The Gestapo officer Klaus Barbie was known as the Butcher of Lyon for his killing of Resistance fighters in France during the German occupation.
After World War II, CIA protected Barbie from French authorities and facilitated him to make off to South America where he worked for years with right-wing governments adopting many of the nuances favored by the Nazis for prosecuting political enemies and their sympathizers. Many of those governments had also close ties to the CIA and military intelligence.
In 1980, Barbie figured prominently in an astonishing event in South American history: the full-scale merging of political elites and the international drug trade.
Continue in CIA and the origin of Medellin Cartel: Part 2
Sources:
(*): Washington Post, April 28, 2001
Martin E. Andersen: Dossier Secreto.
Robert Parry: Lost History.
Levine J: Big White Lie.
Levine J: Deep Cover.