CIA-BACKED FORCE AIDED CONTRAS, SOURCES SAY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402780005-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 11, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: July 20, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

., Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402780005-9
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ON PAGE
CIA-backed
force aided
contras,
sources say
By Robert Healy
and Stephen Kurkjian
Globe Staff
SAN JOSE. Costa Rica - The
CIA hired mercenaries to aid reb-
els fighting to overthrow the 1Iica-
mguan government in 1984 and
1985, circumventing a congres-
sional ban on such covert aid, ac-
cording to sources here and in the
United States.
In the end, the operation - part
of which was located in the neigh-
boring country of Costa Rica - be-
came such a political liability to
the Costa Rican government that
Ave of the mercenaries were ar-
rested and jailed. Despite the close
ties that the CIA and the US State
Department maintained with the
government of Costa Rica, no ef-
fort was made to free the agency's
surrogate operatives.
From the beginning, the oper-
ation, In the words of one US intel-
ligence figure, was a "fiasco" of
mirrors within mirrors in which
one group of mercenaries was
hired under CIA contract to watch
another group also under con-
tract.
Over the course of almost 18
months, the CIA surrogates were
kicked out of VW camps of the
rebels, known as contras, in Hon-
duras and sent back to New Or-
leans. Some were then sent to
Costa Rica, where they were ar-
rested and still face trial. Hondu-
ras is the base for the northern op-
erations by the contras against
Nicaragua. Costa Rica is the base
for the southern operations.
The main surrogate group con-
sisted of approximately 20 merce-
nartes recruited by a private Ala-
bama-based group called Civilian
Military Assistance to provide
men and nonmilitary supplies to
contra operations in both Hondu-
BOSTON GLOBE
20 July 1986
ras and Costa Rica. While the
group's leader, Thomas Posey, has
'denied that he was sponsored by
the CIA, sources both in Costa
Rica and the- United States said
the CIA, oversaw the group's ac-
.tivities.
Ultimately, Posey's group was
:treated with distrust by US intelli-
gence officers, who considered its
,embe
s rs unreliable and danger=
to the success of the anti-San-
inista operation. In fact, the
'Clobe has been told that US intel-
ftence was so concerned about
,ie group that the CIA contracted
With a second, smaller group, to
in the Posey group in order to
.spy on Its operation.
Most of the activity by the mer-
eenary groups came during a peri-
od - which continues - when the
CIA was prohibited from provid-
lng military assistance to the con-
?$ras. Congressional opposition fo-
cused on the agency's bungling in
1983 and 1984 of the mining of
several harbors in Nicaragua,
.which Costa Rican leaders and a
US intelligence source. Inter-
viewed by the Globe, now believe
was carried out by contra units
with the technical assistance of
an arms expert carrying a Belgian
passport.
The CIA ban remains in effect
at least until the Reagan White
House determines who will admin-
ister $100 million in US aid for the
contras (including $70 million for
military supplies) that the US
House approved last month and
the Senate is expected to give final
approval to this summer. Admin-
istration sources have said recent-
ly that most of the money would
be administered by the CIA.
But within the period of the
ban, numerous mercenaries re-
cruited by Posey's Civilian Mili-
tary Assistance group traveled to
Honduras and Costa Rica to take
part in training and, in a few in-
stances, military missions with
contra groups.
CIA has no comment on charges
A CIA spokesman had no com-
ment on the allegations.
Several news organizations, in-
cluding the Globe, have published
articles revealing some of the ac-
tivities of the mercenaries, but
there have been no authoritative
sources quoted on whether the
CIA was responsible for their pres-
ence in Central America.
However, last week, an official
of the Costa Rican government
told the Globe that he knew that
the previous administration of
Luis Alberto Monge had informa-
tion that the group was overseen
by the CIA. He said the present
government of President Oscar
Arias had learned sinca taking of-
fice in May that the CIA had been
involved in supporting the merce-
naries' activities in Costa Rica.
The official, who asked that hey
not be identified, said that among
those responsible for overseeing
the operation was -Charles John
Hull, an American citizen who
owns a large farm in northern
Costa Rica, near the Nicaraguan
border.
A source familiar with the US
Intelligence community confirmed
Hull's participation, saying that
"he was getting well paid and did
what he was told to do" by the
agency as part of the mercenary
operation. "Hull was a means to
an end." the source said. "They
used Hull as an individual to
channel things in the right way
(so that) it didn't get the US into
hot water.... He was the linchpin
between the operations and the
policy."
Several of the mercenaries,
who were arrested by Costa Rican
authorities near Hull's farm in
May 1985. have told reporters
that Hull indicated that he was re-
ceiving $10,000 a month from the
US government to help supply the
contras.
Hull denies the charges.
However, the Costa Rican offi-
cial said the previous administra-
tion, while pledging strict neutral-
ity in the Nicaraguan hostilities,
had "looked the other way" and
allowed Hull to use his farm as a
sanctuary and supply depot for
contra and mercenary operations:
Message 'has been made clear'
"We have let Mr. Hull know
that we are keeping a close eye on
him," the Costa Rican authority
said. "The message has been
made clear to him."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402780005-9
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402780005-9 ?'
Five mercenaries - two Eng-
lishmen, a Frenchman and two
Americans, who had been recruit-
ed by Posey's CMA group - were
arrested along with nine contras
close to Hull's farm by Costa Ri-
can police shortly after dawn on
May 1. 1985.
In an interview with the Globe
earlier this year, one of the five,
Steven P. Carr, of Naples, Fla.,
said he believed that Hull had or-
dered their arrests because Carr
had participated in a military raid
on a Nicaraguan camp In which a
number of Sandinistas were killed
or wounded. Hull, he said, had
warned the contras against en-
gaging In any battles because
Congress was then debating the
contra aid package, and Hull did
not want any negative publicity to
damage the chances of passage.
A Costa Rican government
leader, familiar with the oper-
ation, said the arrests had been
made because the mercenaries'
activity "was out of control, the
entire operation, and we had to
get them out of here." The five
Western mercenaries spent more
than a year in a Costa Rican jail
before being released or. ball this
spring. Their trial on charges of
possession of munitions is due to
be held in Costa Ricca later this
summer:
The mercenaries were among
about 20 men recruited by Posey's
CMA organization to travel to
Honduras and Costa M ca in 1984
and 1985 to aid the contras in
their war against the Sandinistas.
Although some congressmen have
questioned whether the mercenar-
ies may have violated, US anti-
neutrality laws by involvement in
military engagements against a
government with whom the Unit-
ed States was not at war, Presi
dent Reagan originally praised
their efforts, calling them volun-
teers for the contra "freedom
fighters."
In interviews with a number of
news organizations, members of
the mercenaries said their activi-
ties in Central America consisted
mainly of taking medical and hu-
manitarian supplies to the con-
tras, assisting in establishing con-
tra camps and repairing auto-
motive and military equipment.
Military role acknowledged
However, several said that they
did take part In military forays
with the contras and did partici-.
pate in the planning of other.
raids. '
Soon after his arrest in Costa
Rica, another of the mercenaries
told reporters that shortly before
arriving in the country he was,
given the name of a man to con-
tact if he ran into any trouble. The
man was subsequently identified.
as the director of the CIA's Latin,
America division.
The primary purpose for the
presence of several of the 1nerce-
naries, however, was not to lend
support to the contras, the Globe
was told. Instead, their goal was to
provide Information on CMA's ac-
tivities to a CIA contract agent.
The agent, who agreed to be in.
tervtewed by the Globe on the ba-_
sis that his identity would not be
revealed, said that he had con-
tracted with one agency official to
pay to send several mercenaries to,
Central America through CMA.
The contract agent. who
agreed to the interview because he
was angry at the Reagan adminis-'
tration for its failure to secure the
mercenaries' release from jail, said
he was told by a CIA official to.
"bird-dog" the Posey operation to
determine if they were "super pa-
triots or just nuts."
"Let us know if they embar-
rass us." the agent quoted his CIA
contact as telling him. He was told
to keep the agency informed of his
findings, which he said he did,
and that his expenses would be
paid. He said he has yet to submit
a bill for his expenses, which he
estimated at less than $10,000.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/11: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402780005-9