COMMANDO HELPED BLOW LID OFF ALLEGED PLOT TO KILL A PRESIDENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100460002-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 21, 2010
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 15, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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ARTICLE AP,
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WASHINGTON POST
15 August 1985
STAT Commando Helped Blow Lid Off
Alleged Plot to Kill a President
By Charles R. Babcock
waaI ta, Poxt slam wttur
On a steamy summer Florida
weekend, two former members of
an elite U.S. combat unit meet with
a foreign general and a Miami arms
dealer. The topic: a plot to assas-
sinate the president of a Central
American country.
The commandos later tell the
CIA and FBI about the 0WRe- a
one agrees to work undercover
expose it. The investigation in-
chides secret vxleotapes of sus-
dis-
pects aboard a yacht and tap
cussions r Of a multimillion-dollar
drug a-ml to finance the assassina-
tion.
If that sounds like an outline for a
new episode of "Miami Vice," it
isn't. It is a prosecutor's version of
how the U.S. government stopped
an alleged attempt last year to kill
the president of Honduras.
Arrests in the case made front
page news when announced last
November, but the role of the two
commandos in cracking the case
wasn't disclosed until later. Their
story will unfold in a Miami court-
room later this month when two of
the defendants, arms dealer Gerard
Latchinian and businessman Manuel
Binker, stand trial.
The soldiers are retired Army
colonel Charlie A. Beckwith, com-
mander of the ill-fated attempt to
rescue American hostages in Iran in
1980, and one of his Delta Force
comrades, retired major Charles D.
Odorizzi.
One of the prosecutors in the
case said Beckwith was "more John
Wayne than John Wayne" and Odo-
rim "deserves a medal" for his un-
dercover work. In fact, the U.S.
attorney in Miami gave Odorizzi an
"outstanding law enforcement of.
ficet" medal last month.
The investigation resulted in the
U.S. indictment of several men, in-
cluding former Honduran army
chief of staff, Gen. Jose Bueso-
Rose, nav the military attache in
Chile, on charges of attempting to
finance a political murder with a
drug dal.
The State Department has said
the case "again demonstrates the
link between drug trafficking and
international terrorism."
Latduinian's attorney, Laurel
White Marc-Charles, contends in
court papers that her client thought
he was dealing with U.S. authorities
because of Beckwith and Odorizzi's
background in secret military op-
erations. Beckwith testified that the
claim was ludicrous. Marc-Charles
also claims that Odorizzi. in his un-
dercover role, entrapped the defen-
dants by suggesting the assassina-
tion could be financed by a drug
deal
Beckwith declined in a telephone
interview to discuss his role in de-
tail and Odorizzi could not be
reached for comment. But the tran-
script and exhibits from a pre-trial
hearing in April contain details of
their involvement that seem more
suited to a screenplay than reality.
Beckwith, who is now in the pri-
vate security business in Texas,
testified that he accompanied Odo-
rizzi to the meeting in Miami in July
1984 because he was "trying to get
my oar down in Latin America to do
a few things" and thought the dis-
cussion would center on a training
mission in Honduras. Instead, he
heard from the people he met that
"they wanted to take someone out."
Beckwith said he wasn't certain.
at first what was meant so he and
Odorizzi called another meeting the
next day. There they were told.
point-blank that the idea was to kill
Roberto Suazo Cordova, the pres-
ident of Honduras. Suazo has held
office since 1981, when he became
the first democratically elected
president in his country in more
than a decade.
Beckwith testified that when he
heard specifics of the alleged mur-
der plot, "I said, 'That is a hell of a
job to have to do.' I said, 'I'd have to
chew on this.' And T said it would
require a survey. Someone would
have to go down there and look it all
over. This is a big task to do. And
frankly, I was a looking for a real
nice soft way to get the hell out of
there."
He and Odoriz i met once more
with the alleged plotters and re-
ceived $3,000 for expenses, accord-
ing to the indictment. "I don't work
for nothing," Beckwith explained
last week.
On the way back to Texas, he
testified, "I remember that I said
what I have got to do is, I can't
mess around here and go to some
pissant about this. I have got to go
to someone high in the government
and inform them." Beckwith said he
didn't think assassinating the pres-
ident of Honduras was "a prudent
thing to do." And he said, "I didn't
think this would be good for Reagan
and this administration for that to
occur."
The next day he called John
McMahon, the deputy irector o
the CIA. whom Beckwith
from his days with the to orce.
But McMahon was on vacation. A
week later he tried again, only to
to McMahon couldn't see him un-
til later in the week.
"I said, 'This is a hell of a way to
run a railroad. I got something here
I think is kind of sensitive, and
want to see him.' " The word came
back that McMahon was booked up
at the time. Beckwith and orizzi
flew to Washington anyway and on
the plane the former Delta orce
commander wrote a cryptic letter
to ts deputy director.
"Eight days ago in Miami, my
partner and I were asked to devel-
rt +
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/21 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000100460002-0