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.