3 KEY FIGURES IN CONTRA SUPPLY LINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200920002-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: December 10, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200920002-9
ANII(;LtAPPEARED
NSW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE
10 December 1986
3 Key Figures in Con ra u lne
_ pin y
f The American airmen say Mr. Pose- Mr. Rodriguez was decorated by the
BY JOSEPH B. TREASTER da, who used the alias Ramon Medina. Salvadoran Government for his work
SPecul to The New York Timm was in charge of such administrative with the Salvadoran Air Force and one
MIAMI, Dec. 9 - Three veterans of matters as housing, ground transporta- foreigner who has closely studied the
the 1961 Bay of os invasion of Cuba, tion and daily living expenses and was Salvadoran military said? Mr.
all with long ties to the Central Intelli- referred to as "the caretaker." Rodriguez had "probably done more
Bence Agency and one of them an ac- Friends recall that in some Cuban exile than anyone to improve the military'
i
nst and hurt the guerrillas."
cused international terrorist, have 1 groups that organized raids aga
emerged as key figures in the clandes-I Cuba in the 1960's. Mr. Posada was in
Yet Officials of both the
l
tine air network that delivered tons of
weapons and ammunition to the anti-
Sandinista rebels in Nicaragua.
One of the veterans, Luis Poste
Carrile" 58-year-old expert in
warfare and demolitions, escaped
from a Venezuelan prison in August
1985 after being held for nearly 10
years on charges of masterminding a
bombing that destroyed a Cuban
airliner and killed 73 people. The case
is still pending in Venezuela.
According to American crew mem-
bers of the planes that carried the rebel
war materiel, the three Bay of Pigs
veterans were instrumental in setting
up the headquarters for the supply
operation in San Salvador and in coor-
dinating cargo drops to rebel units op-
erating inside Nicaragua.
Critics regard Mr. Posada, who has
devoted much of his life to trying to un-
dermine the Communist Government
of Fidel Castro, as a terrorist and say
his involvement with United States-
backed Nicaraguan rebels seems
starkly at odds with the Reagan Ad-
ministration's campaign against inter-
national terrorism. Supporters, how-
ever, regard Mr. Posada as a dedicated
Cuban nationalist and question the va-
lidity of the bombing charges.
U.S. Admits No Role
Reagan Administration officials
have refused to acknowledge Mr. Posa-
da's participation in the rebel supply
operation. Administration officials
have acknowledged that the United
States monitored the operation, but
they say it did not organize, finance or
direct it. However, many of those
whose participation has so far become
known have had long relationships with
United States intelligence services and
military forces.
One of the Bay of Pias veterans
warta
train helicopter crews In aerial am-
bu suit tact cs. w c r en s
said he learned on C.I.A. ooerat onT
South V t
eTh American crewmen say Mr.
Rodriguez, who was known in El Salva-
dor as Max Gomez, helped them get
permission to operate out of the main
base of the Salvadoran Air Force near
the capital of El Salvador and served
as liaison between them and senior Sal-
vadoran military officers. The Amer.
icans say Mr. Rodriguez also obtained
Salvadoran Air Force identification
cards for them.
o-
charge of supplies, including exp
sives.
Field Liaison With Contras
The third Bay of Pigs veteran, Ra-
fael Quin ere, who is believed to be in
his middle to late 40's, met with contra,
field commanders to determine what
supplies they needed and where they
wanted them dropped, then transmit-
ted the information to the headquar-
ters at Ilopango, the American iers
said.
The American airmen said Mr. Quin-
tero regularly shuttled between Miami,
San Salvador and the capitals of Costa
Rica and Honduras and was given the
nickname "The Traveler." They say he
also used the code name Ralph.
Cuban American friends here say
ttashington court that he had
accepted an advance of $30,000 against
a fee of $1 million from a former C.I.A.
agent, Edwin P. Wilson, to assassinate
a Libyan dissident in Egypt, but later
changed his mind.
The crew members said Mr.
Rodriguez had not originally been a
part of the rebel supply operation, but
that William J. Cooper, the chief pilot,
had turned to Mr. Rodriguez for help
because of his "local contacts" and
that Mr. Rodriguez and the two other
Bay of Pigs veterans soon became im-
portant members of the team.
A Connection to Bush
The airmen said tension arose be-
tween Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Cooper
as to who was in charge and that Mr.
Cooper seemed intimidated by asser-
tions from Mr. Rodriguez that he was a
friend of Vice President Bush. Mr.
Bush has referred to Mr. Rodriguez as
"a patriot" and said he met with him
three times, most recently at a recep-
tion in Miami an May 20 to mark
Cuba's independence.
According to many accounts, Mr.
Rodriguez and Mr. Posada worked for
about a year at the Ilopango air base.
They were often seen in the company of
military and civilian officials of the
United States and El Salvador as well
as members of the contra forces. At
least once, according to a United States
Embassy spokesman in El Salvador,
Mr. Rodriguez had lunch with the
United States Ambassador, Edwin G.
Corr.
ers deny any formal connection with ei-
ther Mr. Rodriguez or Mr. Posads.
The Pence of Mr. Rodriguez and
Mr. Posada in El Salvador and their
work on the contra resupply operation
was made public by Eugene Hasenfus,
a 45-year-old American who para-
chuted from a supply plane that was
shot down in Nicaragua in early Octo-
ber. Mr. Cooper and two others died in
the crash. Mr. Hasenfus has been sen-
tenced to 30 years in prison by a Nica-
raguan military court.
Ex-Otdclal Corroborates
David A. Phillips, a retired C.I.A. offi-,
cial who was in charge of the agency's
Latin American operations until 1975.1
said in an interview that the "stories in
the press" about Mr. Posada "seem
pretty accurate," adding. "I couldn't
think of anything to dispute, including
thie ~Y , saying he was connected to
A spokesman for the C.I.A. would not
say whether the three men had ever
worked for the agency
Friends of Mr. Rodriguez describe
him as a dedicated anti-Communist
and say they believe he worked without
salary in Central America. Sometimes,
the friends said, they paid for airline
tickets so that he could visit his wife
and two grown children here. There
have been persistent rumors that Mr.
Posada's escape from the Venezuelan
jail and his travel across the Caribbean
to El Salvador were financed by
wealthy Cuban-Americans in Miami.
In 1984 a group of Cuban-Americans
here formed a committee to raise
money for Mr. Posada, Dr. Orlando
Bosch, a Miami pediatrician and Iwo
others jailed in the Cuban airline
bombing. The group appealed to the
United Nations and Amnesty Interna-
tional to urge Venezuela to bring the
proceedings to a conclusion.
Dr. Armando Cruz and Dr. Alberto
Hernandez, two physicians who have
been identified in the past with the
committee, refused through their sec-
retaries to speak to a journalist. Sila
Cuervo, a Bay of Pigs veteran who has
also been identified with the commit-
tee, hung up shortly after a journalist
identified himself.
A Search of Phone Records
Mr. Cuervo is the godfather of one of
Mr. Posada's sons and, according to
records obtained from the Salvadoran
telephone company, received at least
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two calls from a telephone in one of two
safehouses used by the American air
crews in El Salvador and frequented by
Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Posada. The
telephone company records show a
number of calls to friends and relatives
of Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Posada in
Miami from the safehouses.
Friends and relatives say they have
spoken to Mr. Rodriguez and Mr.
Posad.. by telephone in the last few
weeks and that they are trying to keep
out of the public eye; some have
spoken to Mr. Rodriguez in the last few
days. He is believed to be in the United
States, possibly Miami. The two others
{are believed to be in Central America.
After the failure of the Bay of Pigs in.
vasion in 1961, Mr. Rodriguez, Mr.
,Posada and about 200 other partici-
pants were given commissions in the
United States Army. As many as 100 of
the invasion veterans, including some
who became army officers, continued
to work closely with the C.I.A. on hun-
dreds of attempts to destroy Mr. Cas-
tro's regime.
In 1967 Mr. Rodriguez was part of a
United States Army Special Forces
team in Bolivia that helped track down
Che Guevara, the Argentine-born revo-
lutionary colleague of Mr. Castro.
In Vietnam, friends say, Mr.
Rodriguez worked in helicopters of the
C.I.A.'s proprietary airline, Air Amer-
ica, and was shot down five times. In
the mid-70's, friends say, he began re-
ceiving a United States Government
disabiity pension.
In 1979 and 1980, Mr. Rodriguez,
worked as an arms broker in Miami
and later, for about two years, served
as an adviser to the Argentine military.
,Donald P. Gregjt. the national se-
curity adviser to Mr. Bush and a for-
mer C.I.A. official, has said that he
recommended Mr. Rodriguez for a job
with the Salvadoran Air Force at Mr.
Rodriguez's request. How Mr. Posada
came to join Mr. Rodriguez in the rebel
supply operation is not clear.
After officer training at Fort Ben-
ning, friends say, Mr. Posada spent
most of the 1960's in raids and sabotage
attacks against Cuba under the direc-
tion of the C.I.A. station in Miami. In
the late 1960's and early 1970's he
served as an counterinsurgency advi-
sor to the Venezuelan Army and even-
tually became chief of operations for
its national police.
In 1974 he opened a private security
agency in Venezuela and also, accord-
ing to one Miami friend, began manu-
facturing silencers for handguns. He,
was arrested in October 1976 on
charges of blowing up the Cuban airlin-.
er.
Q
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29: CIA-RDP91-00587ROO0200920002-9