2 U.S. REPORTERS CLAIM CIA, CONTRAS BEHIND ATTEMPT TO KILL PASTORA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880019-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 15, 2010
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: September 27, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880019-8
ARTI1.E APPEARED MIAMI HERALD
ON PAGE 16 27 September 1985
2 U.S. reporters claim CIA. contras
behind attempt to kill Pastora
sv.o+d to rh. Herald
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Two
American journalists claimed
Thursday that a bomb blast that
wounded anti-Sandinista rebel
leader Eden Pastora and killed
three journalists in May 1984 was
the work of a Libyan hired by
rival Nicaraguan guerrillas using
CIA money.
Tony Avirgan, who was wound-
ed in the bombing, and his wife,
Martha Honey, said their accusa-
tions were the result 'i a 1 R
month investigation financ G by
the American Newspaper
the New York-based Committee to
Protect Journalists and the World
Press Committee.
Avirgan, who was working for
ABC-TV as a cameraman at the
time of the blast, and Honey, who
does free-lance work for National
Public Radio and the British
Broadcasting Corp., told, a crowd-
ed news conference that the
bomber was Amac Galil, a Libyan
who was hired in Chile by two
officials of the Nicaraguan Demo-
cratic Force (FDN), the largest of
FILE ONO
the anti-Sandinista rebel groups
known as contras. They said Gall
was paid $50,000 by the CIA to
carry out the bombing.
U.S. officials in Costa Rica
denied the CIA connection to the
bombing. "I have seen the report,
one American official said. "I don't
want to rush to judgment but the
preliminary report I read is based
entirely on one or two shadowy
sources."
Many of the journalists' find-
ings, contained in a 166-page
report, were based on testimony
from a young Nicaraguan identi-
fled only as "David" and described
as a defector from anti-Sandinista
ranks who is now dead.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/15: CIA-RDP90-00552R000504880019-8