BUSH IS LINKED TO HEAD OF CONTRA AID NETWORK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130025-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: October 11, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130025-5
't! A ' M-A
i PAS
Bush Is Linked to Head
Of Contra Aid Network
By Doyle _McManus
Max Gomez, a Cuban American veteran
of the CIA's ill-fated Bay of Pigs operation,
has told associates that he reported to Vice
President Bush about his activities as head
of the secret air supply operation that lost a
cargo plane to Nicaraguan missile fire this
week, sources said yesterday.
Gomez has said that he met with Bush
twice and has been operating in Nicaragua
with the vice president's knowledge and
approval, the sources said.
On Thursday, Eugene Hasenfus, the
American crew member who survived the
crash of the cargo plane and was captured
by Nicaraguan troops, identified Gomez as
head of the elaborate aerial supply system
serving anti-Sandinista guerrillas, or con-
tras, in Nicaragua.
Hasenfus, speaking at a news conference
organized by Sandinista officials, told re-
porters that he believed Gomez worked for
the Central Intelligence Agency.
But several sources said Gomez formally
worked for the air force of El Salvador, a job
he apparently gained with the help of an
aide to Bush, not the CIA.
Asked about these matters, a spokesman
for Bush, Marlin Fitzwater, said: "Neither
the vice president nor anyone on his staff is
directing or coordinating an operation in
Central America." But he refused to say
whether Bush had met with Gomez or
whether Bush's staff had helped Gomez in
any other way.
[Sources close to Bush told The Wash-
ington Post last night that the vice presi-
dent acknowledged meeting Gomez once or
twice and expressing approval of his efforts
to help the contras. However, these sources
said they knew nothing of any direct
assistance given to Gomez by Bush
or his staff.)
The emerging story of Gomez il-
lustrates the way a group of White
House and administration officials
over the last two years knit togeth-
er a web of private military and fi-
nancial assistance that sidestepped
legal restrictions imposed by Con-
Cress in 1984 and kept the contras
fighting while President Reagan
campaigned here for resumption of
direct aid.
Organized at Reagan's behest
and operating with his blessing, a
network of private citizens and for-
eign governments has worked to
provide the contras with airplanes,
guns and food to maintain their war
against Nicaragua's leftist regime
whether Congress approved or not.
No U.S. government funds were
directly involved, officials said, and
the CIA was carefully kept at arms'
length because of Congress' close
scrutiny of that agency's opera-
tions. But Reagan, Bush and other
officials made it clear, both to con-
servative donors at home and allied
governments abroad, that they
hoped others would aid the contras
when Congress did not.
And, several U.S. officials and
contra sources said, Reagan and
Bush detailed aides to help the pri-
vate aid network get organized with
instructions to insulate the admin-
istration from any direct responsi-
bility for its operations.
As a result, members of Con-
gress said. the White House ap-
pears to have skirted and stretched
the law forbidding direct aid to the
rebels, but stopped just short of
breaking it.
The exposure of the secret sup-
ply effort has caused an uproar in
Congress, consternation in El Sal-
vador and alarm in the administra-
tion. But leading members of Con-
gress said that they did not expect
the disclosures to block the final
passage of a new $100 million fund
of U.S. aid for the contras that both
houses have already approved.
And as far as administration of-
ficials are concerned, the private
supply effort has been a success
because it has kept the contras
fighting during two years without
U.S. military aid.
"What's kept the resistance t:i% -
has been private helo," .A?n-r in,
Secretary of State Elliott Ahrams
.aid. "Some meni!;?~rs of Congress
accuse us of approving ,it thi- .;,h i
wink and a nod. A wink inn a nod.
1*11.We think it's been fine."
- In the case of Gomez. ; ,ire
edgeable source said, liu,h a ;,.
ISonald Gregg providedd i R?cori-
rnendation that introduced the
Cuban American to Gen. Juan Ra-
fael Bustillo, the chief of staff of El
Salvador's air force, from whose
base many of the contr,l,' supply
flights ran.
Gomez-who has also gone by
he name of Felix Rodriguez-fiat
went to El Salvador to advise the
9Hlvadoran air force on antiguerrrlla
operations in 1985, several sources
said, and carried the reconunenda-
tion of Gregg.
Only this year did Gomez hei;;n
working solely on the contra uhpiV
system, the sources said, but h,?
continued reporting to Gregg iwl
Bush. He was paid by the Saivadnr-
an air force, not by the U.S. ;goy -
ernment, they said.
[Telephone calls to Gregg by The
Post were not returned.
[At a news conference Thursdav.
retired major general John K.
laub, head of the United Stat, s
Council for World Freedom. _
Gomez had been employed by the
CIA at one time and is now an ad-
viser to the Salvadoran govern-
ment. The San Francisco Examiner,
which earlier this week !inked
Gregg to Gomez, reported that
Gomez maintains daily contact with
Bush's office. The Examiner said
Gomez reportedly served in Viet.
nam with Gregg.[
In other cases, adminisrrari,-e
and contra sources said, a Nan,,;i.,i
Security Council aide, Marine L'.
Col. Oliver L. North, put rebel )t-
ficials in touch with American, ..hh?
could help them raise nrunev in
!
obtain arms.
But in every case, the seur,?r',
said, the White House aides '.vein
careful to avoid giving direct order,
to the contras or their back,-r..
"You're not going to find a snu nicg
memo in this program," ,au kr.,
edgeable L.S. ofticral -,u,l. '[r'.
that simple."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130025-5
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130025-5
Still, members of Congress paid
yesterday that they wanted to in-
vestigate the administration's con-
duct further. And after a secret.
three-hour briefing by administra-
tion officials, several said that their
focus had shifted from the C[:\ to
the White House.
Washington Post .half writer
Joanne Oniang aho rrpor:til:
Members of Congress said yes-
terday they are generally satisfied
with the Central Intelligence Agen-
cy's denials of involvement with the
cargo plane shot down in Nicaragua
last week, but said they want to
know much more about who did
sponsor the flight.
Senate Foreign Relations Com-
mittee Chairman Richard G. Lugar
(R-Ind.) said he had "no reason to
doubt" the CIA position that it had
no direct or indirect involvement
with the flight.
A State Department official,
meanwhile, confirmed that William
J. Cooper, the pilot of the downed
plane, flew at least one mission to
Central America for the office that
supplied humanitarian aid to the
anti-Sandinista forces. Cooper may
also have been the owner of a sec-
ond C123 transport plane that was
being serviced this week at South-
ern Air Transport Inc. in Miami.
That plane left Miami early yester-
day for Honduras, according to Fed-
eral Aviation Administration
records.
Lugar added he did not think the
Americans aboard the downed
plane violated any U.S. law. Cooper
and his copilot, both Americans,
were killed-along with an uniden-
tified Latin American-in the
crash.
However, the Sunday crash will
be among events covered by a For-
eign Relations Committee probe
into allegations that the contras
may have been involved in drug
running and abuse of U.S. aid funds,
Lugar lid.
['he Customs Service said ves-
terdav it is investigating whether
the downed plane may have carried
guns out of Miami, which would
violate federal restrictions on arms
exports and other laws, including
the Neutrality Act, which bars U.S.
citizens from working to overthrow
governments not at war with the
United States.
Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) said he
will ask the Senate Select Commit-
tee on Intelligence, of which he is a
member, to investigate gun running
into Nicaragua. He added that if any
U.S. citizens broke the law, the
Reagan administration must pros-
ecute them even if it agrees with
their objectives.
"The administration does not
have the right to selectively enforce
the laws," Nunn said.
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.)
said the Foreign Relations Commit-
tee should subpoena Hasenfus' bank
records "so we can find out who was
paying him." He said the briefing
"raised more questions than it an-
swered," such as where the plane
originated, why it had easy access
to the high-security. Ilopango Air
Base in El Salvador and who funded
the trip. "Somebody has to have the
answers to these questions," he
said.
Hasenfus told reporters in Nic-
aragua the plane had flown out of
Miami. And the contras have said
the ill-fated plane was bringing
arms supplies to their troops in
southern Nicaragua. But spokes-
nicn here insisted they did not know
:which organization had sponsored
it.
Post t,itt writer Art Harris. [N()
prorur~ inert officer Mario Calera
,aid the tligiit "was it private deal."
He ,aid hi, brother. Adolfo, inc of
three [ Ni) 'lire, tors, had told him
that 'jr an operation with a
;rrir,g ,lr iched" and that the rring
was rh;it the sponsoring organiza-
tion would run it.
"Whoever it was requested com-
plete confidentiality, and we ha'.e to
respect that," Calero said his broth-
er rolrl h!ni.
Calero ;hided that Singlaub was
IIt involved with the trip, contrary
to puhlished report,.
'e'n. David F. Durenberger (R-
Minn.), chairman of the uitelliizernce
cornniittee, urged the administra-
tion to "be more forthcoming alriut
what it knows about priv;teerng"
in the contra arms supply pipeline.
"[ think the White House knows
and has not been telling the world,
and probably should at some point,
in order to help the CIA," Duren-
bcrger said. Congressional staff
members said agency officials had
c'. pressed irritation at what they
regarded as bungling and "a waste
of assets" by whoever ran the
doomed cargo flight.
Nunn was among several law-
makers who said Congress has been
to),) overloaded with money bills to
dig into the Nicaraguan question.
"The plate is just too full," Nunn
fie added that next week
should he different.
Rep. Corinne C. (Lindy) Boggs
(D-La.) agreed Congress has been
too busy to focus on Nicaragua, es-
pecially when the facts are uncer-
tain. "Until there's some indication
of what is an accurate account,
you're reluctant to make any judg-
ments, she said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130025-5