US OVERSAW SUPPLIES TO REBELS, OFFICIALS SAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000200920003-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: December 8, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200920003-8
ON PAGES 11cw TUK& i iMt,
8 December 1986
tJ.S Oversaw Supplie
ldti To Rebels, Officials Say
_ ~~~~?~ n._.__ _rn I
f o a l s in Central America were more in- Two Americans who new weapons
.volved in the covert program to supply from the airstrip said it was built by
Nicaraguan rebels than they at first in- three Americans who had been con-
dkated, according to three American traded by Richard Gadd. a retired
?,diplomats and to Americans who flew American military officer who also
Assns to the rebels. had a State Department contract to de-
United States officials apparentl )aver nonlethal aid to the contras. They
,gained approval from central Amer- said the same crews that flew the
Ican? governments for supply flights to nonlethal aid flew the guns to the
the rebels early this year when such rebels. Mr. Gadd has refused to com-
,Aights were legal under the state De- ment.
partment's program to send them Pressure Called intense
nonlethal aid.
But many of the same American
tligitt crews, planes and airfields were
.j,ta?d then and later to deliver weapons
tY the rebels, according to American of-
ficials and Americans who new the!
guns to the rebels.
'Stretching the Meaning'
"They're stretching the meaning of
private when they talk about this," said
an American who flew on the rebel
"flights. "It would be more accurate to
By JAMES LeMOYNE
Sjtrul 10 11r New Ywk limes
Arms Pledge Reported
According, to two Nicaraguan rebel
officials, the C:I.A. promised weapons
to rebel combat units along the border
in May and June. Under legally permit-
ted "intelligence sharing," a C.I.A.
agent asked the rebels if they were in
need gurus, one contra official said,
the understanding being that an
with
affirmative answer meant that arms
would be delivered.
According to three A
h
mericans w
o
When the present Costa Rican Gov- i delivered the promised weapons, the
ernment took office this year, it closed' three Cuban-Americans working as
the airstrip as part of a crackdown on liaisons for the supply program based
contra operations. The action. brought in El Salvador carried the orders for
an appeal from American officials "for where and when arms were to be de.
a little
l
h
l
"
more
e
p
for the rebels ac
ivered
,- cording to a senior Costa Rican official. One of the agents, code-named
"You wouldn't believe the pressure we "Ralph," was referred to as "The
were under," the official said. ; Traveler" because he shuttled-between
Civilian and military officials in El j the United States, Costa Rica, Hon-
Salvador and Honduras said in inter- duras and El Salvador, setting up
tion that was officially manipulated."' cause they were told by American
ul1
dor, Honduras and Costa Rica kept
close track of the secret weapons
flights to the contras throughout the
program and in some instances appear
to have helped them, according to
American flight crews and to three
American officials. .
But they said daily management of
the program was purposely left to pri-
vately contracted American flight
crews. These, they said, were aided by
three Cuban-Americans, all former
C.I.A. agents.
The prohibition against daily involve-
ment was forced by Congressional re-
strictions against aiding the contras
41plomats.
Rebel Plane Is Downed
In addition, the chief former-C.I.A.
The supply flights came to light wh~ rf~ as givenYa United tates
? w....._ _.
a rebel cargo plane was sh
o
Alicaragua two months ago. Since then cording to embassy officials.aSeveral
Administration officials have repeat- Americans who new on the secret
edly said the flights were strictly pri- flights said they often met American
vate. officials during their work In El Salva-
Three American officials said the dor and Honduras.
Unfed States Ambassador to El Salva- Two members of the American Em-
dor, Edwin G. Co", was regularly In- bassy military group in El Salvador
formed of the secret supply effort, monitored weapons flights, as did
which was based at the main Salvado- C.I.A. agents at the main contra air
ran Air Force base at Ilopango. base in Aguacate in Honduras, the
An embassy spokesman said such crewglembers said. In some instances
monitorin was a necessary part of the it appears that American officials may
Ambassador's work and that no Amer- have aided weapons flights, particu-
ican official had done anything "illegal larly in helping arrange arms drops to
or improper" in regard to the rebel rebel units operating in Nicaragua
supply program. near the Costa Rican border.
In Costa Rica,,those involved. in the
program built a secret airstrip last
March in the town of Liberia near the
sensitive Nicaraguan border with the
help of the local police commander. Ac-
cording to a close friend of-the com-
mander, he kept in frequent contact
with American Embassy officials.
But telephone records from rebel
safe houses in El Salvador show suc-
cessive telephone calls on the same
days to what appears to be the home of
a C.I.A. agent in Costa Rica and to the
American Embassy there, as well as to
a White House office used by Lieut. Col.
Oliver L. North and to the company of
Richard, V. Secord; a retired United
States Air Force general, General Se-
cord appears to be a key intermediary
in both contra and Iran arms deals.
Colonel Said to Be Involved
In El Salvador, according to two
Americans who flew contra supply
missions, Col. James Steele, the head of ,
the United States Embassy military.
group. monitored the operation and
was at the military airport several
times when weapons supply flights left
for Nicaragua. Other American mill.
nary men and C.I.A. agents were also at
the airport, the crew members said.
In addition, members of the embas.
sy's military group lent handguns to
some rebel flight crews for their per-
sonal use, one of the American crew
members said.
According to Eugene Hasenfus, the
American crew member who was cap-
tured when a Nicaraguan unit shot
down the rebel plane two months ago,
killing three other crew members,
Colonel Steele once visited a rebel safe
house to reprimand contra flight crews
for being undisciplined
forcin
th
,
g
e
departure of three pilots.
An American official in El Salvador
said it was true that Colonel Steele had
Continued
[ . former C.JJL it]allt, met
operatives.
s.
clal oacuing allowed the contra supply
flights to regularly enter Honduran air-
space at odd hours along the volatile
Nicaraguan border, which is monitored
24 hours a day by a 'highly sophisti-
cated radar that until recently was
overseen by an American military ad-
viser, according to diplomats in Hon-
duras.
Official American backing also ac-
counts for why the American air crews
on rebel planes were given a ware-
house at the main Salvadoran air base
at llopango, were issued Salvadoran
Air Force identity cards and were al-
lowed to keep safe houses in the capital
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200920003-8
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200920003-8
reprimanded rebel flight crews for
rowdiness and had also kept Ambassa-
dor Corr informed of "what was going
on with the contra flights."
But the American official insist
that Colonel Steele had not "directed on
participated" in the rebel flights. An
Administration official said that there
were arguments within the United,
States Government about the suppl rj
program and that C.I.A. agents had
complained that it was poorly run, a,
conclusion that was reinforced when.
incriminating documents were found int
the plane downed in Nicaragua.
In contrast, a Nicaraguan rebel offi-'
cial noted that when a C.I.A. contra
supply plane crashed in Costa Rica in
1983, no documents were found and the
C.I.A. agent in charge of the operation
ordered that jaws be removed from
bodies to prevent dental identification.
But when asked if American officials,
felt it had been worth supporting such a
high-risk operation with so little appar-
ent daily control, a senior American
diplomat in Central America said in an
interview that the answer might be of-,
firmative. "The hard-liners in Wash-
ington probably think it was worth-
while," he said. "They paid a cost, but
they kept the contras alive until Con.
gress approved new military aid to
them."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/29: CIA-RDP91-00587R000200920003-8