'FRIENDS' PAID FOR CONTRA FLIGHT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201080016-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 16
• Publication Date: October 8, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201080016-7
MIAMI HEP-UD
'Friends' for
contra flight
Sources say
mission flown
on U.S. behalf
By ALFONSO CHARDY
Herold Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - A "friendly foreign govern-
ment" acting on behalf of the United States financed
the flight of a cargo plane shot down over Nicaragua
on Sunday with a load of weapons for anti-Sandinista
rebels, an administration official and a well-briefed
contra source said Tuesday.
They did not identify the friendly government but
said the plane took off from a military air base in El
Salvador and the government of President Jose
Napoleon Duarte either was involved or at least knew
of the flight in advance.
Eugene Hasenfus of Marinette, Wis., an American
who was captured by Nicaraguan troops and
appeared to be the only survivor of the plane's
four-man crew, is an ex-Marine who once flew for a
CIA-operated airline in Vietnam, according to his
brother William in Oshkosh, Wis. One of the three
crewmen who died in the crash, William J. Cooper,
also flew for the CIA in Vietnam, the brother said.
Officials at the White House, the State Depart-
ment, the Pentagon and the CIA denied Tuesday that
Hasenfus, the downed plane or the other crewmen
aboard it were connected to the U.S. government.
Secretary of State George Shultz said the aircraft.
which Sandinista officials said was a C-123
propel ler-dri ven cargo plane, "was, for all we know,
a plane hired by private people, apparently some of
them American.... They had no connection with the
U.S. government at all."
The administration and contra sources said the
plane was carrying supplies bought by the contras on
credit, in anticipation of the $100 million aid package
that is still pending in Congress. The sources said
international arms dealers have resumed shipments to
the rebels in recent weeks, charging the equipment
against an open account that will be paid out of the
$100 million fund.
The sources said the flight was one of several
flights that have originated from Ilopango air base
outside El Salvador's capital to supply the contras
since the government of neighboring Honduras began
blocking the delivery of aid to the rebels through its
territory last year.
Two aviation sources in the United States said
Tuesday that
Hasenfus, the downed plane or the
other crewmen aboard it were
connected to the U.S. government.
Secretary of State George
Shultz said the aircraft, which
Sandinista officials said was a
C-123 propeller-driven cargo
plane, "was, for all we know, a.
plane hired by private people,
apparently some of them Ameri.
can. ... They had no connection
with the U.S. government at all."
The administration and contra
sources said the plane was carry.
ing supplies bought by the contras
on credit, in anticipation of the
$100 million aid package that is
still pending in Congress. The
sources said international arms
dealers have resumed shipments to
the rebels in recent weeks, charg-
ing the equipment against an open
account that will be paid out of the
$100 million fund.
The sources said the flight was
one of several flights that have
originated from Ilopango air base
outside El Salvador's capital to
supply the contras since the gov.
ernment of neighboring Honduras
began blocking the delivery of aid
to the rebels through its territory
last year.
Two aviation sources in the
United States said Tuesday that
the type of plane used, a C-123, is
not owned by any commercial
firm in the United States but that
several of them have been trans.
ferred by the Air Force to allied
governments in Central America
and Asia in the last two years.
The administration official con-
sulted for this article said Hasen-
fus, the captured American, was
aboard the plane as a "load
specialist" in charge of readying
the supplies for airdrops to the
contras.
He had been chosen because of
his previous experience in the
Marines as a parachute rigger and
expert in airdrops with Air Ameri-
ca, a so-called CIA propietary
company that flew secret cargo
missions in Indochina during the
Vietnam War.
William Hasenfus said his broth.
er Eugene served in the Marines
from 1960 to 1965 as an air
delivery specialist for equipment
drops. He said Eugene was sta-
tioned at camp Pendleton. Calif..
and never served in combat.
Official Pentagon records confirm
Hasenfus' Marine service record.
William Hasenfus said his brother
went to work for Air America
after his stint in the Marines.
Parachuted to safety
The Nicaraguan Defense Minis-
try said in Managua on Monday
that Hasenfus parachuted to safety
when the plane was shot down by.
Sandinista army troops with a
Soviet-made ground-to-air missile,
about 35 miles north of the border
with Costa Rica.
The Defense Ministry said the
aircraft carried at least 50,000
rounds of ammunition for AK-47
automatic rifles, dozens of rifles,
an unspecified number of rocket-
propelled grenades and other
equipment for the contras.
The CIA and other U.S. govern-
ment agencies are currently
barred from aiding the contras
with military supplies, funds or
advice. That prohibition will be
lifted once Congress clears Presi.
dent Reagan's $100 million contra
aid package. The legislation has
been stalled since summer, but its
approval was expected before
Congress adjourns later this month
for the fall congressional elections.
A contra spokesman in Wash-
ington, Javier Arguello, said the
aircraft did not belong to the
contras and that he did not know
who those aboard it were.
Officials of the various private
groups that have supported the
contras also denied any link to the
flight. Those included Alabama-
based Civilian Material Assistance
and retired Maj. Gen. John Sing-
laub, a principal private adviser to
the contras. Singlaub was travel.
ing in the Far East, but the
executive director of Singlaub's
Arizona-based U.S. Council for
World Freedom, Joyce Downey.
said "the plane is not ours."
`Very brave people'
Elliott Abrams, assistant secre.
tary of state for inter-American
affairs, told reporters that private
relief flights have enabled the
Nicaraguan rebels to survive in the
Co-
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201080016-7
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201080016-7
face of the restrictions on U.S.
government assistance.
"Some very brave people .
have been willing to actually bring
this material into Nicaragua, as
seems to be the case with this
flight," Abrams said. "All I can
say for the people who were on it
. God bless them, because they
were fighting for freedom in
Central America and keeping the
option alive while Congress made
up its mind."
In the small Wisconsin town of
Marinette, Population 12,000.
many residents quickly recognized
the name of Eugene Hasenfus,
even though the Sandinistas first
spelled it as Hafenfuf.
The name is well known in
Marinette, a town near Michigan's
Upper Peninsula, about 50 miles
north of Green Bay. The Hasenfus
family is large, has been in the
area for almost a century and once
owned a popular supper club.
Editors and reporters at the
Marinette Eagle Star said they
called the Hasenfus house, in a
rural area outside the town, as
soon as they heard the name on
television and radio news.
Hasenfus' wife Sally talked to a
few reporters but by Tuesday
afternoon she referred all calls to
her husband's brother William. a
47-year-old telephone salesman in
Oshkosh, about 100 miles south-
west of Marinette.
William Hasenfus said his broth.
er Eugene went into the construc.
tion business after leaving the
Marines, but then went to work
for Air America as a civilian
contract employee, along with his
friend Cooper.
In the 1970s, the CIA divested
itself from Air America but those
who monitor American intelli.
gence community affairs say the
spy agency and the company
continued to maintain informal
contacts.
Working as a load master.
responsible for weighing and
properly balancing any equipment
that is put aboard a cargo aircraft,
Hasenfus flew missions for the
CIA-linked firm throughout Indo-
china in the late 1960s. William
said.
Returning to the United States
after "two or three years" with
Air America, Eugene Hasenfus
went back to work as a construc-
tion worker and last summer,
landed a job with a Florida air
freight company, his brother said.
William Hasenfus said he could
not remember the name of the
company.
He declined to say whether
Cooper played a role in helping
him get the job, but insisted that
the CIA had nothing to do with it.
He said Eugene is probably alive
because of a parachute he borrow.
ed before going to Florida for his
new job.
"That was my parachute on his
back," William said. "He asked for
it when he visited a few weeks
ago and that's what saved him."
William said he and Eugene were
both "ardent" skydivers and that
while in Florida his brother had
joined a skydiving club.
Z
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201080016-7