Meet James Alexander McQuirter, a fanatic white supremacist and antisemite who used to be the Grand Wizard on the Canadian Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1980s. Convicted for conspiracy to commit murder and a flurry of other crimes, he spent from 1982 to 1989 in jail. Was involved in "Operation Red Dog", a plot to overthrow the government of Dominica to establish a racially pure white country - with lots of gambling and drugs though. Recently, a book was published about the affair:
"Imagine planning a coup d'état – the violent overthrow of a small Caribbean island with a band of misfits. Among the crew are the scum of the earth: jailbirds, social outcasts, neo-Nazis and members of the KKK. Then imagine these soldiers of misfortune making virtually every imaginable gaffe, from telling a reporter about the plot beforehand to welcoming absolute strangers into the mix, including three who turn out to be informants or federal agents.
Such is the story weaved by National Post reporter Stewart Bell in Bayou of Pigs. It's the true story of an attempt by a group of ne'er-do-wells to lead a violent takeover of the Caribbean nation of Dominica in 1981. Yet as comical as the twists and turns are in this sharply written narrative, the potential for real gunplay and outright murder, including the assassination of Prime Minister Eugenia Charles, was very real.
(...)
A who's who of Canada's neo-Nazi establishment makes guest appearances. Besides Droege, there's the ubiquitous Don Andrews, then- and current leader of the so-called Nationalist Party of Canada, a long-standing racist organization; James McQuirter, one-time Grand Dragon of the Canadian KKK; and Martin Wieche, possibly Canada's longest standing Neo-Nazi."
The book "White Hoods" also details McQuirter's history as a klan leader: "White Hoods is the first book about the Hooded Empire in Canada. Award-winning journalist and author Julian Sher traces the Canadian Ku Klux Klan from its birth in the early 1920s, through its powerful influence within Saskatchewan's Conservative party in the 1920s and 1930s, to its renaissance under James McQuirter in the 1980s."
The coup plot is probably the reason Mr. McQuirter can't travel to the United States as he is on a Homeland Security watch list, Bananama Republic has learned.
But he does travel to Panama....
We coincidentally ran into the neo-Nazi in the Gamboa Resort, where he was accidentally introduced to us, as "James Alexander". Yet, do a Google search on "James Alexander Canada criminal record", and it becomes pretty clear who the man is. A television news report from Canadian broadcaster CBC then confirmed his identity.
See: The Invasion That Almost Was:
“McQuirter, however, was not charged until a year after the failed coup. Apparently, McQuirter, thinking he was not culpable of a criminal offence, openly bragged about his involvement in the coup to the media. McQuirter was eventually charged with, and convicted of, conspiracy to overthrow a foreign government, fraud, and conspiracy to commit murder (a charge related to McQuirter planning to kill his girlfriend's former common-law husband) and received two years for his involvement in the coup and five more for murder conspiracy and counterfeiting."
Was he plotting the overthrow of Panama's government in Gamboa's tropical ambiance? Soldiers of fortune taking control of the Canal, heading there in fast boats down the Chagres river? Or was the peaceful jungle village the scene of burning crosses and hooded white supremacists? Not that we know of, but such plots are seldom publicly advertised.
What we do know is that the Gamboa Resort was the location of something called an "Emerald Passport seminar" Mr. McQuirter was hosting. These passports have nothing to do with citizenship of Nazi states, but with gathering wealth. Emerald Passport is a so-called "multi-level marketing" scheme, which sells courses and other "educational" material on the secrets of assembling unlimited wealth; the kind of secrets, or so we read, they don't teach you in school. Once you bought these secrets you are supposed to resell them and make a commission as you build what in the jargon is called your "downline". They modestly call themselves "one of the most profitable income opportunities in the world today" (not everyone agrees, though). Their offices are in the posh Punta Pacifica area of Panama City, Panama. It's not unusual to find these MLM schemes, whatever one may think of them, headquartered in Panama, a flexible jurisdiction with bendable officials after all.
However, especially Jewish and colored participants in Emerald Passport will no doubt be thrilled to learn that when they purchase an expensive "wealth-building" seminar, they're palling around with a neo-Nazi and convicted criminal and coup plotter with murder plans, letting them in on the secrets of the super-rich.
We asked the President of Emerald Passport, Panamanian lawyer Jaime Figueroa, for an explanation. However, it turned out that he had no idea about "James Alexander's" real identity, as he wrote:
(...) we should no longer be associated with him and I agree with you we should not allow him in Panama. Something similar happened to me when visiting a Dutch developer in Las Tablas. After doing some research we found out that he had kindnapped the founder of the Heineken brewery.
(...)
I have raised this information to the board and am awaiting their response. I have known this person as James Alexander not McQuirter. (...) I truly appreciate your observation and agree with you we should no longer be associated with this person given his proven criminal background.
However, we have not heard anything of substance from "the board" since then. An email to Christian M. Desharnais, who a sort of runs the Panamanian operation, was answered with this strange statement:
First, let me say that James is no longer part of our company, he has not been for about a year now (...) He was at the conference as my guest, as he is visiting here.
But that cuts no cloth as it contradicts president Jaime Figueroa's earlier emails, as anyone can see for himself. How can he wish for his company to be no longer associated with someone who is not part of the company but just "a guest"?
Similarly, we've received no word from one Sam Lajic - if that is his real name - reportedly a Serb who is the big man behind the scenes running things from Toronto, Canada, and who apparently hired McQuirter. A round of quick investigations has shown that McQuirter traveled under his real name, leaving little doubt about the upper echelons (or "the board" or whatever they call it) of Emerald Passport being aware of who he really is.
All this invites the question: What in reality is Emerald Passport and what are they doing in Panama? At the very least, it seems to us, there are national security issues to consider for our country. Someone who can't enter the United States for reasons that would be best described as "terrorism" should probably not be allowed anywhere near the Canal or Panama's racially diverse population. The foiled neo-Nazi assassination plot against Obama and about a 100 members of racial minorities of today shows that such fears are not overblown at all, but very realistic.
UPDATE: President of Emerald Passport, Jaime Figueroa, Resigns
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