![]() ![]() Large-scale warfare continued for another decade in what became known as the Democratic Republic of Congo, and upsurges of violent insurgency continue today. Mobutu was overthrown by a rebel army in 1997. In 1989, Manafort received $1 million from Zairian dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, the archetypal African tyrant known for his leopard-skin caps - and for having embezzled billions of dollars from his desperately poor country in order to fund lavish villas in Europe. ![]() When Barre was overthrown in 1991, he left behind a famine-wracked country that has remained mired in civil war to this day. Barre’s paramilitaries tortured and raped and even targeted the water supplies of enemy clans. “We just have to make sure he’s our bad guy.”Īfter a disastrous war with Ethiopia sparked an in insurrection at home, Barre began a bombing and assassination campaign directed against northern Somali clans that killed an estimated 60,000 people in the year preceding Manfort’s contract. “We all know Barre is a bad guy,” an aid of Manafort’s recalled him saying. In 1989, Manafort also won a $450,000-a-year contract with Somali dictator Siad Barre. Marcos was overthrown in a bloodless revolution in February 1986. Manafort led the lobbying effort in Washington to forestall pressure on Marcos to curb his activities. Marcos’ security forces tortured as many as 34,000 of his citizens and murdered at least 3,000, including Marcos’s last election opponent Benigno Aquino. Manafort received $950,000 a year from Ferdinand Marcos, the president of The Philippines who plundered more than $5 billion from the impoverished country’s treasury. Secretary of State George Schultz in 1982. ![]() Many of his payments from BMSK were made off the record.īMSK became infamous for lobbying on behalf of the most corrupt and violent of international dictators in order to “upgrade their back channels” in Washington.įerdinand Marcos with U.S. Manafort preferred to work behind the scenes. The firm had a two-part strategy - it helped politicians to get elected, and then used the access it had gained with those politicians - including Reagan - to influence them on behalf of the rest of their clients. Manafort founded the legendary lobbying firm Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly, or BMSK. Tutored by Bush-consigliere James Baker, he went on to manage Reagan’s campaigns in 19. Manafort got his start delegate-wrangling for Gerald Ford in the 1976 Republican convention, where he demonstrated precocious political talents. His record suggests he’s pretty good at his job. He worked for the presidential campaigns of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Merchants of death was a term coined in the 1930s in the United States to describe industries and banks that supplied and funded World War I.īout, a former Soviet military officer charged with conspiring to kill Americans, acquiring and exporting anti-aircraft missiles, and providing material support to a terrorist organisation.ĭon’t miss out on ET Prime stories! Get your daily dose of business updates on WhatsApp.To be clear, Manafort also has extensive experience working as a political operative in the United States as far back as 1976. Since then, the Russian government has been eager to reclaim him. ![]() After more than two years of diplomatic wrangling in which Russia insisted loudly that Bout was innocent and his case was politically charged, he was extradited to the United States, where he faced a slew of charges, including conspiracy to support terrorists, conspiracy to kill Americans, and money laundering.īout was tried on FARC-related charges, which he denied, and was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison by a Manhattan court in 2012, the minimum sentence possible. Thai police apprehended him shortly after. During a spectacular sting operation, Bout was caught on camera agreeing to sell 100 surface-to-air missiles to undercover US agents posing as representatives of Colombia's leftist FARC guerrillas, who would use them to kill US troops. ![]()
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