LEGALITY OF TIES TO CONTRAS QUESTIONED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270011-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: October 15, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270011-3
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WASHINGTON POST
15 October 1986
Legality of Ties to Contras Questioned
Report by Sen. Kerry Seeks Probe Into Alleged Supply Network
By .Joanne Omang
and Charles R. Babcock
1Y.i.I 4tou P-t it.d( WYr,trr,
Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.)
yesterday outlined allegations from
more than 50 sources that he said
raise "serious questions about
whether the United States has
abided by the law" in its relations
with Nicaraguan rebels, known as
contras, over the last three years.
The 12-page interim report by
Kerry's staff repeated his assertion
that "a full-scale congressional in-
vestigation, with testimony taken
under oath and witnesses required
to testify under subpoena, is nec-
essary in order to get to the truth"
of the charges.
The Senate Foreign Relations
in improper activities concerning
Central America. These charges
are patently untrue and both om-
mittees have found them round-
esS. o . orr r mains a high~~I _
competent and trusted member of
the sta ."
Private backers of the contras
may also have violated U.S. laws
"by providing soldiers, military
training and/or weapons to the con-
tras from U.S. territory," the report
said.
The report, entitled, " 'Private
Assistance' and the Contras,"
weaves newspaper reports with
staff interviews and historical
events. It describes many charges
not previously aired, often against
groups and individuals not previous-
ly linked publicly to the contras.
The individuals' responses, if
any, are not included. Asked about
supporting evidence, Kerry staff
member Dick McCall said, "we have
maintained all along that if we get
subpoena power, the evidence will
be there."
The report said most weapons
shipments to contra bases at
Aguacate and La Ceiba in Honduras
"were allegedly conducted from the
Dominican Republic."
It said sources names. a Frank or
Francisco Chanes, a Cuban Amer-
ican in the seafood business in iMIi-
ami, as a major financial backer and
arms supplier for contra operations
in southern Nicaragua, and linked
him to Frank Castro, an unindicted
coconspirator in the narcotics ring
purchase of the Sunshine Bank of
Florida last year. The sources also
charged that a Chanes bank account
received more than $206,000 in
U.S. humanitarian aid funds this
year.
Repeated telephone calls to
Chanes by The Washington Post
were not answered.
Some of the private contract pi-
lots have complained about being
forced to engage in covert activity,
the report said its sources alleged.
The sources were quoted as saying
American farmer C. John Hull, own-
er of several farms along the Costa
Rican border with Nicaragua,
claimed to be receiving $10,000 a
month from the National Security
Council for working as its liaison
with the contras.
"Hull has denied having any con-
nections to the contras, beyond pro-
viding wounded contras with med-
ical care," the report said.
"Either U.S. officials have lied to
the American people and violated
restrictions passed by Congress, or
private citizens have with apparent
impunity violated U.S. laws" on
neutrality and arms trafficking, the
report said.
Vice President Bush maintained
silence yesterday on conflicting re-
ports of links between him and one
of his top aides and a Cuban Amer-
ican who allegedly ran a secret sup-
ply operation out of El Salvador for
the Nicaraguan rebels.
A top Salvadoran official on Mon-
day denied Bush's statement that
a Saoran-7eaders Eiadsupported
t e efforts of Max Comez, a Cuban
mew and former Central In-
telligence Agency employe, to help
El a vador coni5 t _ communist
guerrillas. Bush's spokesman
Im Fitzwater yesterday usse to
comment on that denial.
"We've said all we're going to
say," Fitzwater said. "The vice
president is on the record about
this. I am on the record about this."
Fitzwater added that neither he
nor Bush's national security advis-
er, Donald P. Gregg, would com-
ment on reports that Gregg had
recommended Gomez to the Salva-
dorans. Gomez was linked to the
supply operation by Eugene Hasen-
fus, the sole survivor of the crash of
a C123 plane shot down over Nic-
aragua last week while trying to
drop arms to the contras.
Committee, of which Kerry is a
member, said last July that it would
decide whether to open such a
probe after reviewing Kerry's ev-
idence. Committee staff members
said no decision will be made until
next year.
The report said "more than 50
witnesses," pearly all of them anon-
ymous, told Kerry's staff in infor-
inal conversations about "an inter-
locking web of hank accounts, air-
strips, planes, pilots and contra
bases which have been used in com-
mon by weapons smugglers, nar-
cotics smugglers, the contras and
organizations assisting the contras."
The sources linked that system
to "the private network established
by Lt. Col. Oliver L. North," deputy
director for political-military affairs
on the National Security Council.
The NSC allegedly "helped the con-
tras with arms purchases, fund rais-
ing and enlistment of military train-
ers" even though Congress had
barred U.S. officials from providing
such aid, according to the report.
A spokesman for the NSC issued
the following statement: e
House and Senate intelligence com-
mittees have reviewed t e a ega-
tions which have arisen rom time
to time that Col. North is engaged
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100270011-3