Salut!
My latest discovery on CitiBank: Renato Ruggiero, ex-director of WTO, has since been vice-president of Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, the investment Bank which is the third member of CitiGroup. (You will notice that the fax sent to Geneva from London during the occupation of Citibank was sent from a fax at Schroder Salomon etc.) Small world!
But now Ruggiero is going back into politics as Berlusconi's foreign minister. Before the WTO job, he was also in business as Fiat's expert in international affairs. Its what they call the "revolving doors" of the multinational-government complex.

Ruggiero est donc vice président de la troisième branche du holding CitiGroup, Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, mais il quitte cette fonction pour devenir ministre des affaires étrangères de Berlusconi...

Olivier

• new! El verdadero núcleo de la "globalización" (Hector Mondragon, Setiembro de 2002)
• Citibank strangles Colombia (29.5.2001)
• Citigroup & Montesinos, Inc. (22.5.2001)
• Citibank - Banamex, Fox And The Webs Of Neo-Power (22.5.2001)
• Series on Citigroup-Banamex Merger Begins on Narco News (21.5.2001)
• citibank buys privatized bank (banamex) (17.5.2001)
• Actions in Geneva vs. Plan Colombia (9.5.2001)
• There is already a CAMPAIGN AGAINST CITIGROUP!

• City Bank Action, Geneva, May 2001
  - Action in Geneva vs. Plan Colombia
  - Flyer: Colombia massacres: a proposition
  - Fax from the City BANK

Sun, 20 May 2001

There is already a CAMPAIGN AGAINST CITIGROUP!

There is certainly no question at this point that CEO Sandy Weill and the rest of the World's Most Destructive Bank are feeling the heat. After an incredibly successful and unprecedented week of events, people of conscience have every reason to celebrate.

Demonstrations at the annual shareholders meeting on the 17th capped a week-long drive to expose Citi's destructive practices and advocate for a democratic, just and ecologically sane economy. Students and protesters affiliated with the Rainforest Action Network, United for a Fair Economy, Inner City Press/Community on the Move, Student Environmental Action Coalition and the National Organization For Women distributed fact sheets and fortune cookies with special messages. When shareholders read their fortunes they were treated to kernels of truth tacked on to Citi's latest greenwashing PR campaign - Citi lives richly of predatory lending...Citi lives richly off of rainforest destruction... Citi lives richly off global warming.

Unfortunately the NY Police Department decided that Citigroup had the right to silence the protesters and threatened to arrest anyone flyering or handing out fortune cookies. Pam Martens, a representative of NOW-NY and one of the original lead plaintiffs on the "Boom Boom Room Suit" in which 2000 women are involved in a class action suit to expose Citigroup's systematic sexual harassment of female employees - was arrested for handing out flyers.

Undetered by the flagrant violation of our constitutional rights, demonstrators held a press conference where Adam Hurter from Wesleyan, Liz Aakhus from Columbia and Kelly Nagy from SEAC described the national campaign on campuses to boycott Citi credit cards. Over 12,000 signed postcards and pledges to boycott Citi's cards, loans and jobs were displayed. Other speakers touched on shareholder activism and the range of different communities that were uniting to confront Citi's systemic abuses. The world famous Red Dancing Umbrella Troupe performed a choreographed dance with Citi's trademark red umbrellas (adorned with CITI crossed out) while singing an ode to Sandy Weill's destructive behavior set to the tune of Barry Manilow's Mandy. The rally culminated with 2 people (one an inspired passerby!) spontaneously cutting up their Citi credit cards in front of the flashing bulbs of the international financial press. For pictures see http://www.ran.org/info_center/press_release/010417.html

Members of the anti-Citi coalition infiltrated the shareholder's meeting had an opportunity to address Sandy Weill and shareholders directly inside the meeting. After a fiery speech challenging Sandy on his company's environmental and social record, Ilyse Hogue, campaign director of the Beyond the Bottom Line Campaign at the Rainforest Action Network was escorted out of the building.

An account of the days events is available online, where you can hear a transcript of yesterday's Democracy Now! show with Amy Goodman and guests Ilyse Hogue of RAN and Matthew Lee of Inner City Press/Community On the Move. Check it out at http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow.html. Unfortunately Citigroup refused to appear on the show since they said they were unwilling to debate anyone from the Rainforest Action Network.

The shareholder meeting was the final cap to a week-long series of anti-Citi protests. The day before, activists with RAN hung a banner in front of the Citigroup Headquarters which read "Hey CITI, Not With My Money!". Pictures can be seen at www.ran.org and www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/index.html.

On April 11th over 80 demonstrations in 12 countries on 5 continents provided a powerful demonstration of global support for an end to Citi's funding of destruction and for an economy that values principles over profits. The message to Citi is clear : there is a global movement to transform the financial system and Citigroup is our first target.

Thanks to everyone who played a role in the past week's events. We did an amazing job of getting under Citi's skin. There is no chance that they are unaware of a world-wide popular effort to transform the practices of the corporate financial sector. We're in an incredible position to build upon the links that have been made between different movements and keep the pressure on Citi. Whether its a weekly adopt-a-Citi demo, teach-ins, regular phone zapping or non-violent direct actions let's all keep the pressure up! Citi is learning the hard way that they cannot ignore this coalition and that we will no longer allow them to profit from the destruction of the environment, racist lending practices, exploitation of low income communities or the systematic violation of the rights of women. United our movements can force Citigroup and the rest of the financial industry to go beyond the bottomline and create a world where principles come ahead of short term profits.

Inspired and Invigorated,

RAN Beyond the Bottom Line Campaign Team
Beka Economopoulos, Ilyse Hogue, Patrick Reinsborough

#2 NEW YORK TIMES
April 17, 2001

MANHATTAN: ENVIRONMENTAL PROTEST IN MIDTOWN Eight members of an environmental group were charged yesterday with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct after unfurling a 20-foot-long banner during the morning rush in Midtown. Members of the Rainforest Action Network climbed flagpoles and unfurled the banner reading, "Hey Citi: Not With My Money!" at Citigroup's offices at East 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue. The group said it objected to the bank's loans for projects like mining in Amazon rain forests. Leah C. Johnson, a Citigroup spokeswoman, said, "We share some of their concerns, but we're just not sure what climbing up a flagpole has to do with these concerns."    Al Baker (NYT)

CITIGROUP SHAREHOLDER MEETING ROCKED BY PROTEST

Dramatic Cap to a Week of Protests Against Banking Giant's Social and Environmental Policies

Students Launch International Credit Card Boycott: "Not With My Money, Citi!"

New York, NY-Shareholders attending Citigroup's (Citi) shareholder meeting this morning at Carnegie Hall were greeted by a lively protest with representatives from diverse organizations demanding that Citi go beyond the bottom line and clean up its act on environmental and social abuses worldwide. Student representatives also announced to gathering shareholders that an international Citi credit card boycott has been launched.

Calling Citigroup "the world's most destructive bank," students from national networks also announced their campus campaign to transfer student loan balances away from Citi and challenge university relationships with the financial institution.

"Students customers are the backbone of the Citigroup machine!" declared Kelly Nagy from Student Environmental Action Coalition. "We are waking up to the company's environmental track record and policies and proclaiming, "Hey Citi, not with my money!"

A broad coalition of groups, including Rainforest Action Network, NY National Organization of Women, Inner City of the Move, and United for A Fair Economy, held a press conference and protests outside of the shareholder meeting at Carnegie Hall this morning.

Today's event caps a week of protests against Citi's policies in more than 80 cities in 12 countries and a banner hang at the corporate headquarters yesterday in midtown Manhattan. Growing ranks of students and shareholders are joining the campaign to demand that Citi adopt comprehensive environmental and social criteria throughout their lending and trading business.

"Students are always on the forefront of every social change movement, so its no surprise that students are leading the way towards transforming the global financial system," said Patrick Reinsborough, Organizing Director of the Rainforest Action Network. "Students today understand the connection between Citi's leading role in rainforest destruction in South America, predatory lending in communities of color in the South Bronx, and sexual harassment in the workplace. They simply will not tolerate their money being put toward this systemic abuse."

Citi shareholders were also greeted by the upbeat Red Dancing Umbrella Troupe-co-opting Citi's corporate logo-with campaign messages, while concerned Citi customers handed out custom-made fortune cookies decrying Citi's environmental and social negligence.

Representatives from Rainforest Action Network on site today pointed to several examples of the company's involvement in egregious projects, including mining in the fragile Amazon basin and expanding palm plantations in critical habitat of endangered orangutans in Indonesia. Protesters also highlighted Citi's policies of redlining communities and 'predatory lending' in urban areas that disproportionately affect low-income people and target communities of color.

The international campaign targeting Citigroup is working to transform the funding practices of the corporate financial system. Rainforest Action Network calls for an immediate ban on funding development projects that result in the destruction of primary forests worldwide and a prioritization of lending for renewable energies and tree-free lumber and paper alternatives.
# # #

#4
Sandy
(to the tune of "Mandy" by Barry Manilow)

Cutting trees and clearing soil,
Building pipes to carry oil,
Dirtying the air,
Nuclear testing,
Citigroup is there,
Always investing.

Oh Sandy,
You can sleep through the night without caring,
Cause you're there at the top.
Oh Sandy,
You've been trashing the planet we're sharing,
And we need you to stop!
Oh Sandy.

Propping up corrupt regimes,
Squelching democratic dreams,
Profiting from pain,
But they never sweat it,
Citigroup is there,
Advancing the credit.

Oh Sandy,
You can sleep through the night without caring,
Cause you're there at the top.
Oh Sandy,
You've been trashing the planet we're sharing,
And we need you to stop!
Oh Sandy.

by Felonius Ax (aka Cliff Tasner)

#5
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 17th, 2001

CITIGROUP SHUTS DOWN ARTISTS WEB SITE

Overreacting to a satire of its web site, Citigroup has issued a notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act claiming copyright infringement and demanding that the satirical site be shut down. The notice also applies to a satire of the web site of its subsidiary Citibank. In response to the notice, Hostpro, the company hosting the satirical sites, has blocked the sites from being viewed on the internet and has de-activated the email accounts of the artists responsible.

The sites, work of the artists collective Together We Can Defeat Capitalism (TWCDC), were designed as part of the April 11th worldwide day of action against Citigroup's socially reckless practices organized by the Rain Forest Action Network (RAN, http://www.ran.org). RAN is not directly involved with the satires. The sites were to stay on the internet indefinitely as public monuments to corporate greed and hypocrisy.

TWCDC made the satirical artworks by cloning the web sites CITIBANK.COM and CITIGROUP.COM and simply putting them back on the internet under the domain names CITIBANK-GLOBAL-DOMINATION.COM and CITIGROUP-GLOBAL-DOMINATION.COM. The only changes to the sites were the addition of several links to web sites documenting Citibank's investments in environmental destruction, unfair labor practices, involvement in predatory lending practices, money laundering, etc. For example, a link for Citibank credit cards took customers to a "cut up your Citibank credit card page" at RAN; a link for "private banking" took customers to moneylaundering.com.

Apart from such links, the sites were fully functional and customers could even open legitimate bank accounts with the actual Citibank. TWCDC liked the idea that the Citi web sites would provide customers with the information to make informed choices rather than the illusion of choice presented by the real Citi sites.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, A TWCDC spokesperson explained that the web site action was in fact doing Citibank a favor as now Citigroup had domain names more in line with its actual business plan. The spokesperson added that, "Citigroup is acting aggressively towards our artwork because it has a guilty conscience about its reckless practices. Citigroup's action shows how big corporations can just stamp out free speech because they can afford the expensive lawyers. But we refuse to be bullied by greed."

Copyright law allows "fair use" of copyrighted material for criticism and comment, particularly for non-commercial usage (Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 107: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html). TWCDC believes its sites are legal under this definition and the group is seeking to reclaim its rightful space in the public realm.

TWCDC previously tangled with Citibank over a parody advertising campaign the group ran in San Francisco in 1997. San Francisco State University had given permission for its parodies of Citibank ads to be displayed in kiosks on campus property, but Citibank strong-armed the university into removing them on threat of legal action.

Citigroup's most recent action against the group underlines how the bottom line now dominates everything, everywhere and how difficult it is to disseminate any contrary views to capitalism which now dominates globally.

You could find out more about Together We Can Defeat Capitalism's controversial projects at http://www.TWCDC.com were it not currently being blocked by Hostpro.

CONTACTS:
Together We Can Defeat Capitalism
415-643-4845
415-370-9245 (cell)
andycox@earthlink.net
(temporary during de-activation, preferred contact is phone)

Citigroup
Mark Rodgers, Director of Public Relations
Citigroup New York
718-248-1092
mark.rodgers@citicorp.com

Citigroup Legal Counsel
Mark D. Rasch, Esq.
703-375-2301

Rain Forest Action Network
Patrick Reinsborough
415-398-4404
800-989-RAIN
http://www.ran.org

Hostpro
Heather Barnes, Abuse Department
425-974-4715
abuse@hostpro.com

Contents

Compiled by Weekly News Update on the Americas
See what's new through the MEXICO lens
Mexico http://www.americas.org/

CITIGROUP BUYS PRIVATIZED BANK

On May 17 U.S. banking giant Citigroup announced that it was buying Mexico's second-largest bank, Grupo Financiero Banamex-Accival, for $12.5 billion in stock and cash. Banamex-Banco Nacional de México-was the government's largest bank before it was privatized in 1991 by the administration of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (1988-1994). Mexico's three largest banks, with some two-thirds of the country's bank deposits, will be under foreign control once the Citigroup deal is completed.

One of the main movers in the Banamex deal was Citigroup vice chair Robert Rubin. As treasury secretary under former U.S. President Bill Clinton (1993-2001), Rubin put together a $40 billion bailout-including $20 billion from a special U.S. Treasury fund-for Mexico during its 1995 economic crisis. Citigroup includes Citibank, which has operated in Mexico since 1929 and has long had close ties with the Mexican elite. From 1992 to 1994 Carlos Salinas' brother Raúl Salinas de Gortari used his Citibank accounts to launder some $100 million out of Mexico; the U.S. government has never brought charges against Citibank in the case. (New York Times 5/18/01) [Raúl Salinas is currently imprisoned for the murder of his former brother-in-law, José Francisco Ruiz Massieu; the source of the $100 million has never been fully explained.]

According to U.S. economist James Petras, writing in the Mexican daily La Jornada, Citibank is the "largest money launderer" in the US, if not the world. It operates in 100 countries, with 180,000 employees, and has $700 billion in deposits in regular accounts and $100 billion in "private accounts" (confidential accounts with deposits of $1 million or more). In addition to Raúl Salinas, Citibank clients include Asif Ali Zardari, husband of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto; Gabon dictator El Hadj Omar Bongo; and the children of former Nigerian dictator Gen. Abacha. (LJ 5/19/01)

Contents

Series on Citigroup-Banamex Merger Begins on Narco News

May 21, 2001
Please Distribute Widely

Series Begins Today
The Citigroup-Banamex Deal
The Mexican Press Speaks

"In the case of Citibank's laundering of Raul Salinas' (brother of Mexico's ex-President) $200 million account... When Salinas was arrested and his large scale theft of government funds was exposed, his private bank manager at Citibank, Amy Elliott told her colleagues that 'this goes in the very, very top of the corporation, this was known...on the very top. We are little pawns in this whole thing'"

- James Petras
La Jornada
May 19, 2001

"Why are the Mexican people going to pay, through taxes, for the financial bankruptcy of a bank that today is successful because it has foreign capital, and also, because its owners are being paid in dollars?" That, certainly, is what is being asked far and wide inside national territory.

- Francisco Cárdenas Cruz
El Universal
May 21, 2001

Dear Colleagues,

We start as we often do: by translating what the Latin American press is saying about important news and public policy regarding the war on drugs in our América.

The merger announced last week of Citigroup - the largest bank in the world, and with a documented history of laundering illicit drug money - with the National Bank of Mexico (Banamex) has profound implications, and not just for Citigroup, which inherits the Banamex lawsuit against our freedom to publish and your freedom to know.

From Mexico City, Francisco Cárdenas Cruz examines The Clamor in Mexico Over Citigroup's Deal:

http://www.narconews.com/pulsopolitico1.html

And from SUNY Binghamton, in a column published this week in La Jornada of Mexico, James Petras reports on the drug money laundering history of Citibank and other financial giants in "Dirty Money: Foundation of U.S. Growth and Empire":

http://www.narconews.com/petras1.html

Keep a close watch this week on page one of Narco News. Alert anybody and everybody interested in the drug war, the economy, banking, international investments and authentic journalism: The Mexican press is raging over the Citigroup-Banamex deal and we are translating its words for all to read.

More stories go up later today as part of this major series on Narco News:

http://www.narconews.com/

The Drug War on Trial. Now More Than Ever.

from somewhere in a country called América,

Al Giordano
Publisher
The Narco News Bulletin
http://www.narconews.com/
narconews@hotmail.com

Subscribe for free alerts of new reports:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/narconews

Contents

Citibank - Banamex, Fox And The Webs Of Neo-Power

http://www.mapinc.org/tlcnews/v01/n934/a05.htm
Mexico: Column: The Narco, and The Press
Pubdate: Tue, 22 May 2001
Source: El Universal (Mexico)
Copyright: 2001 El Universal
Website: http://www.el-universal.com.mx/
Author: Carlos Ramirez
Translation: The Narco News Bulletin, http://www.narconews.com/

Banamex, Fox And The Webs Of Neo-Power
The Weaknesses of Hernandez

After having lost various court cases against the Yucatan newspaper Por Esto and against its editor Mario Menendez Rodriguez, the banker Roberto Hernandez filed suit in a New York court for opinions against him during a conference at Columbia University. The reason: Hernandez had an urgent need, before selling his bank, to separate himself from the doubts caused by the daily and by the internet site www.narconews.com about evidence of drugs found on his properties in Yucatan.

Citibank has the same problem: There are signs that the bank was used, by some of its top executives, for millionaire operations of money laundering that stemmed from corruption and even drug trafficking. The offices of Citibank in Mexico served Raul Salinas de Gortari in moving millions of dollars outside the country. And there are indications that the powerful narco-trafficker Amado Carrillo Fuentes - "The Lord of the Skies" - used Citibank to make money that came from the sale of illicit drugs legitimate.

The relation of Banamex with Citibank is not gratuitous. Citibank was the bank that ended up leading, in the 1980s, the severe foreign debt crisis. In spite of the Mexican threats to declare a moratorium, Citibank moved in the quicksand of Mexican politics and succeeded at making deals with the governments of De la Madrid and Salinas. Citibank formed a club of creditors to negotiate, as a bloc, with debtor nations, but always opposed the formation of a debtor's club. After fixing the economy with government money, used without permission of Congress, Zedillo sold Confia Bank to Citibank. And John Reed, president of Citicorp, has received the "Aztec Eagle" Medal for his role supporting Mexico on the issue of the debt.

The political history of Banamex also has its dark zones. Roberto Hernandez was a modest runner of stocks when he began to manage the black fortunes of Mexican politicians in the Stock Market and from there became a rich investor. In the government of Carlos Salinas, Hernandez wanted to bid for ownership of Telephones of Mexico, but the presidential decision already favored Carlos Slim, another beneficiary of power relations with Salinism. Pedro Aspe, treasury secretary, advised Hernandez to bid on Banamez and - oh, what a surprise! - he won it.

Born in Salinism, Hernandez was strengthened by Zedillism. Banamex was one of the banks rescued by FOBAPROA, in resulting from unregistered debts that have hung a millstone around the neck of public finance. At the same time, according to what the Democratic Revolution Party ( PRD ) revealed in the House of Representatives, there was, in the year 2000, a "fiscal pardon" for Banamex amounting to 12 billion pesos, obviously charged to the public budget.

The dark relations of Hernandez and Banamex have begun to be known. On Monday, January 15th, Indicador Politico published information, from the tax collector's office in Mexico City, that showed that the owner of the house on Agua Street where President Ernesto Zedillo and his family lived in the Pedregal neighborhood was in the name of Banamex. The Title Number is 354-738-35-000-2.

Hernandez turned from being a political player of Carlos Salinas to the campaign of Zedillo. And although Salinas was persecuted by Zedillo, Hernandez stayed very much in the past presidential term. On the eve of the elections of August 1994, Hernandez made a statement against ( presidential candidate Cuauhtemoc ) Cardenas and Diego Fernandez de Cevallos, and in favor of Zedillo: if the PRI loses, he said, there will be an exodus of capital, inflation, high interest rates, unemployment and a grave devaluation of the peso. The worst about Hernandez as banker and businessman is that his curses came true, not with the opposition, but with Zedillo and the PRI in the presidency of the Republic.

According to confirmed reports, Hernandez gave nearly three million dollars to the PRI political campaign of Zedillo, beyond his national and international lobbying in favor of the official candidate. Cardenas had threatened to review the files on the bank privatization by Salinas, in which that of Banamex was filled with dark regions.

But Hernandez became one of the principal bankers supporting the candidacy of Fox. And not only that: in his campaign, Fox used part of the infrastructure of Hernandez and Banamex. For example, the vacation house in Cancun and the offices on Paseo de la Reforma in the las Lomas neighborhood of Mexico City. And although he has his own career in the treasury department, the designation of Francisco Gil Diaz as treasury secretary didn't escape the webs of political power of two important businessmen: Gil was president of Avantel, the telephone company of Hernandez, and he came recommended by Aspe Armella, then linked to Alfonso Romo, another of the key businessmen in the power relations of Fox.

The sale of Banamex to Citicorp is made precisely in the middle of the process of the lawsuit in New York by the Mexican bank against two journalistic publications about the narco. The origin was the publication in the daily Por Esto of evidence that in the properties of Hernandez in the Peninsula, packages of drugs were found. The banker filed two legal complaints against Menendez and the daily Por Esto. And he lost them. The third is based on a conference given by Menendez and Al Giordano, United States journalist and editor of www.narconews.com on the internet for having insisted during a conference at Columbia University on speaking about the theme of drugs on the property of the banker.

The interesting thing was that the photographs and proofs offered by Por Esto about the drugs in the property of Hernandez concretely referred to the beaches in Quintana Roo of Punta Pajaros, frequented by Zedillo when he was president of the Republic and where Vicente Fox came to rest on July 8, 2000 after having won the presidency. Punta Pajaros is found in a zone known as "The Drug Peninsula."

The battle by Menendez and Giordano went all the way to the offices of The New York Times. Giordano denounced, on his internet site, that Sam Dillon, correspondent for the New York daily, had been informed of the proofs of the drugs on the properties of Hernandez but did not publish the information. And the justifications were there: During his visit to the Yucatan, president Clinton was received on the properties of the banker Hernandez.

The matter jumped to the pages of The Village Voice, a prestigious progressive weekly in New York, where the analyst Cynthia Cotts broke the story in December 2000 that was heating up in the Court of the State of New York. In February of last year, Cotts published, in her column, that is very prestigious among those members of the media who ascribe to ethical behavior, a severe accusation: "In Mexico, untouchables are people protected by the power they wield. Two of these individuals are Sam Dillon and Roberto Hernandez."

Now, the matter has been brought to the level of lawyers, but the journalists and the banker Roberto Hernandez will be seated on the witness stand. However, the journalists have an advantage: Por Esto already won twice over the same accusation and has photos of the drugs found on the beaches of Hernandez. And the lawsuit against an internet site doesn't know where to find jurisdiction. That's why Hernandez focused his attacks against the opinions of Menendez and Giordano in a North American university.

The litigation against Por Esto could clarify many things and even involve itself in the case of Governor Mario Villanueva, accused by Zedillo of being a narco and who escaped hours before the end of his term. The origin of Villanueva's conflict was not the narco, but his disputes with Hernandez over real estate and tourist zones in Quintana Roo. Hernandez has had all total protection from Zedillo.

Thus, two important banks stained by evidences of being dedicated to dirty work have decided to merge. But their histories remain in the memory of journalism.

Contents

Citigroup & Montesinos, Inc. - "Private Banking" for Montesinos Family

Site Citigroup & Montesinos, Inc.
http://www.narconews.com/montesinosgroup.html
May 22, 2001

An investigation by the daily La Republica of Peru revealed that among the clients of Citibank's controversial "Private Banking" program was found the wife and two daughters of Peruvian strongman-turned-fugitive Vladimiro Montesinos.

As recently as 1998, Citibank is found on the Montesinos clan's money-laundering route of more than $18 million U.S. dollars, according to La Republica.

That year, Maria Trinidad Becerra Ramirez, wife of Montesinos, and their two daughters, Samantha and Silvana Montesinos Torres, ordered a complex routing of $18,643,276 dollars through the following banks: Luxembourg Societe Anonyme; Midland Bank Public Lmt.; The Royal Bank of Scottland-U.K; Schweizerische Volks Bank Zurich; Bank of America National Trust & Savings Association; Popular Bank of Florida (today, BAC Florida Bank, branch in Buffalo N.Y); Comerica Bank USA; Unicredito (Italy); Royal Bank of Canada; Midstate Bank & Trust Co (Washington); Union National Bank & Trust Co.; Banco Paribas (France); Weston Compagnie de Finance Et D'investissement(Suisse); and Citibank Private Bank.

Citibank Private Bank conducts Private Banking for wealthy clients. As SUNY Binghamton professor James Petras, a global expert on money laundering, explained in La Jornada of Mexico City last week (and published in English on The Narco News Bulletin):

"Private Banking is a sector of a bank which caters to extremely wealthy clients ($1 million deposits and up). The big banks charge customers a fee for managing their assets and for providing the specialized services of the private banks. Private Bank services go beyond the routine banking services and include investment guidance, estate planning, tax assistance, off-shore accounts, and complicated schemes designed to secure the confidentiality of financial transactions. The attractiveness of the "Private Banks" (PB) for money laundering is that they sell secrecy to the dirty money clients."

Contents

Citibank is the largest north american bank and the 3rd largest in the world.

"As for Colombia we have been doing a lot of work with the U'wa people who you are probably familiar with. The U'wa have tried to make it clear that US involvement in Colombia is about oil and that the "War on Drugs" is a fake.

Citigroup is the number one funder of oil pipelines in the world and a huge investor in the fossil fuel industry in general.

They were the lead arranger on the main loan to the Colombia government last year (we call it "privatizing structural adjustment") see article from the financial news service Bloomberg with our introduction below. We share your belief that the best way to support people in Colombia and to stop the war is to go after the banks who are funding it.

In our work against Citi RAN has been focused on indigenous rights, oil and forest destruction but we are working with a broad coalition in this country of groups who have different complaints against Citi.

.....

Now that oil companies like Occidental, BP-Amoco, Texas Oil etc (who all lobbied on behalf of US military aid) have secured increased US military aid, the big Wall St. banks are looking for a larger cut of the action in Colombia. Hence we see Citibank - targeted by a cross section of movements as the world's most destructive bank - privatizing Colombia's structural adjustment by arranging a $250 million loan. Citibank intends to profit from Colombia's debt crisis and direct funds into further oil and other resource exploitation efforts that will increase violence, human rights violations and environmental destruction. For more information on the campaign against Citibank see http://www.ran.org/ran_campaigns/citigroup/homev3.html

Citibank Starts Selling $250 Mln Loan for Colombia

New York, Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Citibank NA, a unit of Citigroup Inc., said it started selling parts of a $250 million loan it's arranging for Colombia to help the country invest in new projects and meet funding needs.

The bank held a lenders meeting yesterday in New York, which was attended by about 20 banks, and plans to hold a second meeting in Bogota tomorrow. Standard Chartered Bank, BNP Paribas, Chase Manhattan Corp. and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA have already committed to lend as joint arrangers.

Colombia has to use $100 million of the loan to finance new investments. The remainder will go toward Colombia's balance of payments, Citibank officials said."

Contents

Plan Colombia