Robert Parry - Two grisly massacres in Guatemala -- the murders of three Salvadoran legislators and then the killing of four policemen who had confessed to the first killings -- reflect a legacy dating back to the 1980s when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush put Central America's ideological struggles ahead of enforcing drug laws.

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush saw Central America as a Cold War battleground and thus downplayed evidence that right-wing paramilitary operatives in El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala and the Nicaraguan contra movement were deeply implicated in cocaine trafficking.

The Reagan-Bush team let drug traffickers corrupt the region's security services, in part, to protect the Nicaraguan contra rebels and right-wing governments.

For the full story on how the contra-cocaine cover-up is a gift that keeps on giving, go to Consortiumnews.com