CAPTURED AMERICAN SAYS CIA RAN SUPPLY MISSIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605210015-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 2, 2012
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: October 10, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605210015-5
WASHINGTON POST
10 October 1986
Captured American
Says
CIA Ran Supply Missions
Prisoner Says Flights Coordinated From El Salvador
By Julia Preston
1V,.lnny(~ni_Nn.t-F~nv.yn.i.rvirr J
MANAGUA, Nicaragua, Oct. 9-
Eugene Hasenfus, an American
prisoner of the Sandinista govern-
ment, said today he has been part of
an extensive air resupply operation
for the Nicaraguan rebels run from
a Salvadoran Air Force base by CIA
employes.
"The people I met in El Salvador,
that I knew, were all company peo-
ple," Hasenfus said, using a term
commonly used to refer to the CIA.
"These company people were
about 24 to 26 personnel," Hasen.
fits continued. "They consisted of
flight crews, maintenance crews,
drivers and two Cuban nationalized
Americans that worked for the CIA
that did most of the coordination of
these flights and overseen [sic all
our housing projects, transportation
projects and also refueling and
some flight plans."
(Elliott Abrams, assistant secre-
tary of state for inter-American af-
fmrs, said in Washington Thursday
that there is "no relation at all be-
tween, the CIA" and Americans aid-
ing in resupply efforts. Abrams sug.
Bested Hasenfus' statements were
a result of Nicaragua putting "pres-
sure" on him.
lasenfus poke at a press con-
ference this mocning called by the
Nicaraguan military, and was ac-
companied by the chief of Army in-
telligence, Capt. Ricardo Wheelock,
ittid a translator.
He made a slow, sparsely
worded, wooden statement that
seemed to have been rehearsed be-
forehand with his captors. Hasenfus
did not stumble over his words or
appear to be giving unfamiliar in-
formation. But the prisoner did not
answer questions from reporters.
In response to shouted com-
plaints from the journalists as Ha-
senfus was led away from the stage,
Wheelock asserted that the Amer.
]can prisoner had requested not to
be required to answer reporters'
questions.
Hasenfus gave the names of two
alleged CIA employes who con-
ducted the Salvadoran operation as
"Ramon Medina" and "Max Gomez."
Wheelock said Hasenfus had told
Sandinista Army officers that "he is
a worker for the CIA. He used the
word 'worker,' rather than 'em-
plove.' "
Two Americans, William Cooper
and Wallace Blaine Sawyer, and an
unidentified Latin American were
killed when their C123K cargo
plane was shot (town Sunday in
?uthern Nicaragua.. Hasenfus was
the only survivor.
Hasenfus said Cooper contacted
Sandinista officials have sug-
gested Hasenfus could face trial
here. His public comments could af-
fect the Nicaraguan government's
decision to prosecute him..
Most of the information given at
the press conference could not be
independently verified front Mana-
gua in the time available today.
However. contra and Salvadoran
sources confirmed the presence of
at least one man of Cuban origin I[%'-
'fig and working at the llopango
base who they believed to be linked
to an American intelligence agency.
The man was said to have been co-
ordinating air resupply and other
aspects of the contra operation in El
Salvador for some time.
Wheelock displayed a pile of log-
books and documents he said were
recovered from the plane's shattered
wreckage.. The documents included
two small red flight logbooks with pi-
lot Sawyer's name handwritten in the
front. One bore the name and address
of Southern Air Transport on the
him in June 1986 about a job as an front leaf. They covered flights p]-
.iir freight handler to fly over Cen-
rral America. He said he was hired
he a company called Corporate Air
services. based out of Southern Air
Transport, an air cargo firm in rMi-
anli reported to have had extensive
links to the CIA in the past.
The captive said he flew to
flights into Nicaragua, in DHC4
Caribotis and C123Ks.
Six flights originated at the [lo.
pango base of the Salvadoran Air
Force on the outskirts of San Sal-
vador. The routes of these mis-
-~ions, he said, took them clown the
western coast of Nicaragua over
Pacific waters, then east across the
northernmost part of Costa Rica
,ind north into Nicaragua.
Four flights began at Aguacate, a
Honduran military air facility in
central Honduras, Hasenfus said.
fie said the missions carried small
arms and ammunition. "These were
dropped to the contras," Hasenfus
added, referring to the Nicaraguan
rebels.
Wheelock said Hasenfus had "co-
operated" with his interrogators.
oted by Sawyer from April 1985 to
September 1986.
Another document was what ap-
peared to be a flight log bearing the
marking 824, apparently a registry
number for the crashed aircraft.
Sandinista intelligence officers
provided a list of 34 American-
sound-]fig names cited in Sawyer's logs as
crew members on his flights.
Wheelock said Sandinista intel-
ligence had learned from Hasenfus
and from documents found in the
wreckage that Medina and Gomez,
the alleged CIA employes, (lid not
fly on any resupply missions but
controlled all operations front their
headquarters at the flopango base.
Reporters were not shown docu-
ments backing up Wheelock's alle-
gations on this point.
Hasenfus said he was paid $3,000
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605210015-5
 Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605210015-5
a month for his work as a "kicker,"
pushing cargo out of the planes
over Nicaragua. Wheelock quoted
flasentus as saving the money was
deposited directly to his batik ac-
count in Marinette, Wis.
The remains of the two American
crash victims were turned over to
U.S. officials at midafternoon in it raucous melee among journalists at
the embassy gate.
A U.S. official said the Ni-
caraguan government had agreed to
drive a truck with the two coffins
through the gate. Instead, govern-
ment employes carried the coffins
front almost two blocks away and
left there on the street outside, at-
tracting a swarm of press.
Nicaraguan authorities cremated
the remains without advising the em-
bassy, a U.S. official said. A state-
ment issued late tonight said the em-
bassy "abhors the ghoulish behavior"
ut Nicaragua in the incident.
The emba>sy rioted that no U.S.
Official has been allowed to talk with
Hasentus despite repeated re-
gluests. -This raises serious ques-
tions about other rights of Mr. Ha.
sentus that may have been vio-
lated," Alberto Fernandez, the em-
bassy spokesman, said.
[.Abrams said in Washington,
"There is no prediction when we
will get access" to Hasenfus. "The
question is why, [andl the obvious
answer is to maintain pressure on
him." Abrams added: "l haven't the
slightest doubt they're telling him if
he says the right thing he'll be out
soon and if not he'll be in jail
? ...This is an outrageous violation
of international law and we will con-
tinue to insist on our rights." I
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605210015-5