EX-U.S. ENVOY SAYS HE WAS ORDERED TO ASSIST CONTRAS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605580001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 2, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 29, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT ARTICLE APPI:A&F;-.
EX-U.S. ENVOY SAYS
HE WAS ORDERED
TO ASSIST CONTRAS
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605580001-0
29 May 1987
p
By D VID E. ROSENBAUM
Special to' The New York Times
WASHINGTON, May 28 - A_jgLrnff United States Ambassador to Costa
Rica, who has been accused of improp-
erly helping a rebels in Nicaragua,
testified today that he was operating
tra affair that his direct order came
from Lieut. Col. Oliver L. North, a Na-
tional Security Council aide who was
the central figure in the Administra-
tion's efforts on behalf of the contras.
Envoy Says Superiors Knew
He said Elliott Abrams, Assistant
Secretary of State for Inter-American
4 Affairs, and Alan D. Fiers, head of the
C.I.A. Central American Task Force,
were completely familiar with his ac-
tivities and, he assumed, had author-
ized them.
Mr. Tambs agreed with the view of
some on the committee that his former
superiors had apparently abandoned
him and his staff.
Representative Dante B. Fascell, a
Florida Democrat, asked him: "Why
would guys cut and run at this point
and leave you hanging out there in the
wind?"
"I don't know, sir," Mr. Tambs re-
sponded. "You'd have to ask them."
(Excerpts, page A10.]
Three-Agency Task Force
under direct orders from the National
Security Council. the State Department
and the Central Intelligence Agen_y.
The envoy, Lewis A. Tambs._said his
main assignment when he was sent to
Costa Rica in July 1988 was to help the
contras open a military front across
the border in southern Nicaragua.
Mr. Tambs told the Congressional
committees investigating the Iran-con-
repeatedly denied having anything to
do with the covert program to help the
contras at a time when the law prohib-
ited Government officials from provid-
ing military assistance to the Nicara-
guan rebels.
Conflict With Abrams
Mr. Abrams is scheduled to testify
before the committees Friday. Law-
yers for the committees have taken his
sworn, deposition, and some legislators
suggested today that his testimony
would conflict with that of Mr. Tambs.
Senator Warren B. Rudman, a New
Hampshire Republican, indicated that
he believed Mr. Tambs's version,
which the senator said was in "abso-
lute conflict with other testimony this
committee will have."
Senator Rudman said that when Mr.
Tambs heard what the other witnesses
woul4have to say, "I think you will
probably burn up."
The senator said he sympathized
with Mr. Tambs's sense that he and
those who had worked with him in Cen-
tral America were being abandoned by
their superiors.
C.I.A. Man Disciplined
Mr. Tambs, who served as ambassa-
dor to Colombia before his assignment
in Costa Rica, resigned in January and
returned to Arizona State University,
where he is a professor of Latin Amer-
ican history. The C.I.A. station chief in.
Costa Rica during Mr. Tambs's ambas-
sadorship, who goes by the pseudonym
Tomas Castiag, has been disciplined
or its actions on behalf of the contras.
Mr. Castillo is to appear before the
committees in a closed session Friday
morning. A declassified transcript of
his testimony, abridged for security
reasons, is to be made public within 24
hours. Committee officials said the
testimony would be taken that way so
that Mr. Castillo would not become im-
mediately recognizable and could con-
tinue to operate undercover.
Mr. Tambs said he never met di-
rectly with contra military leaders of
the contras but that he his staff did so
regularly. He said he personally per-
suaded Costa Rican authorities to
allow the contras to open an air strip
for refueling ,of supply flights and at
one point arranged for a transport
plane in trouble to land at the interna-
tional airport in Costa Rica.
A Renegade Operation?
Colonel North, Mr. Abrams and Mr.
Fiers were the members of an infor-
mal organization called a Restricted
Interagency Group, or RIG, that helped
set Government policy on the contras.
In his testimony, Mr. Tambs re-
peated much of whht he told The New
York Times in an interview four weeks
ago. But he was more explicit today
about Mr. Abrams'$ positlo t. Speaking
of Mr. Abrams's knowledge of his as-
signment to help the contras, Mr.
Tambs said, "It was obvious to me that
he knew as much about it as I did."
Mr. Abrams and other officials at the
State Department and the C.I.A. have
Some evidence introduced by com-
mittee lawyers today seemed intended
to raise the possibility that Mr. Tambs
was running a renegade operation.
They presented a series of cables be-
tween Mr. Tambs and the State De-
partment in Washington involving an
agreement between John K. Singlaub, a
retired Army major general, and Eden
Pastora, the leader of a branch of tFie
contras, to get supplies for rebel troops
base din Costa Rica.
Mr. Tambs initial cable seemed to
imply that the United States would pro-
vide the supplies. The ambassador was
sharply criticized in cables from Wash-
ington, including one signed by Secre-
tary of State George P. Shultz, and was
told the United States could give no
such assistance.
In his testimony, Mr. Tambs said
General Singlaub was talking about
goods provided by private parties in
the United States and not by the Gov-;
ernment. He said his original cable was
meant only to report on the agreement'
to his superiors in Washington.
Later, Mr. Tambs said he assumed
Mr. Shultz knew of his help to the con-
tras because he assumed Mr. Abrams
had told him about it. But Mr. Tambs
said he had not spoken to the Sectrta't j+
about the natter and did not know di=
rectly how much Mr. Shultz knew."
This morning, the committees `fin-
ished questioning F
retired C.I.A. agent who served s?the
liaison between the contra supply
operation and authorities in El Salva-
dor. The questioning added little of 9W
stance to Mr. Rodriguez's testilntiny
Wednesday, but documents that were
presented were seen by some legisi tors as added evidence that Maj. Gel-
Richard V. Secord was involved ' ih
profiteering. General Secord mana&tl
the contra supply operation and Tit-
sisted in his testimony early this tpoitth
that he was not profitting personally.,
One document presented tgifa
showed that a company set up by'Ge
eral Secord was paying airplane fildts
and crew members involved in supply
drops $3,000 a month but was submit-
ting bills for more than $13,000 for
each.
14/
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605580001-0