CONTRA OPERATIVES GET REGULAR PAYMENTS FROM U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000201610002-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 20, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 15, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Si Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201610002-3
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
ARTICLE APPEARED 15 March 1987
ON PAGEr --
Contra operatives get regular payments from U.S.
7By Sam Dillon Precise calculation of the contra for door-to-door distribution, Cha-
an n ra Dibble payroll remains impossible, but in- morro said.
Inquirer Washington Bureau terviews with more than a dozen Chamorro, who had access to con-
WASHINGTON - The payments be- present and former rebel officials tra pay lists, said members of Bermu-
gan as handouts from a CIA agent's suggest that it totals several million dez's general staff received up to
cash-stuffed briefcase to help Nicara- dollars annually. $2,000 monthly. He said rebel doctors
gua's rebel leaders make ends meet. Over six years, the funds have in 1984 were paid $1,000 per month;
In the years since those early days come from a variety of sources, in- dentists and nurses, less. Chamorro
of the U.S.-financed contra move- cluding the CIA, donations from said the contras' extensive network
ment, the stipends have become al- Saudi Arabia and wealthy Ameri- of other operatives also received pay-
most universal throughout the insur- cans, and even profits made on the ments: radio broadcasters, transla-
gent leadership - regular cash currency-exchange market in Cen- tors, messengers, office boys, secre-
payments or a monthly deposit by an tral America, rebel officials said. taries, guards, cooks, refugee
unseen benefactor into a Miami bank Without exception, rebel officials workers.
account. The contras call them "fam- indignantly reject the suggestion - A contra pilot, Roberto Amador,
ily aid." They resemble salaries. thrown at them incessantly by their said in an interview in Managua af-
Hundreds of key contra operatives Sandinista foes - that theirs is a ter his plane was shot down on an air
are paid for their participation in the mercenary force. supply mission in late 1983 that he
insurgency, from the field command- "All the guerrillas of the left are received $1,000 monthly. His me-
ers and pilots who carry the war to financed by the communists," said chanic, Jaime Lau, said his payments
Nicaragua to logistical officers work- Enrique Bermudez, military com- were $750 a month.
ing in Honduras and the lawyers and mander of the Nicaraguan Demo- Field officers have received $1,000
secretaries who staff rebel offices in cratic Force (FDN), the main rebel monthly and less. Marlon Blandon
Miami, present and former rebel offi- army. He said his officers would be Osorio, a former commander of a 300-
cials said in interviews. unable to fight without pay, "know- member task force, said he was paid
The extent of the payments to con- ing their families are hungry." $750 monthly until he left the move-
tra operatives has not generally been Bermudez said the thousands of ment in December 1985; his subordi-
known, with the exception of former peasant foot soldiers in the contra nate officers received $400 monthly,
contra leader Arturo Cruz's acknowl- army fight without compensation. he said.
edgment last month that he received Some rebel officers eschew the Two active-duty regional com-
$7,000 a month arranged by Lt. Col. payments out of principle: Aristides manders interviewed in Miami last
Oliver L. North, who was then a Sanchez, a rebel political officer week said their payments were re-
National Security Council aide. from a wealthy Nicaraguan family, cently raised to $750 a month.
But the money has become so im- insists he works without pay. Salaries for rebel politicians began
portant that recent delays in pay- Other rebels defend the payments, in January 1983 when Tomas Ca"
ments have caused the family of one saying financial independence for tillo then chief CIA liaison officer
rebel commander to lose its car guerrillas can only come through with the contras, negotiated a pay
through repossession. Several fam- crime. They say Salvadoran leftists scale in me.:tings in Miami, Cha-
ilies have been forced in recent built a $70 million war chest through mono said.
weeks to seek help from a Nicara- kidnappings; their Colombian coun- Chamorro said one FDN politician
guhn exile charity to keep food on terparts peddle cocaine to finance' suggested that each director be paid
the table. Others have been threat- their cause. a flat rate of $4,000 monthly. But
ened with eviction, rebel officials "In politics, you need hard curren- Castillo instead established the di-
said cy. And only the capitalist bloc or the rectors' base salaries at $1,200, plus
Their personal ordeals have forced socialist bloc can provide it," said allowances, that brought Chamorro's
a painful new awareness within the Arturo Cruz Jr., son of the former salary to $2,000 monthly, Chamorro
rebel movement of the dependence Nicaraguan rebel leader. said.
and political vulnerability the finan- In the beginning, the movement Chamorro said that in mid-1983 the
cial remuneration has brought. operated on a shoestring. Bermudez, CIA advised the FDN directors not to
Their plight also has foreshadowed who was military attache at Nicara- declare the CIA payments on their
the hardship that could develop in gua's Washington Embassy before U.S. income-tax filings. Chamorro
Honduras, Costa Rica - and Miami the 1979 revolution, donated part of said he declared his FDN earnings
- for thousands of Nicaraguan ex- the proceeds from the sale of his anyway.
iles if Congress carries out its threat Washington home to the cause, he FDN director Adolfo Calero
to end aid to the rebels later this said. No one was paid. brought his business acumen as the
year. After the CIA began to finance the former manager of Managua's Coca-
? The delay in the payments also has movement in 1981, increasing num- Cola plant to bear during the ses-
aggravated longtime tensions be- bers of rebel operatives began re- sions with Castillo, even asking the
tween the men who fight the war in ceiving payments, according to Ed- CIA to provide an insurance plan,
Nicaragua and rebel political offi- gar Chamorro, one of the FDN's
cers who are paid more generously seven directors from 1982 through
for waging a less-hazardous war in 1984.
exile. An angry confrontation, cen- CIA agents shipped tens of thou- Continued
tering on this inequality, erupted at sands of dollars in cash to Honduras,
a Miami rebel office this month, holding it in tumbler-lock safes in
rebel officials said. rebel security houses in Tegucigalpa
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201610002-3
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201610002-3
Chamorro said. Calero said through
a spokesman that the insuratlce plan
was only "an idea that was never
implemented."
Calero said his CIA-paid salary was
$3,000 monthly until CIA aid was pro-
hibited in mid-1984. Since then, Ca-
lero has been supported from the
FDN's funds, largely drawn from $31
million in foreign donations.
Calero declined to quantify FDN
payments to himself, but a U.S. offi-
cial said that after the CIA aid ban.
Calero enjoyed great personal discre-
tion with the rebel funds.
"He managed FDN finances out of
the checkbook in his back pocket,"
the official said.
After Congress voted $27 million in
"nonlethal" aid in mid-1985, pay-
ments to contra officials came from a
variety of sources, including black
market currency transactions that
rebel officials say earned millions in
profits for "family aid," $1 million
from conservative fund-raisers
working with North and CIA pay-
ments authorized by Congress for
rebel "political' expenditures.
The payments continued without
interruption until October of last
year, when the downing of a rebel
supply plane led to revelations of U.S.
involvement in a secret contra-sup-
ply network. Also, Congress in Octo-
ber had approved $100 million in U.S.
military aid to the contras - once
again putting the CIA in charge of
disbursing money to the rebels.
The main victims of the disruption
were the Miami-based families of
FDN combat commanders, who be-
gan noting delays in their payments.
At the same time, civilian officers of
the rebel umbrella group, the United
Nicaragaun Opposition (UNO), most
of whom lived in Miami, continued
to receive their salaries.
The resultant tensions erupted two
weeks ago, when several FDN com-
manders on leave in Miami confront-
ed a UNO official over the delays.
Trying to calm the angry com-
manders, the official opened a brief-
case containing $40,000 and offered
to settle the dispute on the spot.
Instead, the FDN field officers ac-
cused UNO leaders of "enjoying com-
fortable salaries while we who risk
our lives go without pay," one of the
officers said later.
The officers later charged in inter-
views that the UNO officials had
withheld the payments to coerce
their cooperation with a reorganiza-
tion plan backed by the State Depart-
ment.
A State Department spokesman,
asked about the delays, said Friday,
"The State Department is not respon-
sible for the disbursement of family-
support payments."
CIA spokeswoman Sharon Foster
said: "We don't con irm or deny
Agency activities."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/20: CIA-RDP90-00965R000201610002-3