U.S. OFFICIALS LINKED TO AIRLIFT OF CONTRA SUPPLIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200970024-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 6, 2010
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: October 14, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200970024-0
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ON PAGE
NE W YORK '. IMES
14 October 1986
U.S. Officials Linked to Airlift of Contra Supplies
By JAMES LSMOYNE-
Spe?W o0 me New York Tl~
SAN SALVADOR, Oct. 13 - Amer-
ican officials at least indirectly sup
ported Nicaraguan rebel supply flights
out of El Salvador, according to two
sources here.
They also said a longtime Central In-
telligence Agency employee identified
by an American Jailed in Nicarapta
was Involved In the operation.
The two sources have close knowl-
edge of El Salvador and have contact
both with C.I.A. agents and the man
flying supplies to the Nicaraguan
rebels from El Salvador. Both sources
said they support American aid to the
rebels and chose to speak because they
are angry about the "amateurishness's
of operations to aid the rebels.
It United States officials in Wash,.
ington are saying the U.S. Government
ihad nothting to do with this, they are
wrory," said one source.
Both sour es said the man named as
a C.I.A. agent, who uses the nom do
Max Gdaw& Is a Bay of POP A~
Inva-
slon In 1961 and has a long history of
C.I.A. work. but to probably no longer,
directly employed by the agency.
Wmwer, that Mr.
,
whoa they said, is
'If PlIft 10A.A.MN-1, "" in close touch
with cite CIA carries out CIA
(projects here. They said his work may
be indirectly financed by the C.I.A.
through Private Cuban-American
groups in Miami.
Eugene Hasentus, an American who
worked for the C.I.A. in Asia and who
was shot down last week over Nicara-
gua on a flight to supply rebels there,
told reporters in Managua that he was
supervised by two C,I.A. agents in El
Salvador named Max Gdmez and
Ramdn Medina.
The two sources here described Mr.
Gdmez as a hardened but charismatic
veteran of clandestine wars who wears
Che Guevara's wristwatch and carries
the revolutionary's photo in his wallet
They said Mr. Gdmez interrogated Mr.
Guevara for American intelligence
services shortly before the Argentine.
born colleague of Fidel Castro was
killed by the army in Bolivia in the late
Beside` aiding the Nicaraguan
rebels, Mr. Gdmez, as he is called by all
who knew him here, has concentrated
on directing C.I.A. projects. for the Sal.
vadoran Air Force. He is an expert on
helicopter tacticss==r and has created
rapid-rowtjon have badly blooleltlst sjuerthat
ril--
las here, the sources said.
"He in one of the heroes of this war,"
said one of the sources who has spent
time with Mr. Gdmez. "He has prob.
I ably done more than anyone to Im-
In practice, however. C.I.A. agents
may have violated the restrictions, ac.
cording to accounts provided by the
two sources. While an effort was made
to maintain "deniability" of C.I.A: in-
volvement in the supply operation,
C.I.A. agents in El Salvador and, possi-
bly, other American officials based in
Washington, helped organize, occasion-
ally monitor and perhaps even finance.
the rebel supply effort, one source said.
They also asked the Salvadoran Air
Force to permit it to continue, the
source addpeed
"The C.I.A. may not have run this
day-taday but a envy people are out
with the Salvadoran Air Force all the
time and I can tell you they had a hand
in this`" said the source who has close
contacts with the Air Force and the
C.I.A.
the military and hurt the guerril-
i Pro" Ode of the sources, who has proved
(highly t+eliable In the past, said another
man named as a C.I.A. agent by the
(American imprisoned in Nicaragua,
was also involved in rebel N El
Sal digits Irk for tlvad I.A. Thep
'source could not confirm this, hewSGCOW
wR
The Nicaraguan rebel supply opera-
tion has been bash at Ilopnngo, the
main military afrbass outside San Sal-
vador, the capital, for almost three
years, according to four different
sources
including American
officials. The Cennntrralt Intelligence
set up the operations when it
was ll legal to do so, the sources said.
One source with knowledge of cur-
rent supply operations and who has in-
timate the with the top echelons of the
military here, said the Salvadoran
Army high command is tired of taking
that responsibility ty for a clandestine effort
flcials supple because American of-
asked
Are Furlsu'
"Do you think the Salvadoran Gov-
ernment would let hundreds of guns
and big airplanes fly in and out of here
for more than a year taking stuff to the
guerrillas if the U.S. government didn't
tell them to?" the source asked "The
Salvadorans are furious for having to
takthe on this."
'life two sources who spoke in El Sal-
vador ~ sak! they did not have sufficient
spell out the exact de-
tails of official American support for
the Nicaraguan rebel supply effort. But
they both said it existed and they de-
scribed a large operation that appears
to have been designed to remain nar-
rowly within the technical limits of
Congressional restrictions on C.I.A. in-
volvement with the Ruerrillas.
Private Csstracssts Used
But only non-C.I.A. personnel wereused to carry #A the actual supply
work and private companies were
hired an oaotract to pnoalde supplies
and airplanes, the two sources said
All the air cargo companies and-per-
sosnsl so far Identified as pardeipatftw
odrobd supply operations out of El Sar.
or have a long history
of pan work
for the CIA They sense to have been
hired on contract to work In what is le-
gally a private capacity, the two
sources said, although American offi-
cials encouraged their Warts. that offi.
cialss had m~isledd Administration
organizations in
s in
an attempt to cover rebel operations
here by a wane vv gay led were bycaa retired ed out
American officer, MaJ. Gen. John K.
Singlaub. They said General, Singlaub
was not responsible for rushing the
operation here.
"This never would have happened
like this if the Agency knew what it was
tM~icy froCongress m hadn't stopped
don fighters against taa Maarrxisstt dicta-
torship in Nicaragua that is backed by
Russia, Cuba and East Germany," said
one source bitterly, i1nng~ man-
agement of the Nicaraguan rebels as
"a mess."
Vice President Bush said Saturday
that he had met Mr. Gdmez three times
and described him as a "patriot" who
is an adviser to the Salvadoran Govern-
ment's counterinar s ncy eff*t.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/06: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200970024-0