COMMANDO HELPED BLOW LID OFF ALLEGED PLOT TO KILL A PRESIDENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270025-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 25
• Publication Date: August 15, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270025-8
ARTICLE AP
ON PAGE
WASHINGTON POST
15 August 1985
Commando Helped Blow Lid Off'
Alleged Plot to Kill a President
By Charles It. Babcock
Washrgtq, Pont Stag Writer
On a steamy summer Florida
weekend, two former members of
an elite U.S. combat unit meet with
a foreign general and a Miami arms
dealer. The topic: a plot to assas-
sinate the president of a Central
American country.
The commandos later tell the
CIA and FBI about the scheme a
one agrees to work undercover to'
expose it. The mvestu tion in-
cludes secret videotapes of the sus-
pects aboard a yacht and taped dis-
cussions of a mule m llion-dollar
drug deal to finance the assassina-
tion.
If that sounds like an outline for a
new episode of "Miami Vice," it
isn't. It is a prosecutor's version of
how the U.S. government stopped
an alleged attempt last year to kill
the president of Honduras.
Arrests in the case made front
page news when announced last
November, but the role of the two
commandos in cracking the case
wasn't disclosed until later. Their
story will unfold in a Miami court-
room later this month when two of
the defendants, arms dealer Gerard
Latchinian and businessman Manuel
Binker, stand trial.
The soldiers are retired Army
colonel Charlie A. Beckwith, com-
mander of the ill-fated attempt to
rescue American hostages in Iran in
1980, and one of his Delta Force
comrades, retired major Charles D.
Odorizzi.
One of the prosecutors in the
case said Beckwith was "more John
Wayne than John Wayne" and Odo-
rizzi "deserves a medal" for his un-
dercover work. In fact, the U.S.
attorney in Miami gave Odorizzi an
"outstanding law enforcement of,
ficei" medal last month.
The investigation resulted in the
U.S. indictment of several men, in-
cluding former Honduran army
chief of staff, Gen. Jose Bueso-
Rosa, now the military attache in
Chile, on charges of attempting to
finance a political murder with a
drug deal.
The State Department has said
the case "again demonstrates the
link between drug trafficking and
international terrorism."
Latchinian's attorney, Laurel
White Marc-Charles, contends in
court papers that her client thought
he was dealing with U.S. authorities
because of Beckwith and Odorizzi's
background in secret military op-
erations. Beckwith testified that the
claim was ludicrous. Marc-Charles
also claims that Odorizzi, in his un-
dercover role, entrapped the defen-
dants by suggesting the assassina-
tion could be financed by a drug
deal.
Beckwith declined in a telephone
interview to discuss his role in de-
tail and Odorizzi could not be
reached for comment. But the tran-
script and exhibits from a pre-trial
hearing in April contain details of
their involvement that seem more
suited to a screenplay than reality.
Beckwith, who is now in the pri-
vate security business in Texas,
testified that he accompanied Odo-
rizzi to the meeting in Miami in July
1984 because he was "trying to get
my oar down in Latin America to do
a few things" and thought the dis-
cussion would center on a training
mission in Honduras. Instead, he
heard from the people he met that
"they wanted to take someone out."
Beckwith said he wasn't certain:
at first what was meant so he and
Odorizzi called another meeting the
next day. There they were told.
point-blank that the idea was to kill
Roberto Suazo Cordova, the pres-
ident of Honduras. Suazo has held
office since 1981, when he became
the first democratically elected
president in his country in more
than a decade.
Beckwith testified that when he
heard specifics of the alleged mur-
der plot, "I said, That is a hell of a
job to have to do.' I said, 'I'd have to
chew on this.' And T said it would
require a survey. Someone would
have to go down there and look it all
over. This is a big task to do. And
frankly, I was a looking for a real
nice soft way to get the hell out of
there."
He and Odorizzi met once more
with the alleged plotters and re-
ceived $3,000 for expenses, accord-
ing to the indictment. "I don't work
for nothing," Beckwith explained
last week.
On the way back to Texas, he
testified, "I remember that I said
what I have got to do is, I can't
mess around here and go to some
pissant about this. I have got to go
to someone high in the government
and inform them." Beckwith said he
didn't think assassinating the pres-
ident of Honduras was "a prudent
thing to do." And he said, "I didn't
think this would be good for Reagan
and this administration for that to
occur."
The next day he called John
McMahon, the deputy director of
the CIA, whom Beckwith knew
from his days with the to orce.
But McMahon was on vacation. A
week later he tried again, only to
to McMahon couldn't see him un-
til later in the week.
"I said, ' is is a hell of a way to
run a railroad. I got something here
I think is kind of sensitive, and I
want to see him.' " The word came
back that McMahon was booked up
at the time. Beckwith and orizzi
flew to Washington anyway and on
the plane the former eta Force
commander wrote a cryptic letter
tote CIA's deputy directo
"Eight days ago in Miami, my
partner and I were asked to devel-
r,a
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270025-8
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270025-8
CHARLIE A. BECKWITH
... led '80 raid to free U.S. hostages
op/undertake the necessary plan-
ning to execute a sensitive, critical
task. I believe the task is a vital ini-
tial first step to overthrow the cur-
rent regime with a specific Latin
country .... If you or your staff
have interest in the details of the
activities reflected in the above
paragraph, feel free to contact me."
The two men finally of to see
CT l g_
some
o cia s, __w No seemed
sur riled b news of the alleged
plot and sai t ey woul have to
turn it over tot e
" didn't e t- at, Beckwith re-
called at t e earin . j e to ee
thins kin o sma i n t t in the FBI ought to et involved in it."
In transferring the case tot e
FBI, a CIA official wrote IaT memo
saying that Beckwith and onzzi
were reluctant in t e two meetm s
they had with officers o 1 an
2 Au ust to provide full details of
their re ations i with tile]otters,
p tic r y t e ac kground as to
why they were brought in as con-
fidants."
Odorizzi testified at the hearing
that he was introduced to the al-
leged plotters by a business asso-
ciate in Miami who knew he was
looking for security work. Odorizzi
said he had traveled to Honduras a
few years earlier to try to sell his
skills in counterterrorism tech-
" ... My partner
and I were asked to
develop.** necessary planning
to execute a
sensitive, critical
task. I believe the
task is a ... first
step to overthrow
the current regime
with a specific
Latin country."
niques. "At the time it seemed that
that wasthe most marketable skill I
had on leaving the Army," he said.
The retired major, who recently
worked for the General Services
Administration doing a security sur-
vey of government buildings, is ex-
pected to be a major prosecution
witness at the trial.
For three months Odorizzi and an
undercover FBI agent pretended
they were helping to plan the assas-
sination plot. They met several
times with the alleged conspirators,
discussing the need for, explosives,
submachine guns with silencers,
night vision goggles and a jet plane
for making their getaway.
One tape-recorded discussion last
October shows that when arms
dealer Latchinian had trouble com-
ing up with the advance on the
$500,000 fee for the killing, Odo-
rizzi suggested he would take some-
thing besides cash: "about 10 kilo."
One of the alleged plotters, since
turned government witness, then
arranged to fly drugs into the coun-
try to finance the scheme.
One prosecutor said the case is
not that unusual for Miami. "Half
the people in the office are working
on cases like this," he said. "I think
it's the heat and humidity down
here. It's conducive to hare-brained
schemes."
Z.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270025-8