Nicaragua: Shot Out of the Sky

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For the Sandinistas it was a moment of delicious, unexpected triumph. After years of charging that the White House was orchestrating a secret war to subvert their Marxist-oriented government, there on Nicaraguan TV screens was living proof of their allegations: a 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.

After two days of interrogation, during which he was threatened with 30 years' imprisonment, Hasenfus, his captors said, was ready to tell the "truth" about whom he was working for. Gloated Alejandro Bendaña, a Nicaraguan Foreign Ministry official: "This is obviously a CIA operation with CIA operatives." Whether or not the accusations prove true, the Administration, which is already facing charges that it disseminated "disinformation" about Libyan terrorist activities, found itself confronted by another challenge to the credibility of its foreign policy.

In deliberate, wooden tones, Hasenfus told a press conference in Managua that he and 24 to 26 companions had worked in San Salvador for an organization called Corporate Air Services. The group, he said, had been supervised by "two naturalized Cuban Americans" named Max Gomez and Ramon Medina who "worked for the CIA." The pair, claimed Hasenfus, did most of the flight coordination, "oversaw all our housing projects, and also refueling and some fright plans."

After making a ten-minute statement, Hasenfus was abruptly led away without answering reporters' questions. 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 volunteers in a noble cause. "Some years ago many of you spoke approvingly of something called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade," he told reporters, referring to the unit of American volunteers who fought against Franco's insurgents during the Spanish Civil War.

As evidence mounted that both the aircraft and its crew had long associations with the CIA, some Congressmen grew dubious about Administration professions of ignorance. Said Minnesota Republican David Durenberger, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: "I assume somebody in the United States Government knows something about this, and the sooner they speak up the better." Hasenfus' capture came only a week before final passage of $100 million in military and economic aid for the contras is slated by Congress.