SALVADORIAN AIR BASE IS CALLED CENTER FOR C.I.A. OPERATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000200990009-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: October 15, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200990009-6
ARTICLE AP
ON PAGE - TD
15 October 1986
Salvadoran Air Base Is Called
Center for C.I.A. Operations
SAN SALVADOR, Oct. 14 - Behind
the high concrete-block walls that keep
the Ilopango air base here from the
public's view is a drab two-story build-
ing. Over the last three years, the build-
ing has served as the waiting room for
agents Working for the Central Intelli.
gence Agency, leaders of the Nicara.
guan rebels, mercenaries and Amer-
ican military advisers. according to
American officials and Nicaraguan
rebel sources.
Now more than ever the base is the
center of C.I.A.-supported operations to
supply Nicaraguan rebel forces, ac-
cording to an American shot down in a
supply plane over Nicaragua.
American men in civilian clothes
often pass through the base's gates and
American officials say privately that it
is the center of C.I.A. and other clan-
destine operations here.
Many American visitors to the base,
on the eastern edge of San Salvador,
are never "officially" in the country.
The honor code of silence prevails.
The base is run by the politically con-
servative and staunchly independent
Gen. Juan Rafael Bustillo. One of the
general's most recent phantom guests
was the longtime C.I.A. agent, known
by the alias Max Gomez, who directed
the contra supply flight shot down by
Nicaraguan soldiers last week, accord-
ing to two highly reliable sources with
close C.I.A. contracts here and Eugene
Hasenfus, the American captured in
independence," said Mauriclo Salva-
dor Hernandez, a spokesman for the
armed forces, in trying to explain why
Vice President Bush and not the Salva-
doran high command might be ready
to acknowledge that Mr. Gomez was an
air force adviser.
Although the other branches of the
armed forces have often baffled Amer-
ican officials, the air force has always
been considered closer to the Amer-
ican way of operating. Nearly all of its
pilots have trained in the United States
and most speak fluent English. In addi-
tion, the air force has never been ac-
cused of lacking discipline.
The air force's miliary and political
importance, as well as its key role in
supplying the Nicaraguan rebels, have
made it a favorite of he C.I.A. station
here, according to Western diplomats.
"The agency loves the air force," one
diplomat said.
On a recent afternoon at the air base,
an American who identified himself as
an adviser sat behind his desk watch-
ing a pet parrot jump from the edge of
a coffee cup to the desk. ,
'1 Have Nothing to Say'
An American sitting with him,
dressed in levis and a T-shirt and car-
rying a radio, declined to identify him-
self. A third American who walked into
the office dressed in an olive-green
flight suit and a U.S.S. Iowa cap turned
and left when he saw there was a visi-
tor.
"I have nothing to say about what is
Nicaragua. - 'going on," the adviser said, and quickly,
Vice President Bush said this week ; invited the reporter to leave his office.
that he had met Mr. Gomez three
times. He said Mr. Gomez Was an ad-
viser in counterinsurgency who
worked in El Salvador with the ap-
proval of President Jost Napoleon
Duarte and the armed forces.
Despite Mr. Bush's statements, both
Mr. Duarte and the armed forces chief,
Gen. Aldolfo O. Blandon, deny knowing
Mr. Gomez or approving his work.
"The air force is very jealous of its
,passing though or are here "on busi-
ness."
At a news conference in Managua
after his capture, Mr. Hasenfus said
that at least 25 people were working
with him to supply rebels out of the Ilo-
pango air base. Flight logs from the
downed plane list more than 30 crew
members who do not have Latin
names.
Many men who claim to have no di-
rect link to the American Embassy and
little reason for being in El Salvador
can be seen in Salvadoran restaurants
and hotels. Americans who refuse to
identify themselves are among them.
They are not counted among the 55
American advisers based permanently
in the country or the more than 100 who
are generally here on any one day on
temporary assignments. These will
readily identify themselves as advisers
attached to the United States Embas-
sy. The others will simply say they are
Flights Began in Illy
Mr. Hasenfus and the two American-
crew members killed when the plane
was shot down in southern Nicaragua
on Oct. 5 carried Salvadoran Air Force
cards signed by General Bustillo iden-'
tifying them as American military ad-
visors here. The American Embassy
denied they were advisers.
The tight security around the base
and the discipline within made it the
perfect place to run covert American
operations, American officials who
have lived in El Salvador said.
The supply flights to the contras in
Nicaragua began in the spring of- 1983
with at least seven C.I.A. agents, a pri-
vate propeller-driven plane and the
loan of some of the Salvadoran C-47's
bought with American military aid, ac-
cording to two American officials liv-
ing in El Salvador at the time.
The spring of 1983 was a busy time at
Ilopango and the activity underscored
both the power and the independence of
General Bustillo.
The longtime air force commander,
who likes fast cars and generally,
dresses in a flight suit, threatened
mutiny unless Alvaro Magafla, the
provisional President at the time, dis-
missed Defense Minister Jost Gui-
llermo Garcia. The Defense Minister
was quickly replaced, confirming Gen-
eral Bustillo's position as one of the
most powerful men in the armed
forces.
Air Force Buildup Begins
The spring of 1983 also marked the
beginning of an air force buildup that
has made it the most crucial service in
fighting the war against the leftist in-
surgents, according to American offi-
cials.
At the time it had 10 helicopters, sev-
eral C-47's and a few propeller planes
in 1983; now it has more than 60 heli-
copters, 12 helicopter gunships, at least
five AC-47 gunships and more than 10
combat jets.
In using the air base to run supply
flights to the contras in Nicaragua in
1983, the C.I.A. was operating without
the Congressional restrictions imposed
in August of 1984 that prohibit any help
to military or paramilitary groups
fighting the Nicaraguan Government.
When news of the flights were leaked
to the press in October 1983, General
Bustillo, a colonel at the time, dis-
missed a chief aide, but the flights con-
tinued until the Congressional restric-
tions were imposed, American officials
said.
Sometime in 1984, the air force also
began to permit contra forces to launch
air and sea attacks from Ilopango. At
the time, Eden Pastora Gdmez, a con-
tra leader who has since retired from
the battle, was a frequent visitor at the
base, according to American and con-
tra sources.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000200990009-6