U.S. OVERSAW SUPPLIES TO REBELS, OFFICIALS SAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790016-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: December 8, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790016-5
8 December 1986
tIS Oversaw Supplies
YTo Rebels Officials Say
the rebels early this year when such
,Rights were legal under the State De-
partment's program to send them
nonlethal aid.
But many of the same American
night crews, planes and airfields were
.used then and later to deliver weaponsi
to the rebels, according to American of-I
ficials and Americans who flew the,
guns to the rebels.
'Stretching the Meaning'
. Jr
4aJs in Central America were more in-
volved in the covert program to supply
'jVicaraguan rebels than they at first in-
dicated, according to three American
,diplomats and to Americans who flew
guns to the rebels.
- United States officials apparently
,#aided approval from Central Amer-
ican governments for supply flights to
"They're stretching the meaning of
private when they talk about this," said
an American who flew on the rebel
"flights. "It would be more accurate to
say that this was a privately run opera-j
tion that was officially manipulated."
United States officials in El Salva.
dor, Honduras and Costa Rica kept
close track of the secret weapons
flights to the contras throughout the
program and in some instances appear
to have helped them, according to
American flight crews and to three
American officials, .
But they said daily management of
the program was purposely left to pri-
vately contracted American flight
crews. These, they said, were aided by
three Cuban-Americans, all former
C.I.A. agents.
The prohibition against daily involve-
ment was forced by Congressional re-
strictions against aiding the contras
militarily, according to two American
diplomats.
Rebel Plane Is Downed FL
edly said the flights were strictly pri-
vate.
Three American officials said the
United States Ambassador to El Shiva.
dor, Edwin G. Corr, was regularly in-
formed of the secret supply effort,
which was based at the main Salvado.
ran Air Force base at Ilopango.
An embassy spokesman said such
monitoring was a necessary part of the
Ambassador's work and that no Amer-
ican official had done anything "illegal
or improper" in regard to the rebel
supply program.
In Costa Rica, those involved in the
program built a secret airstrip last
March in the town of Liberia near the
sensitive Nicaraguan border with the
help of the local police commander. Ac-
cording to a close friend of. the com-
mander, he kept in frequent contact
with American Embassy officials.
Two Americans who flew weapons
from the airstrip said it was built by
three Americans who had been con.
tracted by Richard Gadd, a retired
American military officer who also
had a State Department contract to de-
liver nonlethal aid to the contras. They
said the same crews that flew the
nonlethal aid new the guns to the
rebels. Mr. Gadd has refused to com-
ment.
Pressure Called Intense
When the present Costa Rican Gov-
ernment took office this year, it closed
the airstrip as part of a crackdown on
contra operations. The action brought
an appeal from American officials "for
a little more help" for the rebels, ac-
cording to a senior Costa Rican official.
"You wouldn't believe the pressure we
were under," the official said.
Civilian and military officials in El
Salvador and Honduras said in inter-
views in recent weeks that they permit-
ted the covert program to begin be-
cause they were told by American offi-
cials that it had official American
backing. It appears that only such offi-
cial backing allowed the contra supply
flights to regularly enter Honduran air-
space at odd hours along the volatile
Nicaraguan border, which is monitored
24 hours a day by a highly sophisti-
cated radar that until recently was
overseen by an American military ad-
viser, according to diplomats in Hon-
duras.
Official American backing also ac-
counts for why the American air crews
on rebel planes were given a ware-
house at the main Salvadoran air base
By JAMES LeMOYNE
SWIM to 11w New Yu,k 1Imes
Arms Pledge Reported
According, to two Nicaraguan rebel
officials, the C.I.A. promised weapons
to rebel combat units along the border
in May and June. Under legally permit-
ted "intelligence sharing," a C.I.A.
agent asked the rebels if they were in
need of guns, one contra official said,
with the understanding being that an
affirmative answer meant that arms
would be delivered.
According to three Americans who
delivered the promised weapons, the
three Cuban-Americans working as
liaisons for the supply program based
in El Salvador carried the orders for
where and when arms were to be de-
l
ivered.
One of the agents, code-named
"Ralph," was referred to as "The
Traveler" because he shuttled-between
the United States, Costa Rica, Hon-
duras and El Salvador, setting up
weapons drops. There is no evidence
that Ralph, who is believed to be Rafael
intero a former C.I.A. agent, met
"~ uve C. .A. operatives.
But telephone records from rebel
safe houses in El Salvador show suc-
cessive telephone calls on the same
days to what appears to be the home of
a C.I.A. agent in Costa Rica and to the
American Embassy there, as well as to
a White House office used by Lieut. Col.
Oliver L. North and to the company of
Richard V. Secord, a retired United
States Air Force general. General Se-
cord appears to be a key intermediary
in both contra and Iran arms deals.
Colonel Said to Be involved
at Ilopango, were issued Salvadoran In El Salvador, according to two
Air Force identity cards and were al- Americans who flew contra supply
lowed to keep safe houses in the capital missions, Col. James Steele, the head of
of San Salvador. the United States Embassy military
In addition, the chief former-C.I.A. group, monitored the operation and
operative in the program, F ix was at the military airport several
Rodri ue as given a United rates times when weapons supply flights left
identity card and radio, ac. for Nicaragua. Other American mili-
cording to embassy officials. Several tary men and C.I.A. agents were also at
Americans who flew on the secret the airport, the crew members said.
flights said they often met American In addition, members of the embas
The supply flights came to light whe
a rebel cargo plane was shot down ove
Allcaragua two months ago. Since then
Administration officials have repeat-
officials during their work in El Salva- sy's military group lent handguns to
dor and Honduras. some rebel flight crews for their per-
Two members of the American Em- I sonal use, one of the American crew
bassy military group in El Salvador members said.
monitored weapons flights, as did According to Eugene Hasenfus, the
C.I.A. agents at the main contra air American crew member who was cap-
base in Aguacate in Honduras, the cured when a Nicaraguan unit shot
crew n embers said. In some instances down the rebel plane two months ago,
it appears that American officials may killing three other crew members,
have aided weapons flights, particu. Colonel Steele once visited a rebel safe
larly in helping arrange arms drops to house to reprimand contra ?light crews
rebel units operating in Nicaragua for being undisciplined, forcing the
near the Costa Rican border. I departure of three pilots.
An American official in El Salvador
said it was true that Colonel Steele had
Ccntlnued
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790016-5
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790016-5
reprimanded rebel flight crews for
rowdiness and had also kept Ambassa-
dor Corr informed of "what was going
on with the contra flights."
But the American official insisted;
that Colonel Steele had not "directed or,
participated" in the rebel flights. An
Administration official said that there
were arguments within the United;
States Government about the supply
program and that C.I.A. agents had
complained that it was poorly run, a?
conclusion that was reinforced when
incriminating documents were found in:
the plane downed in Nicaragua.
In contrast, a Nicaraguan rebel offi-
cial noted that when a C.I.A. contra
supply plane crashed in Costa Rica in
1983, no documents were found and the
C.I.A. agent in charge of the operation
ordered that haws be removed from
bodies to prevent dental identification.
But when asked if American officials,
felt it had been worth supporting such a
high-risk operation with so little appar-
ent daily control, a senior American
diplomat in Central America said in an
interview that the answer might be af-,
firmative. "The hard-liners in Wash-
ington probably think it was worth-
while," he said. "They paid a cost, but
they kept the contras alive until Con-
gress approved new military aid to
them."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/28: CIA-RDP90-00965R000403790016-5