PLANE ON ALLEGED CIA-CONTRAS MISSION CRASHES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706100001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 8, 2011
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 7, 1986
• Content Type: MISC

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706100001-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706100001-0
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706100001-0
Current listing of: T8500:3 10/07/86 03:40 Page:
Slug:pm-crash Date: 10/07/86 03:12:28
Category:UPlnawrw Story:a0369
10-7 0593 "Plane on alleged CIA-Contras mission crashes@< @*By ROBERT
SHEPARD@=
WASHINGTON (UPI) Evidence that the CIA is using unauthorized
funds to help the Nicaraguan Contra rebels has emerged from the fatal
weekend crash of a civilian cargo plane at an Air Force base in Texas, a
congressman is charging.<
In remarks to the House Monday, Rep. Henry Gonzalez, D-Texas, said
the plane that crashed and killed three crew members had been at Kelly Air
Force Base picking up explosives destined for the Contras in Nicaragua
before it crashed.<
He said the plane that crashed Saturday shortly after takeoff from
the base near San Antonio "was a CIA plane, actually contracted for _
really owned by - a company based in Florida.''<
Gonzalez said such aid is not authorized because Congress has not
given final approval for President Reagan's $100 million package of
military and economic aid for the U.S.-backed rebels trying to overthrow
the Nicaraguan government.<
Both the House and Senate have approved the aid but are still
working on a compromise version of an underlying fiscal 1987 spending bill
for Reagan to sign into law.<
" The CIA is doing things with money it has not received from the
Congress,'' Gonzalez charged. '(The $100 million) is being used in advance
through administrative contortions.''<
Lt. Col. Ed Cooke, public affairs director at the base, said the
24,841 pounds of cargo on board the crashed plane included 20 rocket motors
used in ejection seats, 14 rocket catapults for the seats, common materials
such as duct tape _ and an undisclosed amount of "classified equipment.''<
At least 18 of the explosive devices were consumed by a fire, Cooke
said.<
He said the aircraft, the civilian equivalent of the military's
huge C-130 transport planes and a longer version of the civilian Hercules
L-100, was flying to Warner Robins Air Force Base south of Macon, Ga.<
The plane was owned by Trans-America and was leased and operated by
Southern Air Transport, based in Miami.<
Of the 900 flights at Kelly each month, about 330 are contracted
through civilian firms such as Southern Air for freight movement, Cooke
said. Southern Air has two flights a day seven days a week at the Texas
base, he added.<
In a telephone interview with UPI, Gonzales said Southern, "as
have a host of others, has been for some time widely reported and known as
doing contract work for the CIA.<
11 There's no question that this was a CIA-directed operation - or
at least CIA coordinated _ for shipment eventually reaching Central
America,'' he said.<
In Managua, Nicaragua, the Defense Ministry said late Monday that
government troops shot down a plane supplying arms to the Contra rebels,
apparently killing three people and capturing a fourth who said he was a
U.S. military adviser in El Salvador.<
Nicaragua said the captured man identified the three casualties as
Americans and said he was Eugen Hafenfuf, 35, a U.S. military adviser
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706100001-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706100001-0
Current listing of: T8500:3 10/07/86 03:40 Page:
03:40 in El Salvador. It said the plane was shot down Sunday inside
Nicaragua, near its border with Costa Rica.<
In Washington, the Defense and State departments had no comment on
the report, and the U.S. Embassy in San Salvador also declined to comment.<
< ^ = ^upi 10-07-86 03:13 aed=
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/08: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706100001-0