Word: contra
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WORLD: Managua downs a contra cargo plane, and a captured American sings...
...burly, rugged-looking, redheaded American named Eugene Hasenfus. The prisoner looked the part he played. Hasenfus, 45, a gung-ho patriot and soldier of fortune, had been captured after parachuting from a U.S. plane that was shot down by Nicaraguan soldiers while on a mission to deliver arms to contra rebels in southern Nicaragua. Three other men, two Americans and a Nicaraguan, were killed in the crash...
...Still, his dramatic story only increased the volume of official denials that the U.S. Government had any connection whatsoever with the downed supply plane--or with Hasenfus. But Hasenfus' allegations posed disturbing questions about the Administration's relationship with private organizations that have reportedly been funding supplies for the contra rebels since Congress cut off aid in 1984. In the absence of a satisfactory response from the Administration, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week said it would subpoena testimony from those involved, including, if necessary, officials in the White House. President Reagan declared that Hasenfus and his companions were...
...second press conference, Hasenfus said he was recruited to work in Central America last June by Cooper, the plane's pilot, whom U.S. intelligence sources describe as a veteran of CIA operations and the leader of the airborne contra-aid group in El Salvador. Hasenfus said he and Cooper had both flown missions in Southeast Asia for Air America, a CIA-owned carrier, during the Viet Nam era. Since June, Hasenfus claimed, he had flown on ten missions, four from Aguacate, a contra base in Honduras, and six from Ilopango. He said he was paid $3,000 a month...
Congressional concern is tempered by the fact that both houses have passed legislation appropriating $100 million in aid to the contras, including $70 million in military assistance. The money will be administered by the CIA, as was contra aid between 1981 and 1984. All that remains now is final ratification. When that happens, as is expected this week, the aid package will become...