ELABORATE SYSTEM SUPPLIES CONTRAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130028-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 9, 2012
• Sequence Number: 28
• Publication Date: October 9, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130028-2
ON PAGE LU5 ANGELES TIMES
9 October 1986
Elaborate System
Supplies Contras
Downed Plane Was Part of Secret
Network, U.S. and Rebel Officials Say
3 By DOYLE McMANUS, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON-The Ameri-
can -manned cargo plane shot down
in Nicaragua this week, far from
representing a solo mission by
free-lance adventurers, was part of
an elaborate and secret contra
supply system based in El Salvador
and Honduras and financed by
several governments as well as
private donors, U.S. officials and
Nicaraguan rebels said Wednes.
Y
The C-123 cargo plane was only
one of at least 19 aircraft flying in
support of the contras' guerrilla
war against the leftist Sandinista
regime, rebel officials said. It was
part of a fleet of five such planes
based at El Salvador's main air
force base and carrying out regular
supply runs with the approval of
both the Salvadoran and U.S. gov-
ernments. they asserted.
"We do not own the plane our-
selves, but it is part of our air
force," said a senior official of the
Nicaraguan Democratic Force, the
largest of several contra groups
supported by the Reagan Adminis-
tration.
been evidence of aid to the contras supplied radio but had no other U.S.
from several Latin American coun- government equipment on board.
tries, including El Salvador and Congress has allowed the CIA to
Honduras, but that they could not provide the contras with sophisti.
comment on the allegations of cated communications gear-and
Saudi involvement. with U.S.-obtained military "I don't know who paid for this," gence information about the tSan-
Assistant Secretary of State Elliott dinistas- but with no other help.
Abrams said. "I don't know who The contras, who claim to have
organized it." more than 10,000 guerrillas ranging
President Reagan repeated his inside Nicaragua from bases in
Administration's earlier denials of Honduras and Costa Rica, have
any CIA role in the supply flights, slowly developed their own air
noting that Congress banned U.S. resupply system since 1984, when
military aid to the contras in 1984. Congress forced the CIA to with-
"There is no government connec- draw from their battle.
tion with that at all," Reagan said One branch of the contra air
during a campaign stop in North force is based at Aguacate, an
Carolina. airfield built by the U.S. Army
Bipartisan Attacks Co
Honduras. It rps of Engineers in southern
"We've been aware that there aircraft and is run directly bytthe 14
,
are private groups and private Nicaraguan Democratic Force.
citizens that have been trying to But the contras' most effective
help the contras . . . but we did not air supply operation, according to
know the exact particulars of what U.S. officials, is the one based at
they're doing," the President said. Ilopango and run under the com-
"We're in a free country where mand of Gen. Juan Rafael Bustillo,
private citizens have a great many chief of staff of El Salvador's air
freedoms." force
.
Saudis Deny Reports In Congress, allegations that the The CIA ran many of its supply
Administration approved the sup- missions for the contras before 1984
One contra official said that the ply runs triggered bipartisan criti- from Ilopango, officials said, and
five airplanes based at El Salva- cism, although there was no indica- the Salvadorans moved in quietly
dor's Ilopango air base had been tion that the incident would to maintain the channel after the
bought with the help of donations undermine support for a S10o-mil- agency pulled out, one U.S. official
from the government of Saudi lion aid package for the contras said.
Arabia. A second contra official that Congress is expected to enact Contra officials confirmed that
said that Saudi Arabia had made this week.
donations to their cause but that he "It's totally wrongheaded." said sfive go , including
hotc down lSunday, opera the one
did not know whether it had helped Senate Intelligence Committee Ilopango: two C-7 Caribous. f one
buy aircraft. Both spoke on condi- Chairman David Durenberger (R- Maule short-takeoff and landing
tion that they not be identified Minn.) of the private contra supply
In Miami, a spokesman for the operation. "If that is our policy, plane and two C- 123s.
contra alliance, Leonardo Somarri- don't need a State Department. We
ba. said, "I don't deny or confirm don't need a government. It's not
that." But he added, "Obviously, the way I would bring peace to the
something like this could not hap- hemisphere and get the Marxist-
pen without the assistance of Leninists out of the hemisphere."
friendly governments." Durenberger said he had been
The Saudi Embassy in Washing- informed that the airplane that
ton denied both reports, crashed was U.S. officials said that there has equipped with a CIA-
U.S.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130028-2
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130028-2
Eugene Hasenfus, the American
crewman who survived the crash
only to be captured by Sandinista
troops, told reporters that the C-
123 had taken off from Miami and
stopped in El Salvador and Hondu-
ras before flying into southern
Nicaragua. Hasenfus carried an
identification card issued by the
Salvadoran Air Force giving him
access to the base at Ilopango and
listing his rank as "adviser."
`Absolutely False'
El Salvador's government pub-
licly denied any role in the contras'
war, although some Salvadoran
officials have privately acknowl-
edged support for the rebels.
"This morning I met with the
military high command," Salva.
doran President Jose Napoleon Du-
arte said in a radio broadcast
Wednesday, "and the information
they gave me was that it was
absolutely false" that the plane
came from El Salvador. "These
events are designed to create prob-
lems as the U.S. vote (on aid to
United States had any direct role in
the flight.
"Buechler's Job included observ-
ing the loading of planes with
humanitarian aid supplies." said
one official. "So we're talking about
the same group of pilots."
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.),
the top-ranking Democrat on the
Senate Intelligence Committee, ac-
cused the Administration of con-
doning the American-manned sup-
Ply operation with a "wink" and a
shrug."
"If we ever get involved in a war
in Nicaragua where Americans are
dying," Leahy said, "that's how
we'll do it. When people say that
this is state-supported terrorism,
they are not very far off."
House Democrats who have long
opposed contra aid seemed re-
signed that the plane crash would
not derail it.
Rep. David E. Bonier (D-Mich.),
a leading opponent, said the Demo-
crats hope to rescind approval of
the aid next year when they expect
to have a larger majority in the
House. "I feel very certain that this
is CIA-directed," said Bonier.
Durenberger, by contrast, said
he believes the CIA's denials of
i
l
y
nvo
vement, even though the car-
found a wallet in the wreckage of
o in the plane that contained theabusi- equipment tthate waslu "pr obaradio
bly
ness card of Philip J. Buechler, an bought and paid for" by the United
official of the State Department States government.
office that administered $27 million "I know it's not the CIA at
of non-weapons U.S. aid for the work," he said, because the agency
contras until the program expired is aware that the plane was flying
on Oct. 1. over an area equipped with an-
State Department officials ac- ti-aircraft weapons.
knowledged that Buechler may Times staff writers Sera Fritz
have dealt in the past with one of and Gaylord Shaw, in Washington,
the crewmen on the plane. They and William Long, in Miami, con-
said that did not indicate that the tributed to this story.
Nicaraguan officials said the
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/09: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130028-2