Tatum notes the “mysterious” death of Ramon Navarro on February 27, 1991, the day before he was due to testify in court against Manuel Noriega:
Ramon Navarro, posed as a Lt. Col. of a foreign military. He accompanied Lt. Col. North on one occasion and was present at several contra camps involved in the manufacturing of cocaine. Navarro was a nefarious drug trafficker with ties to the Medellin Drug Cartel. Navarro died in a mysterious auto accident in Miami, Florida in February of 1991, the evening prior to his scheduled testimony for the government against the co-defendants of Manuel Noriega. Had he not died, he would have been taken to Nicaragua prior to his scheduled testimony and subsequently terminated. This was on orders from President Bush and William Barr via William J. Colby.
Tatum provides additional details:
After being subpoenaed, Navarro contacted Felix Rodriguez, one of his handlers from the Contra cocaine manufacturing facilities. Navarro told Rodriguez that he wanted $1 million-cash or he would not only testify about Noriega’s involvement with drug manufacturing and trafficking, but he would also implicate Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Oliver North, President George Bush and others. Having been recruited into a covert operations intelligence unit in 1986, directed by William Colby and George Bush, I was tasked with the mission of delivering the money with its terms to Mr. Navarro. On February 26th, 1991, an Archer Team, consisting of three assassins and one tracker began surveillance of Mr. Navarro. A Saberliner was flown into Miami Airport with a satchel of money containing $1 million. My orders were to deliver the money to Mr. Navarro and advise him that he was to leave with me.
It had been arranged through Adolfo Colero, an ex-Contra leader now in the Chamarro government of Nicaragua for Mr. Navarro to relocate and live in Nicaragua. Mr. Bush felt that it would be too dangerous for Navarro to testify. I was ordered by Colby to give Navarro the money and take him to the Saberliner. I was further instructed that, if Navarro refused to relocate, he was to be terminated on the spot.
Two Archers were placed at Navarro’s home the night of February 27th, 1991. I was stationed outside of Navarro’s girlfriend’s house with the Major (code name for an Archer team leader) and another Archer. Mr. Navarro exited his girlfriend’s house at about 11:30 pm. I exited my vehicle and approached Ramon. When Navarro saw me approaching, he jumped in his car and sped off down the road. The red BMW was speeding through the streets of Miami at about 80 miles per hour with our two vehicles in pursuit. We notified the team at his home and they were prepared to apprehend him. Suddenly, Navarro lost control and crossed the median, crashing into a fence. Navarro was dead. We stopped and insured that he was dead, and then departed. I returned the satchel of money to the aircraft.
Link to NY Times story on Navarro’s death HERE
