CONTRAS GOT $32 MILLION FROM DONORS IN 9 MONTHS AFTER U.S. ARMS AID RAN OUT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605530015-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 1, 2012
• Sequence Number: 15
• Publication Date: March 6, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605530015-0
WALL STREET JOURNAL
ARTICLE APPEARED 6 March 1987
ON PAGF 6 -
Contras Got $32 Million From Donors
In 9 Months After U.S. Arms Aid Ran out
By DAVID R2c.c1s_--'
Staff Ri-pmrfcr of Tm.: WAI.I. STHF:F;T JIH.'HN A I.
WASHINGTON - Retired Air Force
Maj. Gen. Richard Secord was an early
and dominant procurer of arms for Nicara-
guan guerrillas, who paid about $9 million
for the Secord shipments from an esti-
mated $32 million received from foreign
donors in the first nine months after U.S.
military aid ran out in mid-1984, according
to Contra leaders.
Purchases were arranged through Gen.
Secord at least as early as January 1985.
and the leader of the Contras' chief mili-
tary organization said the arms originated
from sources as diverse as Europe and
China.
Credit Suisse. the same Swiss bank that
figured in U.S. weapon sales to Iran last
year, was a frequent conduit of funds for
Gen. Secord's network. That network ac-
counted for about half the estimated $18
million in arms that the Contras say they
bought in 1984-1985.
Adolfo Calero, head of the Nicaraguan
Democratic Force, said yesterday that all
of his organization's arms purchases were
financed from the $32 million, which is be-
lieved to include large contributions from
Saudi sources as well as donors in Taiwan.
Gen. Secord emerges again as a major fig-
ure in U.S. arms sales to Iran in 1986.
but Mr. Calero denied any knowledge of
weapons or ammunition purchased for the
Contras from the millions that flowed
through these transactions in Credit
Suisse.
Contradicting statements by the U.S.
Central Intelligence .Agency, Mr. Calero
said he regularly informed CIA personnel
of the weapon purchases and network of
suppliers used. Two former U.S. military
officers. Lt. Col. .James McCoy and Maj.
Gen. John Singlaub, also helped to arrange
major shipments, Mr. Calero said. But nei-
ther one proved as prominent as Gen.. Se-
cord, who contacted the Contra leader
within weeks of the termination of U.S.
aid.
Most Detailed Accounting
While he left major questions unans-
wered, Mr. Calero's comments and the
records he cited provide the most detailed
accounting yet of the FDN's finances in re-
cent years. Credit Suisse is central to in-
vestigations now into the diversion of pro-
ceeds from the Iranian arms sales.
More broadly, Gen. Secord's promi-
nence with the Contras reflects the close
contacts kept between the insurgents and
White House National Security Council
staff members who directed aid to the
guerrillas despite a ban on U.S. assistance
for the Nicaraguan resistance.
Mr. -Calero, who met with reporters in
Washington. said he provided information
regarding 'Contra bank accounts in the
summer of 1984 to both Gen. Secord and
his close ally within the NSC, Marine Lt.
Col. Oliver North. "Gen. Secord told me he
would help to raise money," said Mr. Ca-
lero, who insisted he was never told of the
true source of funds received from
abroad.
Deposits of approximately $1 million a
month,. the first drawn on an unidentified
account in the Swiss Bank Corp., were
made to the FDN beginning in July 1984.
The records show significantly larger pay-
ments in early 1985, with deposits of S4
million on March 7. 57.5 million March 15,
and $7.5 million March 25. The total is
somewhat larger than amounts reported in
an NSC memo prepared by Col. North in
April 1985. In the same period, Col. North
was active in obtaining export certificates
necessary for the shipment of arms pur-
chased by the Contras through Gen. Se-
cord's network.
Mr. Calero said the FDN subsequently
received about S1 million through various
organizations linked to conservative fiind-
raiser Carl Russell "Spitz" Channel. but he
said none of this money was used to buy
arms.
Altogether six bank accounts in the
Cayman Islands and Panama were used by
the FDN, according to the records pro-
vided. Among the most active are three
controlled by a Panamanian corporation.
Alpha Service S.A., which also appears in
Col. North's records. Mr. Calero said Al-
pha Service was set up by the FDN and
public records in Panama City show it was
registered in 1984.
Gaps on Source, Destination
Mr. Calero's account leaves major gaps
in explaining the source of financing and
final destination of arms shipped to Cen-
tral America in late 1985 and 1986 on behalf
of the Contras. An extensive airlift was
mounted at that time to ferry arms and
supplies into Nicaragua. Though Mr. Ca-
lero said most of these weapons had been
purchased earlier, new shipments of arms
were coming, too, from Europe.
For example, Southern Air Transport, a
Miami freight carrier frequently used by
Gen. Secord's network, reported five.
flights carrying explosives to Guatemala.
Honduras and El Salvador from December
1985 through May 1986. All are believed
part of the Contra supply operation.
Southern Air records show payments
were made from a myriad of foreign-based
corporations overseen by Gen. Secord and
Col. North, and by this point. nearly all
of the S32 million in earlier donations re-
ceived by the FDN had been exhausted.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/01 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605530015-0