PRIVATE VENTURE OPERATED PLANE DOWNED BY NICARAGUA, AIDES SAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402690009-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 9
• Publication Date: October 8, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402690009-5
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ON PAGE NEW YORK TIMES
8 October 1986
Private Venture Operated Plane
Downed by Nicaragua, Aides Say
U.S. Disavows Role -
Right. Wing Group Led
By Ex-Army General
h
By RICHARD HALLORAN
span to no Now YOrt Tim"
WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 - An Amer-
ican-built cargo plane that was shot
down over southern Nicaragua on Sun-
day was operated by a private group
led by a retired United States Army
major general, Reagan Administration
officials said today.
The officials said the plane was oper-
ated by an organization headed by the
retired general, John K. Singlaub, and
had taken off from El Salvador. It had
flown down the Pacific coast of Nicara.
gua and turned inland to deliver am-
munition and supplies to insurgents
seeking to open a southern front
against the Sandinista Government in
Managua.
Spokesmen for the Administration.
the State Department, the Central In-
telligence Agency and the Department
of Defense all emphatically denied that
the flight was in any way connected
with the United States Government.
The Defense Department said that r?wl ???` ~' "' ?O" `-a. 1W U, ", . aII
Mr. Hasenfus, 45 years old, had served I Costa R ce near the border with
in the Marine Corps from 1960 to 1965, The statement said 50,000 rounds of
reaching the rank of corporal ammunition for Soviet-built AK-47 au-
A Pentagon spokesman said Mr. He- somatic rifles, plus rifles, grenades and
fied as the survivor of the crash, only
that a man of that name had been a
Marine Corps parachute rigger for
equipment drops at Camp Pendleton,
Calif.
A senior American official said that
a company set up by General Singlaub
in El Salvador had been used for C.I.A.
defense when it tried to carry
in the past but that this, our air rry
particular flight was not a Government
operation.
An And-Communist Leader
General Singlaub drew public atten-
tion in 1979 when he criticized Presi-
dent Carter's plan to reduce the num,
ber of American troops in South Korea,
where the general was chief of staff of
United States forces.
He was subsequently reassigned to
the United States and then retired.
General Singlaub formed the United
States Council for World Freedom in
1981; it is affiliated with the World
Anti-Communist League, of which he is
the current chairman.
Through the council, he has been re-
built by Fairchild in the 1950's, 'was
used by the Air Force to carry cargo
and to drop paratroopers and their
equipment. Only a few remain in Air
Force service.
'Obviously a C.I.A. Operates'
"The intruding aircraft was hit by
out a supply mission to mercenary
forces that operate from abroad
against our country," the Defense
Ministry statement said.
The secretary general of the Nicara-
guan Foreign Ministry, Alejandro
Bendana, said in a television inter-
view: I'The facts are that there was a
plane shot down, that it had an Amer-
ican crew on it"
He said that "we're talking about a
U.S. plans. We're not saying U.S. Army
plane but this is obviously a C.I.A.
operation with C.I.A. operatives;
whether they are U.S. Army personnel
or not, it's almost beside the point."
Mr. Bendana said the dead men were
"U.S. citizens now dying in Mr. Rea-
gan's U.S. war against Nicarague.'I
think the American people are owed an
One official here. said General Sin- ppoorted to m raised perhaps $10 mu-
lias privately to provide military and 'No n,' Shultz says
glaub was in Washington last week but other supplies to the insurgents in Secretary of State George P. Shultz,
was believed to be in El Salvador to- Nicaragua, known popularly as the appearing on a United States informa-
day. General Singlaub is head of the. I contras. While on duty in Vietnam from tion Agency broadcast, said that "it
United States Council for World Free-
supply Nicaraguan rebels. [Page A&]
dom, an organization based in Phoenix.
A spokesman for the general, Joyce
Downey, relayed a statement from
him: "I've been informed about the
situation. We know nothing about it. It
has nothing to do with the United States
Council for World Freedom." Ms. Dow-
ney said General Singlaub was not in
Central America but was on a plane
back to the United States.
Reports from Nicaragua said three
people were killed in the crash and that
one, an American named Eugene He-
senfus. survived. Mr. Hasenfus is said
to have told reporters who went to the
crash site that he had been aboard a
plane that took off from El Salvador tol
A Message From Singiaub
1966 to 1968, General Singlaub headed a
covert unit that specialized in terrorist
and guerrilla operations.
The Nicaraguan Defense Ministry,
announcement said that a plane, possi-
bly a C-123, was shot down -with a sur-
face-to-air missile at 12:45 P.M. on
of the committee, said he was skeptical
of claims that American groups volun-
tarily assisting the contras were oper-
ating without the knowledge of Amer-
ican officials.
was, for all we know, a plane hired by
private people; apparently some of
them American. They had no connec-
tion with the U.S. Government at all"
The chairman and vice chairman of
the Senate Intelligence Committee said
they had been assured by the C.I.A.
that there was no American Govern-
ment role in the incident
But Senator Patrick Leahy, the Ver-
mont Democrat who is vice chairman
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402690009-5
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402690009-5
ON ,PAGE
U.S MAY ESTABLISH
AFGHAN REBEL TIES
sy N to IA I ?
Mdsl o 1 Mrw Ywk T.s
WASHINGTON, June 17 - A senior
Administration official said today that
President Reagan held open the possi-
bility that the United States would ex-
tend diplomatic recognition to the Af-
ghan rebels if they acquired "more of
the attribute of a government."
The official's stand on the issue was
noticeably different than that taken
publicly Monday by the White House
spokesman, Larry Speakes, after Mr.
Reagan met with four leaders of an Af-
ghan rebel coalition based in Pakistan.
Mr. Speaks. said the President had
told the Afghan delegation, led by Bur-
hanuddin Rabbani, that It would be
"premature" for the United States to
extend such recognition now.
The Administration official repeated
that point today but told a group of re-
porters that Mr. Reagan had "encour-
aged" the Afghans. The official said
the use of tine word "premature"
should not b~eettaken as a polite way of
u
'l'he official iiaid Mr. Reagan a sarups-
poirteid the Afghan leaders' de
that negotiations over the withdrawal
of Soviet forces from Afghanistan be
between "the warring factions" -the
Afghan rehab and the Soviet Union.
Instead, what diplomats call "prox-
imity talks" have been held in Geneva
between representatives of the Afghan
and Pakistani Governments. The le-
Wes do not most face to face, but their
views are conveyed by a United Na-
tions official.
Rebels Mast With Senators
On Capitol Hill, the Afghan delega-
tion met with Senator Gordon J. Hum-
w my, Republican of Now Hampshi,
generally agreed with their poor i-
tion on both Issues. A spokesman said
the Senator favored closing the United
States Embassy in Kabul, the Afghan
capital, and expelling Afghan dipomats
from Washington.
The spokesman also said Senator
Humphrey felt that the rebel leaders
should be included in theNtions
s;xxwrod by The Afghan ddel~t onn also met with
Senator Bill Bradley, Democrat of New
Jersey, who repeated his support for
their movement and the recognition of
the rebels as the "sole legitimate rep-
resentative of the Afghan people.'.
A spokesman for the Senator said
Mr. Bradley had long felt that the
rebels should become members of the
Islamic Conference Organization and
should take the Afghan seat at the
United Nations. He also reiterated the
Senator's position that no settlement of
the Afghan Issue should be made with-
out the rebels' consent.
The Administration official briefing
reporters on the rebel leaden' meet-and
ings with the President on Mondalafd out
with lower-level otfi today
18 June 1986
several "attributes of a government"
that the President would consier in his
decision an diplomatic recognition.
One would be greater cooperation
among the rebels, the official said.
Ever since Soviet troops swept into Af-
ghanistan late 1979 in an effort to
keep in power a Government friendly
to Moscow, the Moslem rebels have
found it difficult to work together.
A second criterion, the official said,
would be greater rebel control over Af-
ghan territory. In the guerrilla war
being fought there, neither the Soviet
Union nor the rebels have firm control
over large sectors of the country.
In that connection, the Afghan lead-
ers renewed their request for anti-
aircraft weapons with which to drive
off Soviet helicopters and aircraft
Administration officiAl said he would
not discuss covert operations -
meaning the suns v o American wean.
control of ter tor y.
Election Plan Is Cited
The Administration official noted
that the coalition planned to hold elec-
tions in Afghanistan and the Afghan
refugee camps in Pakistan next fall to
form a deliberative council.
The official emphasized that Mr.
Reagan had encouraged the rebel lead-
ers to seek "greater international vis-
ibility." He suggested that the United
States would find it easier to extend
diplomatic recognition if the rebel
coalition gained wider acceptance and
did not appear to be a proxy of the
United States.
He also said United States officials
had suggested that the rebel leaders
make a greater effort at the United Na-
tions and at Islamic conferences to cul-
tivate nonaligned nations that might be
sympathetic to their cause.
The official noted, with evident ap-
proval, that the rebel coalition planned
to open an office in New York. In addi-
tion, about 40 Afghan refugees are
scheduled to arrive in the United States
this week for medical treatment.
'Deeper Exchange' Is Sought
The rebel delegation's visit to the
United States and the meeting with Mr.
Reagan should be seen as part of a pro-
cess of widening the rebels' interna-
tional image, the official said. He said
the Administration favored a "deeper
exchange of political views" between
the rebels and Administration officials.
Mr. Reagan, in his meeting with the
rebel leaders, "completely ruled out
separate deals with Moscow" in which
an arms agreement, for instance,
would be reached in exchange for a halt
to American support for the rebels, the
official said.
He said that anxiety had swept
through the refugee camps in Pakistan
whenever the Afghans, who are often
isolated from political and diplomatic
developments elsewhere, suspected
that the United States and the Soviet
Union might reach an agreement at
their expense.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402690009-5