NICARAGUA VICTIMS TIED TO RECRUITING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440078-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 78
• Publication Date: September 4, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440078-2
ON PAGE
L
NEW YORK MMS
k September 1931:
NICARAGUA VICTIMS
TIED TO RECRUITING
U.S. Officials Say Insurgents
Are Attracting Volunteers
By PHILIP TAUBMAN
Spedal to The New York Timc
WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 - Govern-
ment officials said today that two men
killed when Nicaragua shot down a
rebel helicopter were American
mercenaries apparently recruited by
rebel sympathizers to make up for the
withdrawal of official American aid.
The two men, who were killed on Sat-
urday, have not been identified.
The officials said that the recruit-
ment effort was intended to raise
monev and attract military advisers as
American aid declined because of Con-
gressional opposition.
{ Nicaraguan rebel representatives in
!the United States, while denying that
they had recruited mercenaries, said
they, were trying to raise funds in
Miami, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San
Francisco and other cities .with His-
panic populations.
Nicaragua said the rebel helicopter
had been shot down after it and four
small planes had attacked a military
training school in Santa Clara, near the
Honduran border, killing four children.
Today the Nicaraguan Government
made public a photograph of one of the
three men aboard the rebel helicopter r Rebels
who died in the incident. He is a light- r He said in an interview on Sunday
haired, white male who reportedly diedthat he assumed the C.I.A. learned
from a bullet wound in the head after .about the men and the incident from
the craft was shot down. American offi- tre ea ens a d n`ot b~
dais said he might have shot himself to lieve a t e ow a singes
avoid being captured. the agency was som ow invved.
On Sunday' Defense Minister Hum- r. "Dar committee u going o ve to
bento Ortega aav say e t t- `get answers but, for the moment, I
haired man was suspect to t)e an -think our Government is leveling with
Amencan intelligence agent-or king , m,- Senator Moynihan said today in an
With the re ebb. interview on the CBS Morning News.
~'f 6e boatel of-the two other men were " , Later he said in an interview, ""These
burned beyond recognition,- according people have names e a to et
to Nicaraguan authorities. They said ;visas to o to Hon urns a =
no identification had been found on any should be able to get all this anget tt
of the bodies. $-I-CI .
Ter deaths 1ues in the the first He said the agency's d u r
American casts esm the t ree yearorations, Clair rge, to d
insurgency against ffie aria nisa v= litm to3ayat it still cliid not know e
e nment, aye once aQgtn'T ciis t- i3enu`of-ifne o mein or names
tention on the rebels and their links to o e rive o' r3 who traveled to on-
t~~en ral~ntelIngerice Agenc-y--. as last week.
Conesessiioo-concern ac~ut aid to `~s tTie mt ion that Congress ap-
the rebels, fueled in part by fears that proved for rebel operations has run
the loss of American lives could draw down, the rebel group known as the
the United States into a more direct, Nicaraguan Democratic Force has in-
military confrontation, has increased tensified its activities in the United
during the past year. The House has States. It has placed advertisements in
voted four times since last summer to pewspapers appealing for aid.
cut off support for the rebels.
Moynihan Expects an Inquiry
Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan,
the New York Democrat who is vice
chairman of the Senate Select c,o it-
tee on nTIte nI genre said today that the,
i panel would investi te whether the
t I.A Fnad any-connection with the
mercenaries.
e sari a had been assured by the
,agenc that it was not associated with
tionsainst involving anv Govern-
mnt emp"Thyees, or anyone woritin on
contract for the Government E m
nary activities Inside Nicaragua.
fihe agency told Senator Moynihan
on Sunday that the two men came from
a group of seven that traveled last
week from New Orleans to Honduras to
join the rebels. The Senator said intelli-
gence officials had also informed him
that the helicopter was on a reconnais-
n~uuss' _3o-- after a epelgmat-
: tack on a military outmost to Santa
:-Clara.
li%"es in Miami, said today that the in-
surgents had not paid anyone to advise
them on military matters, but had re-
ceived assistance from a number of
private Americans he described as
"voluntary advisers."
Periodic Trips to Honduras
He said that the Americans, most of
them military veterans, visited Hon-
duras periodically to advise the rebels.
He said he did not know whether the
men killed on Saturday, or the five
others who traveled from New Orleans
last week, were in that category.
"All I know is that we do not use
mercenaries," Mr. Callejas said.
United States Government officials
said the Nicaraguan rebels had also re-
ceived official and private aid from Is-
rael, Taiwan, Guatemala and El Salva-
dor.
Rebel representatives have been
most active in Miami and New Orleans
because those cities have large Nicara-
guan communities, according to rebel
leaders. One representative said the
rebels had used New Orleans as a
departure point for travel by private
American advisers to Honduras.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000404440078-2