CIA SECRETLY GIVES FUNDS TO CONTRAS FOR POLITICAL USE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504130038-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 38
• Publication Date: April 14, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130038-1
tiRTICIE LOS ANGELES TIMES
r ON PAGER 14 Apri 1 1986
CIA Secretly Gives Funds
to Contras for Political Use
~f BY DOYI.E McMANU5, Times Stajj Writer
WASHINGTON-The CIA has
secretly given Nicaraguan rebels
more than i1.5 million for their
political operations since last Au-
gust. U.S. officials and rebel leaders
said Sunday.
Even though Congress has
banned the CIA from playing any
direct role in the rebels' war
against the leftist Nicaraguan re-
gime, the covert aid is not illegal,
officials said. But it has given the
CIA considerable influence over
the top leadership of the contrna, as
the rebels are known.
The covert political funding was
provided in addition to the i2?
million in overt U.S. aid to the
rebels approved by Congress last
year. By law, the overt aid cannot
be used to pay for either political
action or weapons, and has been
spent mostly on food, medicine and
uniforms.
In approving the overt funding,
Congress prohibited the CIA from
any mle in administering the pro-
gram, but it did not ban the agency
from helping the contras with
non-military operations. Congres-
The CIA program has also be- atonal sources said the agency had
come an issue in the contras' told the House and Senate intelli-
internal squabbles, with members Bence committees of the covert
of one faction charging ghat the Political fund, and neither panel
Reagan Administration has fa- has moved to cut off the program.
vored another with its secret aid. ~ A CIA aeokeswoman_ Kathv
"They are trying to run things
again, instead of letting us run
them.... That has created a lot of
resentment."
On Tuesday, the House is sched-
uled to consider for the second time
the Administration's request for
5100 million-of which S70 million
would be military aid and i30
million humanitarian aid-to fund
the contras for 18 months. Similar
legislation has already passed the
Senate.
The CIA's recent covert funding
went to the rebels' umbrella group,
the United Nicaraguan Opposition
(UNO), to maintain offices in Mi-
ami, Honduras and Costa Rica,
support clandestine radio stations
and pay for contra leaders' travel in
search of foreign political backing.
Internal UNO records obtained
by The Times show the organiza-
tion's total receipts from August,
1985, through January, 1986, at
more than 81.5 million, and contras
officials said that virtually all that
money came from the CIA. They
said the agency has continued
funneling aid into the group's off-
shore bank accounts since January
but refused to supply any figures.
instead of being our allies, they are
our bosses," one leader of the
contras complained, speaking on
condition that he not be identified.
"The agency people act is if, Pherson, said the aRenc will have
no conunent on anv
reoorta of
covert
.But
" e
ve
com lied
as always
,
~~ngreaa'on reatrictiona~
AstMatfe Aaeerds
U.S. officials confirmed that the
rebel organizaUon's records ob-
tained by The Times are authentic.
The documents include the group's
back financial accounts for the six
months from last August thmugh
January, showing expenditures of
almost i1.3 million on political
operations during that period.
Expenditures for January came
to =224,524, and one contras official
said that political expenses have
increased slightly since then-a
rate that could bring the total cost
of the program to more than !2
million by no~-.
While the political fund is ad-
ministered by the organization's
ad8ce in Miami, most of the money
is spent on projects run by the
individtwl groups within the alli-
ance, each of which fields its own
guerrilla armv.
The accounts showed that from
August through January, the Nica-
raguan Democratic Force, the
Honduras-based guerrilla army,
which was funded secretly by the
CIA before 1984, received =289,533
in political funds= KISAN, a Miskito
Indian grcxap that has allied itself
with the Democratic Force, re-
ceived 5290,000, and UNO/Gaels
Rica, a Costa Rica-based organiza-
uon led by veteran politician Al-
fonso Robelo.received 1407.463.
Among the largest projects fund-
ed by the covert aid were a
clandestine radio station in Costa
Rica, the "Voice of UNO"; the
Democratic Forces Honduras-
based radio station, "Radio Sep-
tember 15"; missions to Spain.
Venezuela and other countries to
seek political support for the con-
tras' war, and attempts to set up
representative offices in Paris, Ge-
neva and other European capitals.
But the largest single category of
expenses, the documents show, is
for bodyguards and other security
measures for organization leaders:
5297,84? was budgeted for security
during the period covered.
"There's nothing there to tie
ashamed of, as far as 1 know," said a
U.S. official familiar with the pro-
gram. "Everybody agrees that the
contras need to develop a greater
political identity."
Contras officials contended that
the documents showed it would be
difficult for much corruption to
exist within UNO because of the
strict accounting standards re-
quired by the CIA.
"Anyone who proposes a project
submits a budget. which has to be
approved by the regional direction
of UNO and then by the national
direction." said one official. "The
'viiami office then transfers funds.
but only against vouchers and
invoices. The vouchers have to be
made out in three copies, and one
goes to the CIA."
He said the organization's three
directors-Adolfo Calera of the
Nicaraguan Democratic Force. for-
mer Sandinista official Arturo Cruz
and Robelo-were empowered by
the CIA to approve or disapprove
projects, "within certain restric-
tions: We cannot publish things
aimed at the United States, and we
cannot use the money to travel to
Washington."
Several contras officials also
complained that the fund gives the
CIA financial leverage over their
political decisions, even though the
agency is barred from advising the
rebels on military actions.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/28 :CIA-RDP90-009658000504130038-1