CIA AIRLIFTING ARMS TO NICARAGUA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302730001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 3, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302730001-7
ASSOCIATED PRESS
3 December 1986
NEWSDAY: CIA AIRLIFTING ARMS TO NICARAGUA
NEW YORK
FILE ONLY
A newspaper reported today that heavily armored helicopters of the Central
Intelligence Agency flew ammunition and explosives to rebels in Nicaragua
last spring despite a congressional ban.
Newsday reported that an unidentified source who flew on one of the missions
said that the helicopters made several flights a week during March, April and
May from a base in Aguacate, Honduras.
Newsday said the base is a CIA -controlled airstrip that serves as
headquarters of the rebels, known as Contras, near the Nicaraguan border.
The paper Identified its source as a civilian who was a former member of the
U.S. Army Special Forces. At the time he flew into Nicaragua, he was working in
Honduras and El Salvador for a company hired by the State Department to provide
non-military aid to the rebels, the paper said.
Newsday said an unidentified congressional investigative source corroborated
the source's report Tuesday.
The Reagan administration has said that no U.S. personnel violated a ban on
crossing from Honduras to Nicaragua. The CIA declined comment and referred all
questions to congressional oversight committees.
David Holliday, a spokesman for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
the helicopter landed and remained in Nicaraguan territory for "a couple of
minutes." The crew threw out food and "this plastic stuff ... plastic
explosives," the source said.
said he was not aware of any reason to doubt that the CIA respected
congressional prohibitions against operating in Nicaragua.
But according to Newsday, the source said that on his flight into Nicaragua
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302730001-7