said. Kingston is one of 11 Republicans and three Democrats urging Secretary of State Madeliene Albright to investigate how Williams, who was born on St. Simons Island, came to be detained in Ecuador. Much about Williams' situation remains unknown because of his ongoing imprisonment in Ecuador and the refusal of the FBI and DEA to reveal evidence they told Kingston they have against Williams. But it is clear from DEA documents that a month before Williams' arrest in September 1996, the DEA identified him to Ecuadorean officials as a member of a cocaine trafficking ring. Isaac Mitrani, Williams' Miami based lawyer, said the FBI has offered three times to get Williams out of jail in Ecuador, but only if he testifies against the alleged ringleader, Jose Castrillon Henao. The FBI would no comment on Mitrani's assertion. Williams has been held for 14 months, at first without charges, then accused of laundering money for Castrillion. The Ecuadorean Congress may vote on granting him amnesty as early as Monday. The start of Williams troubles go back to July 1995, when the U.S. Navy and the Coast Guard seized the Nataly 1, a Panamanian fishing vessel later towed to San Diego. U.S. Authorities believe that Castrillion, a Columbian, owned the boat. Panamanian authorities arrested him in April 1996. A DEA agent in San Diego called Castrillion " a principal narcotics trafficker directly associated with the Cali cartel." Errol Chavez, the DEA agent said shortly after Castrillion's arrest that the "ultimate goal of our efforts was to have him arrested and to tie him directly in with that seizure." But Castrillion remains in jail in Panama, having never been tried there or indicted in the United States. In July 1996, the assistant U.S. attorney in San Diego, William Gallo, wrote, "To date, despite extensive investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration and other governmental agencies, I have not seen any evidence that definitively connects Castrillion to this seizure." About that time, FBI and DEA agents began contacting Williams, who bought fish from Castrillion for Williams' Jacksonville, FLA, importing business, Mitrani said. "They said, 'What we want is for you to testify against Castrillion,'" said Mitrani. "They said Castrillion is one of the biggest narcotraffickers in the world, They told Jim he could help himself by testifying." Williams protested that he had no involvement with cocaine trafficking and knew nothing that would link Castrillion to illegal activities. Williams traveled to Ecuador in September to meet with clients in the fish importing business, Mitrani said. Ecuadorean agents arrested him. Williams wife, Robin, Kingston, and Mitrani said the DEA first denied involvement in the arrest. But an Ecuadorean lawyer examining court files found a letter from a DEA agent in Ecuador that linked Williams to Castrillion. DEA Administrator Thomas Constantine, in a letter to Kingston, has since acknowledged the agent's letter but denied that his agency asked for Williams' arrest. Linda Malone, a human rights expert at the College of William and Mary law school in Williamsburg, VA., said the case raises possible U.S. complicity in a human rights violation, namely Williams' prolonged arrest without a hearing. "If it's demonstrated that the arrest in Ecuador is a subterfuge to get someone held who couldn't be held here because of constitutional questions, then basically you are talking about a possible human rights violation," Malone said. Members of Congress have criticized the State Department for not doing more to aid Williams in jail, and Kingston's office has yet to receive a reply from Albright. DEA officials told Robin Williams and a congressional delegation in November that the agency was within it's rights to share information with foreign governments, even information about U.S. citizens.