NICARAGUA REBELS REPORTED TO HAVE NEW FLOW OF ARMS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706630017-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2011
• Sequence Number: 17
• Publication Date: January 13, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706630017-5
iiCMRGUA REBELS
DEPORTED TO NAVE
PEE!"il FLOW OF ANIIS
AMERICAN HELP REPLACED
U.S. Officials Say Honduras,
El Salvador and Israel Are
Increasing Aid Levels
By PHILIP TAUBMAN
Speda: to The New York TSmn
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 - Honduras
and El Salvador have replaced the
United States as key sources of aid to
Nicaraguan rebels, according to Rea-
gan Administration officials and mem-
bers of Congress.
At the same time, they said, Israel
has also increased its aid to the rebels,
providing more weapons and advice.
The officials said that although the
three countries began assisting the
rebels several years ago, the level of
their support and its importance to the
insurgents increased as assistance
from the United States diminished and
eventually ended during 1984.
Public Denial on Aid
Salvadoran and Honduran officials,
while denying publicly that their Gov-
ernments have been helping the rebels.
have said privately that aid has been
provided. El Salvador and Honduras
are heavily dependent on United States
aid.
Officials in Israel, which also gets a
large amount of military and economic
aid from the United States, have also
denied aiding the rebels.
The reported support has raised
questions in Congress on whether
American arms and other supplies sold
or given to Honduras, El Salvador and
Israel are being diverted to the Nicara-
guan rebels. Such a diversion is barred
by both foreign aid legislation and a
specific ban on American aid to the
rebels.
Ammunition From Honduras
As United States rid to the rebels rt:n
opt last year, the officials and lawmak-
ers said, Honduras became a major
supplier of ammunition to the insur-
gents, and El Salvador took over the
job of maintaining the rebels' small air
force.
DT'I'' YnPJ: T'1`'7c
13 January 19S5
Representative Joseph P. Addabbo,
Democrat of Queens and chairman cf
the defense subcommittee of the House
Appropriations Committee, said in a
recent letter to Secretary of State
George P. Shultz, "I am concerned that
countries receiving U.S. foreign assist-
ance aid may be utilizing a portion of
such aid to assist the 'contras' and, in
so doing, effect a rather devious con-
travention of the law."
Administration officials denied that
any United States foreign aid had been
funneled to the rebels.
The State Department, commenting
on the Addabbo letter, said: "As we
have stated before, the United States
has not provided funds to third coun.
tries for the purpose of supporting cov-
ert activities in Central America. We
are not in a position to comment on al-
legations of activities pursued inde-
pendently by other nations."
The recent Honduran assistance, ac.
cording to one Administration official,
has included "tons of ammunition." He
said that although there is no formal
agreement with Honduras that the am-
munition would be replaced by the
United States, it is understood by both
American and Honduran officials that
"Honduras won't end up with a short-
I age of bullets."
Administration officials said this In-
direct method of aiding the rebels fol-
lowed a pattern set in 1902 and 1953
when Honduras supplied the insurgents
with more than 6,000 R^_lgicn auto-
matic rifles.
The Hondurans gave the rebels the
rifles, which one former Honduran
military officer said were "like new,"
after the Honduran Army got new auto-
matic rifles from the United States, Ad.
ministration officials and members of
Congress said.
Honduran civilian and military lead-
ers have recently distanced themselves
from Washington, asking for increased
military and economic aid In return for
continued Honduran security coopera-
tion with the United States. They have
also announced that the rebels are no
longer welcome to train troops and op-
erate base camps in Honduras.
Airfield Assistance Reported
Despite these statements, Honduras
has increased aid to the rebels, Admin-
istration officials and members of Con-
gress said.
. The Salvadoran aid, the officials
said, consists primarily of letting the
.rebels use Salvadoran military air-
fields to base their aircraft, which in-
clude several observation planes and
Cessnas modified for military mis-
sions.
The Salvadoran Air Force has helped
maintain the planes, and has provided
fuel and ground-control support, Ad-
ministration officials said. When the
planes were based in Honduras at air-
,fields maintained by the United States
Central Intelligence Agency, these sup-
port activities were financed by the
United States, the officials added.
Israel, which started aiding the
rebels in 1983, has continued to provide
them with Soviet arms captured in
Lebanon during the Israeli invasion in
1982, according to Reagan Administra-
tion officials. They said Israeli ship-
ments of rifles, grenades and ammuni-
tion to the rebels had picked up since
last summer when United States aid
began to run out.
Nicargua Gets Soviet Aid
At the same time, Administration of-
ficials note that Nicaragua's Sandin-
ista Government received $100 million
in military aid from the Soviet Union
and other Eastern-bloc countries in
1983, most of it in weapons.
The Honduran, Salvadoran and Is-
raeli help is one of several Issues in-
volving the insurgents that are likely to
be debated in Congress over the next
several months as the Administration
seeks to resume aid to the rebels.
American aid was stopped last year by
Congress.
In October Congress approved S14
million for, the rebels for this fiscal
year but tied the money to a second
vote by Congress after February.
The handling of the rebel operation
by the intelligence agency is expected
to be scrutinized by the intelligence
committees in the Senate and House,
both of which have new leaders.
C.I.A. Spending Investigated
The House Select Committee on In.
telligence, now headed by Representa.
tive Lee H. Hamilton, Democrat of In.
diana, is investigating reports that the
intelligence agency spent more than
the ceiling of $24 million for rebel aid
set by Congress for the 1984 fiscal year,
which ended last Sept. 30. The commit-
tee, in a report issued Jan. 2, said it had
"identified several possible depar.
tures" from the authorization. The re-
port added that the committee "has or-
dered a further review of these mat-
ters."
One committee member said this
week that the intelligence agency
charged some costs of the rebel pro-
gram to accounts other than the ones
covered by the S24 million. He said, for
example; that part of the cost of print.
ing a rebel manual on guerrilla war-
fare was charged to the Office of Tech-
nical Services.
In another case, he said, the salaries
of some agency employees sent to Hon-
duras to work with the rebels was cov.
ered by normal payroll accounts.
The.agency also paid the living ex.
penses for the families of several rebel
leaders, but those costs were not
charged to the $24 million account, he
said.
Questioned About Accounting
A CIA spokesman, Cathy Pherson,
declined to comment on the agency's
accounting practices. She said that any
questions would be handled directly be-
tween the agency and Congress.
"We respond to all questions raised
by the Senate and House Intelligence
committees," she said.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706630017-5
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706630017-5 OZ-
When asked about their accounting
practices during committee hearings
last year, intelligence agency officials
said they had been using the same
procedures for decades, intelligence
committee members said.
Last June tha Senate Select Commit.
tee on Intelligence, after looking into
similar accounting practices involving
the rebel program, concluded that they
were legitimate.
But the House intelligence commit-
tee said in the report issued last week
that, in general, the C.I.A. "did not
have adequate command and control of
the entire Nicaraguan covert action."
The Senate committee, now directed
by Senator Dave Durenberger, Repub-
lican of Minnesota, reached a similar
conclusion in a recent report.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706630017-5