CONTRA TRAINING IN U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000504260005-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 24, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: October 27, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504260005-3
CBS EVENING NEWS (TV)
27 October 1986
Contra Training in U.S.
RATHER: With U.S.
military aid now once again
flowing openly to the
Nicaraguan Contras, the Reagan
Administration is setting up a
military training program for
the guerilla fighters in this
country.
DAVID MARTIN: Informed
sources tell CBS News the
Pentagon has developed a plan
to secretly train Contra reb-L-IS
at Eglin Air Force Base in
Florida. Eglin is currently
used to train U.S. Army rangers
in jungle warfare. it is also
home basef.or the Air Force's
Special Operations Wing which
would train the Contras in
aerial resupply, a crucial part
of any effort to send guerillas
deep inside Nicaraguan
territory.
I?Iost of the estimated
20,000 Contra soldiers would
still bt trained at their own
flL[ ONLY
camps inside Honduras, but they
would be trained by soldiers
who have been through the Eglin
course. The training is part
of the $100 million in aid
Congress approved for the
Contras after a two-year cut
off in all but humanitarian
items, such as medicine and
clothing. The $100 million
will also buy new weapons,
including heat-seeking
antiaircraft missiles to be
used against the Sandinistas
growing helicopter force.
U.S. intelligence sources
say that earlier this month
Soviet freighters unloaded six
crates believed to contain Hind
helicopter gun ships, which
would double the number in the
Sandinista arsenal.
The plan to train at Eglin
has not yet been formally
approved, but Administration
officials say it has to be in
the U.S. because no Central
American country will allow the
training to take place on their
territory.
David Martin, CBS News, the
Pentagon.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/24: CIA-RDP90-00965R000504260005-3