AMERICAN HELD IN NICARAGUA SPEAKS TO PRESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200880027-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 14, 2010
• Sequence Number: 27
• Publication Date: October 2, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

y
g
planes
River. used to drop supplies by para.
The Nicaraguan was one of the a leftist insurgency. chute to its forces in Nicaragua.
three men kkilled in the crash, ac. Secretary of State George P. Shultz
cording to illed us. said in Washington that the plane NBC-TV News, quoting unidenti-
did not belong to the U.S. govern. fied contra officials, reported last
Nicaraguan officials said Hasenfus ment. night that Americans were involved
identified the other two men killed He said the aircraft "wasn't an in a cargo operation to supply the
as Americans William H. Cooper, the American cargo plane" but was hired rebels. The officials said that each
pilot, of Southern Air Transport Co. by "private people," including Amer. man got several thousand dollars per
of Miami, and Wallace Blaine Sawyer icans. He did not name the people. Bight and that at least two flightsea
Jr., the co-pilot. No home towns wer' "They had no connection with the month were made from a secret base
STAT given. ~~ government at au_" Shnlr, id in El Salvador, all financed by a
Nicaragua had said initially the
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ARTICLE APetAFW
ON PAGE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
2 October 1986
"'"?' `? to "`? "=
I doesn 't work for us and CIA is
sitesaid they asked Hasenfus what not involved. ere are con es- United Press international contrib-
he was doing in Nicaragua. They said stop restrictions on assistance to uted to this article.
he responded, "I was shot out of the the contras, and we do not break
sky." those r ctions
It was not clear from Hasenfus' ink sconsin, Hasenfus'wife, Sally,
brief remarks whether he was a mili- said of her husband in a telephone
tary man or a civilian. Pentagon offi- interview yesterday: "I don't know
cials said a man named Eugene Ha- where he is and what he's doing. I
senfus had served as a Marine and only know what I see on the TV, too,
was honorably discharged in 1966. and I really don't know any more."
The camouflage-painted plane was A brother, William Hasenfus, 47, of
shot down with a Soviet-made sur- Oshkosh, Wis., said Eugene Hasenfus
face-to-air missile at a spot 35 miles began working last summer for an
north of Costa Rica and 91 miles air freight company in Florida
southeast of Managua, Sandinista of- whose name and location he did not
ficials said.
American held The New Nicaragua news agency know. He said that Eugene was a
reported yesterday that the aircraft former Marine and that the brothers
had been downed by "special forces" once ran a parachuting school.
?
n~~ of the Sandinista People's Army. Spe. Pentagon officials said they were
in i cial missile-toting units are said to not sure whether the Eugene Hasen-
have been operating in the area dur- fus the Pentagon had in its records
S~ to ing the last few months, reportedly as a former Marine corporal was the
tracking the flight paths of contra same man captured in Nicaragua.
" supply planes. The Hasenfus in its records is 45
^"' - Hasenfus was captured by Sandi. years old and served on active duty
MANAGUA, Nicaragua - The sur- nista troops "at the moment he in the Marines from May 9, 1960, to
viving crewman held in Nicaragua jumped by parachute," the pro-Sandi- June 17, 1965, and was honorably
after his cargo plane was shot down nista daily El Nuevo Diario said. discharged on May 13, 1966. He was
said yesterday that he was an Ameri- A Nicaraguan military helicopter assigned to Camp Pendleton, Calif.,
can aviation specialist who boarded picked Hasenfus up at the crash site, and had no overseas duty. His home
the aircraft in El Salvador after it a remote jungle area north of the San town was listed as Marinette, Wis.
began its journey in Miami. Juan River, and he was flown to Several groups of contras have
Eugene Hasenfus, 45, of Marinette, Managua last night. The three men's fought the Sandinistas for 4!12 years.
Wis., was allowed to speak to local bodies were reported to be still at the The United States supports them, and
reporters briefly in San Carlos, Nica- crash site. a bill authorizing sloo million in
ragua, near the site where he para- The Defense Ministry said the military and humanitarian aid is
chuted to the ground and was cap- downed plane, tentatively identified pending in Congress.
tured after a surface-to-air missile as a DC-6 or a C-123, carried 50,000 The bill, however, would continue
hit the plane. rounds of ammunition for Soviet- the congressional ban on using U.S.
The Nicaraguan government has made AK67 rifles, rocket-propelled military personnel in support of the
said that Hasenfus was a U.S. military grenades, dozens of automatic rifles, contras, including U.S. advisers on
adviser from El Salvador, on a plane jungle boots and other military sup. Nicaraguan soil.
that was downed Sunday while carry- plies. The Nicaraguan Defense Ministry
ing weapons and ammunition for Alejandro Bendana the Forei had said the plane was shot down at
Nicaraguan rebels, known as con- Minis secretar - ener sa e
tras. It said the three other men ter av on - s Good Morning
aboard were killed 12:45 p.m. Sunday. Americans famil-
America ro ram that the lane was iar with contra aid flights said it has
U.S. on a operation with opera- been common to use El Salvador's
U.S. officials said yesterday that fives." airport in supplying the rebels, but
the plane and its crew members had added that a flight aboard a slow
no connection with the American "You have U.S. citizens now dying plane into Nicaragua during mid-day
government. in Mr. Reagan's war against Nicara. was considered highly risky.
Hasenfus said the plane flew from gua," Bendana said.
Miami, picked him up in El Salvador, He said the survivor "describes The largest contra group, the Nica-
then took a Nicaraguan aboard in himself as a U.S. military adviser raguan Democratic Force, said in Te-
Honduras and entered Nicaraguan stationed in El Salvador." The United gucigalpa, Honduras, that the plane
airspace from Costa Rica at a site States has about 55 military advisers did not belong to it. The group has a
known as La Noca on the San Juan in El Salvador to help the arm
ht small
fleet of propeller-driven air-
fi
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