Roderiguez, Felix

=<a href="https://www.unicornriot.ninja/2017/roots-iran-contra-crisis-found-recording-airport-attack-plan/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://www.unicornriot.ninja/2017/roots-iran-contra-crisis-found-recording-airport-attack-plan/</a><header class="post-header" style=""><h1 class="post-title post-title-center" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 36px; clear: both; padding: 5px 0px; overflow: hidden; word-break: normal; word-wrap: break-word;">Roots of Iran-Contra Crisis Found in Recording of Airport Attack Plan</h1><div class="post_meta default" style="margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px;"><div class="post_meta_row_1"><span class="icon-calendar" style="text-decoration: inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; display: inline; width: auto; height: auto; line-height: normal; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 8px !important;" /><time datetime="2017-03-28T14:06:07">MARCH 28, 2017</time></div><div class="post_meta_row_2" /></div></header><div class="post_content" style="padding: 10px 0px 15px;">In November of 1985, an American pilot working in El Salvador, Wally Grasheim, and a veteran CIA officer, Felix Rodriguez, were both deeply involved in covert operations to aid the U.S. effort against the Nicaraguan Sandinista government and other leftist groups in Central America. In a transcript obtained by Unicorn Riot, it seems as though the men created an attack plan similar to the operation that set off the Iran-Contra scandal less than a year later.On January 2, 1991, Grasheim furnished a recording that he claimed was made with Rodriguez in El Salvador on November 11, 1985 to the<a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/investigations/walsh.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;"> Office of the Independent Counsel (OIC) of Lawrence Walsh</a>. At that time, Independent Counsel Walsh had already <a href="https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">successfully prosecuted several former Reagan officials</a>, and was gearing up for the last set of indictments.According to an interview with Grashiem conducted by the OIC and the FBI the next day, January 3 (embedded below), Grashiem first presented the idea to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_F.Gorman" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">General Paul Gorman</a>, who had been the commander-in-chief, United States Southern Command (USCINCSO) from 1983 to 1985. “Right after” this, CIA officer Rodriguez came to him “without warning and asked to talk about the idea.”(<a href="https://www.unicornriot.ninja/2017/roots-iran-contra-crisis-found-recording-airport-attack-plan/#footnotes" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Footnote 1</a>)In the transcript, Grasheim works through a plan with Rodriguez to launch a low-tech Contra aerial attack against the joint civilian-military Sandinista-controlled airport in Managua, while debating how to expand their covert aerial warfare operations into 1986.Grasheim suggests to Rodriguez: “Come right up the fucking runway and drop a 55 gallon drum, half gasoline, half oil, a grenade in each as it goes out the door. Okay?” [Note: the <a href="https://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/wholefarm/pdf/c6-87.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">energy release from detonating each 55 gallon drum</a> would be roughly comparable to <a href="http://www.theory.caltech.edu/_{kapustin/karandash/w5.pdf}" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">detonating a ton of TNT</a> (PDFs).]Unicorn Riot received the transcript from researcher Michael Best (<a href="https://twitter.com/natsecgeek" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">@NatSecGeek</a>) who obtained it from the Walsh investigation archives. We attempted to reach Rodriguez to verify the authenticity of the recording via the Bay of Pigs Museum in Miami, where today he works as the Executive Director, and were given no response.The 1985 plan prefigures the mission that set off the Iran-Contra scandal less than a year later, the exposure of which effectively killed the plan to attack the airport. While this airport attack never took place, the credibility of their November 1985 chat is bolstered by how closely it reflects similar events – and the Managua airport as a strategic location. (<a title="footnotes" href="https://www.unicornriot.ninja/2017/roots-iran-contra-crisis-found-recording-airport-attack-plan/#footnotes" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Footnote 2</a>)The recording shows Grasheim and Rodriguez were trying to advance the Contra cause by giving them “publicity” of a successful Contra attack, with U.S. support, against Nicaragua’s government, using the same sorts of tactics, personnel and equipment that was exposed in October 1986.<hr style="margin: 20px 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-weight: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 30px; clear: both;">What was Iran-Contra and why does it matter today?</h2>In the narrowest sense, Iran-Contra is a sprawling geopolitical scandal that entered the public eye with the air crash of Corporate Air Services HPF821, the C-123K registered to Southern Air Transport, which had been a CIA-operated airline company since 1960. <a href="http://www.washingtonreport.me/1994-september-october/why-secret-1986-u.s.-iran-arms-for-hostages%C2%9D-negotiations-failed.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Details of US arms sales to Iran were exposed by the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa</a> less than a month after this crash.Less than a year after Grasheim’s recording, on October 5, 1986, the Nicaraguan military shot down the C-123K (serial HPF821, tail N4410F) on a mission organized by Rodriguez to send arms to the Contras with a U.S. crew. Crew member Eugene Hasenfus was captured and explained his mission, setting off the international scandal that eventually led to dozens of criminal charges against Reagan Administration officials.“Iran-Contra” is one way to reference aspects of American covert policy in South and Central America. As <a href="https://www.unicornriot.ninja/?p=14019" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Unicorn Riot’s 2017 mini-doc Crisis: Borderlands</a> discusses in interviews with organizers in Arizona, America’s covert wars in the region dislocated millions of people, ultimately setting off waves of migration into the United States that continue today.In a much broader sense, “Iran-Contra” was the main label for the arena of exposure around American-led covert operations that unfolded in the 1980s and early 1990s. It involved the steady documentation of CIA-involved covert arms deals that fed several wars, and a large set of prosecutions of government officials. By 1990, “Iran-Contra” had become a series of blue-ribbon investigations, a time of intense scrutiny of America’s covert political operations.In the timeline of America’s covert history, the Iran-Contra period is like a flash of lightning. It showed how far agencies would go to crush popular movements, and the fusion of America’s wars against drugs and leftism. Researchers at the time observed that the investigations were illuminating a familiar cast of characters and front organizations. It had continuity with previous scandals, including threads leading to the Iran hostage crisis, Watergate, the Kennedy assassination, Cuban aircraft bombings, the crack cocaine wave, Operation Phoenix in Vietnam, and Operation Condor across South America. (See references below)Iran-Contra style covert operations may surge once again during the Trump Administration due to a return of key Iran-Contra figures once again plugging in with senior officials. Former Attorney General Ed Meese helped set up the Trump Administration, and Oliver North was spotted in Trump’s box at the high profile Army-Navy game after the election. Classified Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) operations were also <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWaNFLEZODc" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">reviewed in Iran-Contra hearings</a>. Last year, Unicorn Riot <a href="https://www.unicornriot.ninja/?p=10772" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">discovered through a data request, that FEMA “Field Force Operations” are part of a nationwide riot police training curriculum</a>.<hr style="margin: 20px 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-weight: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 30px; clear: both;">How Grasheim’s recording illuminates several parts of Iran-Contra</h2>Interestingly, Wally Grasheim’s tape illustrates three phases of Iran-Contra at once: the late 1985 run-up just before the Contra campaign entered its final covert phase; the impending arrival of the C-123 planes that triggered the scandal’s exposure in October 1986; and another big push of exposure and pressure on public officials in early 1991.In 1985, Grasheim was actively in the field with Contras supplying them with weapons and material while helping them organize attacks on Nicaragua; historians and government investigators generally agreed on this later. Assuming the tape is indeed authentic, it documents how Felix Rodriguez met with Grasheim. The first thing they discussed was how to coordinate airstrikes.The following is a transcript, lightly edited for clarity, of a tape that has been purported to depict a conversation between Felix Rodriguez aka “Max Gomez” (FR/MG) and Wally Grasheim (WG) which allegedly took place in El Salvador on November 11, 1985. (Max Gomez is the same alias crewman Hasenfus stated after his capture.) While the positive identification of the participants has not been confirmed despite enhancements performed by the Department of Defense, they were also unable to find any indications that the tape was anything other than what Grashiem claimed.<blockquote style="padding: 3px 0px 0px 35px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;">FR/MG: “Because to be able to identify your people with good heading no mistakes warranties so we could go right ahead of you and start shooting maybe 50 meter ahead of you. You know –”WG: “[…] [T]hey’ve done good in practice so far work with the helicopters in calling in the air strikes but. They are accurate enough that the pilots didn’t have any trouble finding them or hitting the targets.”FR/MG: “Antonio (?) will work in your team with the 500 ahead of you, so we can precisely mark it from them. Fly over, mark it, or shoot with the minigun and mark it, one of them rather than….” […] “I talked to Lucas (?) here and he told me that you have some kind of a plan with the MI-24 we come to work whatever and he consulted some people in the Washington and the guy told me to talk to you and try to coordinate but haven’t working very….”WG: “I asked him for a few things –”FR/MG: “but they didn’t –. The only thing he told me is to talk to you and evaluate if it is feasible.” […]WG: “Well, basically it would mean launching from Tamarindo. […] There were two possibilities. Possibility number one was I wanted to take, you know the DC-3 they got with the rollers?”FR/MG: “Um hum.”WG: “I want to put some 55 gallon drums in there. Okay.”FR/MG: “Um hum.”WG: “And half gasoline, half –.”</blockquote>Here Rodriguez brings up the key news: new aircraft.<blockquote style="padding: 3px 0px 0px 35px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;">FR/MG: “They will some other planes come Christmas.”WG: “Well, I’m hoping to getting the two 123’s.”FR/MG: “Yes.”WG: “Okay. […] Let me tell you what — there’s about three different ways they can go but I needed to know from Lucas if they would give me some support like I want some aerial photographs and a few other things.”FR/MG: “Yeah, that’s no problem.”WG: “Well I haven’t gotten it yet.”FR/MG: “Well, that they do have already.”WG: “Okay.”FR/MG: “You might have seen it.”WG: “Okay. There’s three plans, plan number 1 is purely a DC-3 go over, we can go — but we got to leave from Tamarindo cause I need – I can’t — otherwise I don’t have the distance. You go 50 feet over the water, cut across use the via lock [aviation beacon] from Managua, home in on it. Okay. Come right up the fucking runway and drop a 55 gallon drum, half gasoline, half oil, a grenade in each as it goes out the door. Okay? Have you landed in Managua?”FR/MG: “Yeah, many times.”WG: “You know where the MIs were sitting right off the runway?”FR/MG: “They are the sitting of the runway in a small either concrete shipments. Nothing –”WG: “There’s no concrete.”FR/MG: “No, the base is black concrete.”WG: “Yeah, the base. But I mean it’s no revetment they’re wide open.”FR/MG: “No, no, no. Maybe some — myestron (phonetic) trees on the side …”WG: “Yeah, you should be able –. Yeah, you can come in there and just clean that clock.”</blockquote>Rodriguez continues to hear out Grasheim’s plan, and they debate how many anti-aircraft guns surround the area.<blockquote style="padding: 3px 0px 0px 35px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;">WG: “For the 3:00 o’clock in the morning Max, 50 feet over the ground. Chances are you were gone before they even know they were there. That’s number one. Number two is a coordinated attack which I prefer. And that was based, on their infrastructure there, to come in, hit them on the ground. Okay, and if they would take a chance and I don’t know if they will.”FR/MG: “Do they take that possibility, do they have that capability?”WG: “They have a special group which is a commando group of 50 men. They say they can do it. They can get them in. And then, you let me finish now. Their job would be to suppress the anti-aircraft, special charges in the aircraft on the helicopters and land the two 123s, pick them up and go. And that’s doable because nobody can chase them. There’s nothing to chase them. You see.”FR/MG: “I don’t think they would be rising to race the 123 [….] 123 would be U.S. crews.”WG: “Well if they’re U.S. crews, then that’s a different ball game.”FR/MG: “In the beginning, it would be U.S. crews.”WG: “Now, are they going to fly those into Nicaragua? With U.S. crews … Okay, they may not want to do that. It is a very difficult place to get out of once you go in by ground. If you go in by ground, you cannot get out by ground, it’s too far.”</blockquote>Full text of Grasheim’s 1985 recording (<a href="https://www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/CIA_Recording_grasheim_rodriguez.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">PDF</a>):<div class="pdfemb-viewer" style="overflow: hidden; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid black; position: relative; direction: ltr; width: 770px; height: 970.462px;"><div class="pdfemb-pagescontainer grab-to-pan-grab" style="overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 770px; height: 970.462px; cursor: -webkit-grab !important;"><div class="pdfemb-inner-div pdfemb-page1" style="overflow: hidden; line-height: 1; margin: auto; padding: 0px; border: none; position: relative; width: 770px; height: 972px; top: 0px; cursor: inherit !important;"><canvas class="pdfemb-the-canvas" width="770" height="970" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 770px; height: 970px; cursor: inherit !important;" /></div></div></div>Full text of Grasheim’s 1991 interview with FBI / OIG (<a href="https://www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Grashiem_interview_fbi_oic.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">PDF</a>):<div class="pdfemb-viewer" style="overflow: hidden; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid black; position: relative; direction: ltr; width: 770px; height: 1089.65px;"><div class="pdfemb-pagescontainer grab-to-pan-grab" style="overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 770px; height: 1089.65px; cursor: -webkit-grab !important;"><div class="pdfemb-inner-div pdfemb-page1" style="overflow: hidden; line-height: 1; margin: auto; padding: 0px; border: none; position: relative; width: 770px; height: 1091px; top: 0px; cursor: inherit !important;"><canvas class="pdfemb-the-canvas" width="770" height="1089" style="display: inline-block; position: relative; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 770px; height: 1089px; cursor: inherit !important;" /></div></div></div><hr style="margin: 20px 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" />Missions with the two cargo aircraft they both describe here foreshadowed the incident less than a year away: a “U.S. crew” on a C-123 entering Nicaragua gets shot down, setting off the biggest political scandal of the 1980s.<hr style="margin: 20px 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-weight: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 30px; clear: both;">How did Grasheim’s recording fit into later investigations?</h2>Government investigators from the DOJ Office of Inspector General detailed a conflict between Grasheim and Celerino “Cele” Castillo III, a former DEA agent. Castillo had been stationed in the region to help the DEA find traffickers, and one of his informants claimed that Grasheim was masterminding cocaine trafficking through restricted access hangars in the military side of Ilopango Airport near the capital of El Salvador.Reporter Gary Webb looked into Castillo’s allegations in the Dark Alliance book. Webb’s footnotes reference the same set of Walsh research that this recording originates from. (At the time Grasheim gave Walsh this recording, FBI Special Agent Michael Foster had been detailed to the Walsh investigation and was helping forge ahead in collecting depositions before Congress could grant broad immunity to Iran-Contra participants.)The 1997 <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/ch10p2.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">DOJ OIG report</a> covered Grasheim’s role in detail – including how a source at the US Embassy in El Salvador told Castillo that Grasheim had said “everybody else was going to go down with him” if he got arrested — and that he’d made recordings to protect himself.Thus Grasheim’s motive to make this recording with Rodriguez, a regional (if unofficial) coordinator for the CIA, is logical from his perspective, as it would help prove that he wasn’t an isolated actor in setting up these covert operations.The <a href="https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/ch10p2.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">1997 DOJ OIG report said</a>:<blockquote style="padding: 3px 0px 0px 35px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;">“[Cele] Castillo’s report stated that on August 28, 1986, he had advised the U.S. Ambassador in El Salvador, Edwin Corr, of Grasheim’s illegal activities. Corr said that Grasheim was at one time employed by the United States Embassy Military Group (Milgroup) in El Salvador.According to the report, on September 1, 1986, based on surveillances and informant information that Grasheim was in possession of drugs and weapons, the Salvadoran police searched his residence in El Salvador and seized a small amount of marijuana, plastic explosives, cases of grenades, sniper equipment, silencers, anti-tank rockets, machine guns, pistols, night vision equipment, military radios, and an undetermined amount of ammunition for a variety of weapons. Three vehicles were also seized, one of which had a license plate registered to the U.S. Embassy. The Embassy denied the license plate belonged to it.[…..] Castillo’s report stated that he and Rivera next interviewed General Adolfo Blandon, who had recently been contacted by Grasheim. Grasheim had asked General Blandon to certify that Grasheim’s possession of the weapons found at his residence was legal. Blandon had declined to do so.Castillo also reported that he had interviewed an unidentified source of information at the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador. This source said that Grasheim had contacted a member of the U.S. Milgroup at the Embassy and had threatened that if he “was arrested, then everybody else was going to go down with him.” According to the source, Grasheim said that he had telephone recordings of conversations with other members of the Milgroup.</blockquote>Grasheim denied that he had been the main player in cocaine smuggling, later suing several former government officials including Castillo for defaming him.In brief it’s worth noting that Rodriguez was a key figure in many areas of covert operations for the CIA. He joined as a teenager in 1960 and participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion, as well as operations of the JM-WAVE CIA station in Miami.<div id="attachment_14405" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="clear: both; margin: 0px auto 10px; max-width: 100%; width: 1083px;"><img data-attachment-id="14405" data-permalink="https://www.unicornriot.ninja/2017/roots-iran-contra-crisis-found-recording-airport-attack-plan/felix-and-che/#main" data-orig-file="https://i2.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Felix-and-Che.jpg?fit=1073%2C932&ssl=1" data-orig-size="1073,932" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"0","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-image-title="Felix-and-Che" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://i2.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Felix-and-Che.jpg?fit=744%2C646&ssl=1" data-large-file="https://i2.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Felix-and-Che.jpg?fit=900%2C782&ssl=1" class="size-full wp-image-14405" src="https://i2.wp.com/www.unicornriot.ninja/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Felix-and-Che.jpg?resize=900%2C782" alt="" width="764" height="664" style="max-width: 100%; height: auto; vertical-align: middle; border: 3px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; outline: rgb(212, 212, 212) solid 1px; margin: 10px auto 0px; display: block;" /><p class="wp-caption-text" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 5px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; padding: 10px; border-right: 1px solid rgb(17, 17, 17); border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(17, 17, 17); border-left: 1px solid rgb(17, 17, 17); border-image: initial; border-top: none; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 0px 4px 5px; line-height: 18pt; word-break: normal; word-wrap: break-word;">Felix Rodriguez (L) and the captured Ernesto “Che” Guevara (R) in Bolivia, 1967</div>The CIA dispatched Rodriguez to Bolivia where he played a critical role in capturing the Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara. He later participated in CIA’s Phoenix program in Southeast Asia which used widespread torture as an instrument of counterinsurgency.In 2014 the journalist Chuck Bowden <a href="https://medium.com/matter/chuck-bowdens-final-story-took-16-years-to-write-9940cb2b4887" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">investigated the fate of DEA agent Enrique Camarena</a> who was murdered in 1985. Bowden was able to revisit the area that his late friend Webb had looked at during the 1990s. Through retired DEA agent Hector Berrellez, Bowden was able to meet with witnesses to Camarena’s death, which they attributed to someone people called “the Cuban”, i.e. Rodriguez. The events around Camarena would have unfolded just months before this recording.<hr style="margin: 20px 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 30px; clear: both;">More Iran-Contra insights roll out in 2017</h2>While Iran-Contra seems distant today, many new documents like this one are coming to light in 2017. The <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/collection/crest-25-year-program-archive" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">CIA ‘CREST’ database</a> of released materials finally reached the Internet in January, and researchers have been poring over the new materials in detail. The release is already yielding results, as <a href="https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/mar/15/senates-final-report-iran-contra-undermined-all-ot/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">one report located in the database documents</a> attempts to cover-up the affair and obstruct the investigation.Other new explorations of Iran-Contra have documented the problems with various investigations. These include the Tower Commission’s conflict of interest resulting from the lead Senator’s brother-in-law having been a <a href="https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/jan/09/john-towers-fbi-file-reveals-role-iran-contra-cove/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">CIA gun runner tied to Iran-Contra</a>. Other recent releases show that the federal government has begun <a href="https://glomardisclosure.com/2017/03/24/us-reclassifies-information-response-foia-iran-contra-files/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">reclassifying information about Iran-Contra</a>.Iran-Contra continues to resurface in American popular culture with media exploring related stories such as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_the_Messenger(2014_film)" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Kill the Messenger</a> (2014), <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3548962/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Freeway: Crack in the System</a> (2015), the 2015 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcos" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Narcos</a> series, <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3532216/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">American Made</a> (2017), and <a href="http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/colin-farrell-oliver-north-amazon-show-iran-contra-1202008969/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">a series in development about Oliver North</a>.Self-described shell company and money laundering specialist Al Martin wrote in 2001’s “The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider”:<blockquote style="padding: 3px 0px 0px 35px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;">“Some would like to say Iran-Contra is long over. There are no entrails. There are no further connections. Read my lips. Iran-Contra is not over. It’s as alive as it ever was. The same people, the same banks, the same firms. It’s as much alive as ever.” (p323) “In some cases, it’s the very same names and faces. In other cases, it’s a newer, younger generation of names and faces. But the narcotics, weapons, and fraud aspects still continue to this day. The same facilities are used now that were used back then.” (p330)</blockquote>Michael Best contributed writing to this article.<hr style="margin: 20px 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 id="footnotes" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-weight: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 30px; clear: both;">Footnotes</h2>1: Since Grashiem didn’t tell Rodriguez about the plan, he assumed that General Gorman had. According to Grashiem, Rodriguez told him that he was talking to both the White House and the National Security Council, a fact confirmed by other documents.2: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/09/world/rebel-aircraft-attack-managua-bombing-airport-and-residences.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Contras attacked the Managua airport in September 1983</a> using two aircraft including a Cessna. Covert operations pilot <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/04/air-cocaine-the-wild-true-story-of-drug-running-arms-smuggling-and-contras-at-a-small-airstrip-in-clintons-arkansas/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Barry Seal crash-landed at the Managua airport in May 1984</a> on “his first DEA-sanctioned cocaine run.” The DEA then provided Seal with a C-123K <a href="https://louisianavoice.com/2011/02/14/603/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">he nicknamed “The Fat Lady”</a>. In June 1984, Seal ran a sting to collect photos of Nicaraguans loading drugs onto the C-123K, which was publicized by President Reagan on national television. After the sting, the C-123K was sold to Southern Air Transport, and was one of the two C-123s scheduled to arrive at “Christmas” 1985 that Grasheim and Rodriguez discussed on the recording.<hr style="margin: 20px 0px; border-right: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-image: initial; border-top-style: solid; border-top-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><h2 style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-weight: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 30px; clear: both;">Selected Iran-Contra Research References</h2><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-weight: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 30px; clear: both;">Government Reports</h3><ul style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://oig.justice.gov/special/9712/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">USDOJ/OIG Special Report</a>, THE CIA-CONTRA-CRACK COCAINE CONTROVERSY (December 1997)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://archive.org/details/reportofcongress87unit" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Report of the congressional committees investigating the Iran- Contra Affair : with supplemental, minority, and additional views</a> (1987)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB113/north06.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">The “Kerry Report”</a> (1989)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001372115.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Managing a Nightmare: CIA Public Affairs and the Drug Conspiracy Story</a> (Anonymous CIA writer)</li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-weight: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 30px; clear: both;">Books</h3><ul style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520214491" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies and the CIA in Central America</a>, Peter Dale Scott & Jonathan Marshall (1991)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-56025-064-7" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">The Big White Lie: The CIA and the Cocaine/Crack Epidemic</a>, Michael Levine (1993)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Alliance" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Dark Alliance</a>: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion, Gary Webb (1998)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/politics-of-heroin--the-products-9781556524837.php" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">The Politics of Heroin</a>, Alfred McCoy (2003 edition)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://trineday.com/paypal_store/product_pages/Strength_of_the_Pack.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">The Strength of the Pack</a>, Douglas Valentine (2009)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Whiteout.html?id=s5qIj_h_PtkC" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press</a>, Jeffrey St. Clair & Alexander Cockburn (1998)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Terry_Reed" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA</a>, Terry Reed (1994)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Barry_and_the_Boys.html?id=mB7FPQAACAAJ" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Barry and the Boys</a>, Daniel Hopsicker (2001)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.almartinraw.com/book.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">The Conspirators: Secrets of an Iran-Contra Insider</a>, Al Martin (2001)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.powderburns.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Powderburns: Cocaine, Contras and the Drug War</a>, Cele Castillo and Dave Harmon (1994)</li></ul><h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; font-weight: normal; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; line-height: 30px; clear: both;">Articles, Archives and Reports</h3><ul style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden;"><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://www.brown.edu/Research/Understanding_the_Iran_Contra_Affair/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Understanding the Iran-Contra Affairs</a>. Brown University</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations</a>: National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 2</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://christicarchive.org/iran-contra/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Iran Contra Christic Institute Archive</a>.</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/04/air-cocaine-the-wild-true-story-of-drug-running-arms-smuggling-and-contras-at-a-small-airstrip-in-clintons-arkansas/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Air Cocaine: the Wild, True Story of Drug-Running, Arms Smuggling and Contras at a Backwoods Airstrip in the Clintons’ Arkansas</a>, Jeffrey St. Clair & Alexander Cockburn (2016)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.narconews.com/darkalliance/drugs/start.htm" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">The Dark Alliance article series</a>, Gary Webb (1996)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://www.joc.com/mysterious-saga-old-c-123_19861013.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Mysterious saga of an old C-123</a>, Martin Merzer (October 1986)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/pandora/forest_service_c130s.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">CIA and Subsidiaries Exposed in Court Documents As Active Drug Smugglers</a>, Michael Ruppert / From the Wilderness (1998)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="http://whowhatwhy.org/2014/10/05/the-hidden-government-group-linking-jfk-watergate-iran-contra-and-911/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">The hidden government group linking JFK, Watergate, Iran-Contra and 9-11</a>, Peter Dale Scott (2014)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://louisianavoice.com/2011/02/14/603/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Barry Seal murder in Baton Rouge 25 years ago helped expose Iran-Contra debacle</a>, Tom Aswell (2011)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/mar/15/senates-final-report-iran-contra-undermined-all-ot/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">The Senate’s final report on Iran-Contra showed extent to which the investigation had been stonewalled</a>, Michael Best (2017)</li><li style="line-height: 20px; padding: 0px 0px 10px 16px; position: relative; list-style: none; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2017/03/25/how-us-flooded-the-world-with-psyops/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">How the US flooded the world with psyops</a>, (2017) <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2013/03/14/iran-contras-lost-chapter/" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Iran-Contra’s lost chapter</a> (2008), <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2013/12/19/contras-dirty-money-and-cia/" style="text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 200ms linear;">Contras, Dirty Money and CIA</a> (1997) Robert Parry</li></ul></div>=

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see also nat rev, newsmaxFélix Ismael Rodríguez Mendigutia (born 31 May 1941) is a former <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency" title="Central Intelligence Agency" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Central Intelligence Agency</a> officer known for his involvement in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion" title="Bay of Pigs Invasion" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bay of Pigs Invasion</a>, in the interrogation and execution of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist" title="Marxist" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Marxist</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla" title="Guerrilla" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">guerrilla</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara" title="Che Guevara" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Che Guevara</a> and his ties to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H.W.Bush" title="George H. W. Bush" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">George H. W. Bush</a> during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair" title="Iran–Contra affair" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Iran–Contra affair</a>. He is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_people" title="Cuban people" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Cuban</a>, of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_people" title="Spanish people" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Spanish</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_people" title="Basque people" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Basque</a> ancestry.<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr;"><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Biography" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1 Biography</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.1 Bay of Pigs Invasion</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Bolivia" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.2 Bolivia</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Vietnam" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.3 Vietnam</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Iran-Contra_and_ties_to_George_H.W.Bush" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.4 Iran-Contra and ties to George H.W. Bush</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Activism" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">1.5 Activism</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#See_also" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">2 See also</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#References" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3 References</a><ul style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Autobiography" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.1 Autobiography</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Cuba:Che_Guevara.2C_Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion.2C_Central_America" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.2 Cuba: Che Guevara, Bay of Pigs Invasion, Central America</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Vietnam:Operation_Phoenix" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.3 Vietnam: Operation Phoenix</a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#Iran-Contra_scandal" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">3.4 Iran-Contra scandal</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">4 External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Biography[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Biography" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>His uncle was minister of Public Works during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulgencio_Batista" title="Fulgencio Batista" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Fulgencio Batista</a> dictatorship in Cuba. After the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Revolution" title="Cuban Revolution" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Cuban Revolution</a> he and his family became exiles in the United States.He attended the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkiomen_School" title="Perkiomen School" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Perkiomen School</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania" title="Pennsylvania" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Pennsylvania</a>, but dropped out to join the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Caribbean_Anti-communist_Legion&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Caribbean Anti-communist Legion (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Caribbean Anti-communist Legion</a>, created by<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic" title="Dominican Republic" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Dominican</a> dictator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Trujillo" title="Rafael Trujillo" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Rafael Trujillo</a>, with the intention of ending<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communism" title="Communism" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">communism</a> in Cuba.The invasion of Cuba was a failure, and Rodríguez went back to Perkiomen. He graduated in June 1960, and went to live with his parents in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami" title="Miami" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Miami</a>, where thousands of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_exiles" title="Cuban exiles" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Cuban exiles</a> had moved.In September, 1960 he joined a group of Cuban exiles in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guatemala" title="Guatemala" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Guatemala</a>, supported by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency" title="Central Intelligence Agency" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Central Intelligence Agency</a> (CIA), to receive military training. They were called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigade_2506" title="Brigade 2506" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Brigade 2506</a>.<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bay of Pigs Invasion<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Bay of Pigs Invasion" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>He was a Paramilitary Operations Officer from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Activities_Division" title="Special Activities Division" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Special Activities Division</a>. He joined and became a leader in the CIA-backed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_40" title="Operation 40" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Operation 40</a>[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>] and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigade_2506" title="Brigade 2506" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Brigade 2506</a>, and clandestinely entered Cuba a few weeks before the failed<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion" title="Bay of Pigs Invasion" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bay of Pigs Invasion</a>. Utilizing his familiarity with the country, he was able to gather critical intelligence to be used in the planning and preparation for the invasion.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-Woodward.2C_Bob_2002.p.317-2" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a>His colleagues in Operation 40 included <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Atlee_Phillips" title="David Atlee Phillips" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">David Atlee Phillips</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_S%C3%A1nchez_Morales" title="David Sánchez Morales" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">David Morales</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Shackley" title="Ted Shackley" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Ted Shackley</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.Howard_Hunt" title="E. Howard Hunt" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">E. Howard Hunt</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Sturgis" title="Frank Sturgis" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Frank Sturgis</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter_Goss" title="Porter Goss" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Porter Goss</a> among others.<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bolivia<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Bolivia" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3><div class="hatnote" style="font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">See also: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara#Capture_and_execution" title="Che Guevara" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Capture and execution of Che Guevara</a></div>In 1967, the CIA recruited Rodríguez to train and head a team to hunt down <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxist" title="Marxist" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Marxist</a> guerrilla <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara" title="Che Guevara" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Che Guevara</a>, who was attempting to overthrow the government in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivia" title="Bolivia" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bolivia</a>. After Guevara was wounded and captured by Bolivian special forces trained and supported by the CIA, Rodríguez interrogated him.
The last photograph of Guevara alive includes Rodriguez standing by his side.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-Nordlinger-4" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">[4]</a>Rodríguez stated that he wanted to keep Guevara alive for further interrogation, but was thwarted by the order of the Bolivian president that Guevara be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summary_execution" title="Summary execution" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">summarily executed</a>. Rodríguez, whose cover was that of a Bolivian army major, repeated those orders, later stating that it was a Bolivian decision, and Guevara was killed. Rodríguez has in his possession Guevara's<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolex" title="Rolex" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Rolex</a> wristwatch.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">[3]</a><h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Vietnam</h3>He became a U.S. citizen in 1969, soon enlisting in the United States Army.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">citation needed</a>] During his career with the CIA he also went by the name<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1ximo_G%C3%B3mez" title="Máximo Gómez" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Máximo Gómez</a>. He was awarded the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_Star" title="Intelligence Star" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Intelligence Star</a> for Valor by the CIA and nine Crosses for Gallantry by the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Vietnam" title="South Vietnam" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">South Vietnamese</a> government.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-Nordlinger-4" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[4]</a> He was codenamed Lazarus after his survival of the Bay of Pigs invasion operation.In the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War" title="Vietnam War" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Vietnam War</a>, Rodríguez flew over 300 helicopter missions, and was shot down five times. In 1971, Rodríguez trained Provincial Reconnaissance Units (PRUs). PRUs were CIA-sponsored units that worked for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Program" title="Phoenix Program" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Phoenix Program</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[5]</a> The Walsh Report states (Chapter 29): "During the Vietnam War, [Donald] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Gregg" title="Donald Gregg" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Gregg</a> supervised CIA officer Felix Rodriguez and they kept in contact following the war."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-walsh-ch29-6" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a> Rodríguez also reported to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Shackley" title="Ted Shackley" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ted Shackley</a> during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Program" title="Phoenix Program" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Phoenix Program</a> - Shackley became Bush's top aide for operations when he directed the CIA; Gregg later became National Security Advisor for Vice President Bush. Rodríguez was in frequent contact with him regarding arms for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contra(guerrillas)" title="Contra (guerrillas)" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Contras</a>.<h3 style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Iran-Contra and ties to George H.W. Bush<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)&action=edit&section=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Iran-Contra and ties to George H.W. Bush" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h3>There is extensive documentation of Rodriguez' ties to US vice-president <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_H.W.Bush" title="George H. W. Bush" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">George H. W. Bush</a> during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair" title="Iran–Contra affair" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Iran–Contra affair</a>, from 1983-1988.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a> In September 1986 General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_K.Singlaub" title="John K. Singlaub" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">John K. Singlaub</a> wrote <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_North" title="Oliver North" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Oliver North</a> expressing concern about Félix Rodríguez's daily contact with the Bush office and warned of damage to President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Ronald Reagan</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">US Republican Party</a>. The Walsh Report (Chapter 25) states that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Hill(diplomat)" title="Charles Hill (diplomat)" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">M. Charles Hill</a> took notes at a meeting between <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Shultz" title="George Shultz" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">George Shultz</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Abrams" title="Elliott Abrams" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Elliott Abrams</a> on 16 October 1986, as follows:<dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; line-height: 22.3999996185303px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">"Felix Rodriguez [sic] – Bush did know him from CIA days. FR [Rodriguez] is ex-CIA. In El Salv[ador] he goes around to bars saying he is buddy of Bush. A y[ea]r ago Pdx [Poindexter] & Ollie [North] told VP staff stop protecting FR as a friend – we want to get rid of him from his involvnt [sic] w[ith] private ops. Nothing was done so he still is there shooting his mouth off."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[8]</a></dd><dd style="margin-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-right: 0px;">(brackets are in the original)</dd></dl>Rodríguez met with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Gregg" title="Donald Gregg" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Donald Gregg</a>, who by then was Bush's National Security advisor. The Walsh Report (Chapter 29) states: "Gregg introduced Rodriguez to Vice President Bush in January 1985, and Rodriguez met with the Vice President again in Washington, D.C., in May 1986. He also met Vice President Bush briefly in Miami on May 20, 1986."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-walsh-ch29-6" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a>Rodríguez also met and spoke repeatedly with Bush's advisor Gregg and his deputy (Col. Samuel J. Watson III). As one indicator of this connection, a single chapter in the Walsh Report titled "Donald P. Gregg" (Chapter 29) contains 329 references to Rodríguez.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-walsh-ch29-6" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a>On 5 October 1986, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Air_Services_HPF821" title="Corporate Air Services HPF821" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Corporate Air Services</a> C-123 carrying <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Hasenfus" title="Eugene Hasenfus" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Eugene Hasenfus</a> was shot down over <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua" title="Nicaragua" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Nicaragua</a>, killing two US pilots, William H. Cooper and Wallace B. Sawyer, Jr., and one Latin American crew member. "Rodriguez unsuccessfully attempted to call Gregg to inform him of the missing plane. He reached Watson, who in turn notified the White House Situation Room. The following day, Rodriguez called Watson again and told him that the airplane was one of North's."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-walsh-ch29-6" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a> Hasenfus told reporters that he worked for "Max Gomez" (an alias for Felix Rodriguez) and "Ramon Medina" (an alias for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles" title="Luis Posada Carriles" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Luis Posada Carriles</a>) of the CIA. On 10 October 1986, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clair_George" title="Clair George" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Clair George</a>, head of CIA clandestine operations, testified before Congress that he did not know of any direct connection between Hasenfus and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_administration" title="Reagan administration" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Reagan administration</a> officials. In Fall of 1992, George was convicted on two charges of false statements and perjury before Congress; he was pardoned Christmas Eve that year by then-President Bush.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[9]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9lix_Rodr%C3%ADguez(soldier)#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[10]</a>

===

hmmn sparticus?

<h1 style="padding: 3px 3px 3px 0px; text-align: left; margin: 0px;">Iran-Contra and Arms-for-Hostages Scandals</h1>

<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: -4px 0px 3px; font-weight: normal;">Felix Rodriguez</h2>

Project: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/project.jsp?project=irancontra" style="text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">Iran-Contra and Arms-for-Hostages Scandals</a>

Open-Content project managed by <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/user.jsp?oid=1631453644-2711" style="text-decoration: none; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-color: rgb(153, 153, 153);">mtuck</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1982greggbush#a1982greggbush" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">1982: CIA, NSC Official Becomes Bush’s Foreign Policy Adviser</a></h2>

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Vice President George H. W. Bush asks CIA agent and National Security Council official Donald Gregg to serve as his national security and foreign policy adviser. Gregg agrees, and retires from the CIA. Gregg will work closely with Bush and former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez to help put together a covert operation to supply the Nicaraguan Contras with arms, cash, and supplies. <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKgreggD.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('">Spartacus Schoolnet, “Donald P. Gregg,” 28 December 2007.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">SPARTACUS SCHOOLNET, 12/28/2007</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_george_hwbush" style="text-decoration: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a037183plancontras#a037183plancontras" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">March 17, 1983: Bush’s Foreign Policy Adviser, Ex-CIA Agent Create Plan to Supply Nicaraguan Contras</a></h2>

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Vice President George Bush hosts a secret meeting with his foreign policy adviser, Donald Gregg (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a1982greggbush" onmouseover="return OL('1982: CIA, NSC Official Becomes Bush’s Foreign Policy Adviser')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">1982</a>), and former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez. The meeting is the first impetus of the National Security Council (NSC)‘s initiative to secretly, and illegally, fund the Nicaraguan Contras in an attempt to overthrow that country’s socialist government. Rodriguez agrees to run a central supply depot at Ilopango Air Base in El Salvador. In a memo to NSC chief Robert McFarlane, Gregg will note that the plan is rooted in the experience of running “anti-Vietcong operations in Vietnam from 1970-1972.” Gregg will also note that “Felix Rodriguez, who wrote the attached plan, both worked for me in Vietnam and carried out the actual operations outlined above.” <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKgreggD.htm" target="blank" onmouseover="return OL('">Spartacus Schoolnet, “Donald P. Gregg,” 28 December 2007.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">SPARTACUS SCHOOLNET, 12/28/2007</a>]</cite> Rodriguez and Gregg, along with others such as Watergate burglar Frank Sturgis (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a0472plumbersplanburglary&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('April-June 1972: ’Plumbers’ Plan for Watergate Burglary')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">April-June 1972</a>), were part of the CIA’s “Operation 40,” an assassination squad that operated in Cuba and the Caribbean during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Rodriguez tried at least once, in 1961, to assassinate Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. In 1967, Rodriguez interrogated and executed South American revolutionary Che Guevara. He was part of the infamous and shadowy Operation Phoenix during the Vietnam War. <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKroderiguez.htm" target="blank" onmouseover="return OL('">Spartacus Schoolnet, “Felix Rodriguez,” 17 January 2008.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">SPARTACUS SCHOOLNET, 1/17/2008</a>]</cite>

Entity Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=felix_rodriguez_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=donald_gregg_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=robert_c.mcfarlane" style="text-decoration: none;">Robert C. McFarlane</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=fidel_castro" style="text-decoration: none;">Fidel Castro</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=frank_sturgis_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Frank Sturgis</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=george_herbert_walker_bush" style="text-decoration: none;">George Herbert Walker Bush</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=ch%C3%A9_guevara" style="text-decoration: none;">ChÃ© Guevara</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=operation_401" style="text-decoration: none;">’Operation 40’</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=national_security_council" style="text-decoration: none;">National Security Council</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=_operation_phoenix1" style="text-decoration: none;">’Operation Phoenix’</a>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_robert_mcfarlane" style="text-decoration: none;">Robert McFarlane</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a122184greggnorthrod#a122184greggnorthrod" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">December 21, 1984: Bush’s Foreign Policy Adviser Introduces North to Contra Liaison</a></h2>

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Donald Gregg, Vice President Bush’s national security and foreign policy adviser and one of the architects of the secret plan to fund the Nicaraguan Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a037183plancontras" onmouseover="return OL('March 17, 1983: Bush’s Foreign Policy Adviser, Ex-CIA Agent Create Plan to Supply Nicaraguan Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">March 17, 1983</a>), introduces his partner Felix Rodriguez to Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North of the National Security Council (NSC). North will head the NSC’s Contra resupply and funding operations. <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKgreggD.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('">Spartacus Schoolnet, “Donald P. Gregg,” 28 December 2007.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">SPARTACUS SCHOOLNET, 12/28/2007</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_george_hwbush" style="text-decoration: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_oliver_north" style="text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=irancontraaffair_211#irancontraaffair_211" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">Febuary 15, 1985: D. G. ‘Chip’ Tatum Makes Contact with Felix Rodriguez, Briefed on Pegasus Missions</a></h2>

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During a flight to La Cieba, Honduras, CIA operative D.G. “Chip” Tatum is instructed to make contact with Major Felix Rodriguez, assigned by Oliver North as Tatum’s local handler. Upon arrival in La Cieba, Tatum meets Rodriguez, who then takes the crew to a CIA safe house for the night. Following dinner, Tatum and Rodriguez plan their four-month support calender. Tatum is scheduled to leave Honduras in June 1985. Tatum is instructed that in addition to flying normal MEDEVAC missions, his duties will include a covert group of missions, the control word for these missions being Pegasus, and with Pegasus missions to take priority over normal medical evacuations. Rodriguez also instructs Tatum as to his chain of command. Missions could be ordered by any of the following:

<img src="/05cf1f4f-7e98-55cc-976e-16049e9b7bea.gif"/> Oliver North (assistant national security advisor to the White House);

<img src="/ff8ca293-6e26-5a43-b7cb-f1cf8b19c7de.gif"/> Amiram Nir (former Israeli intelligence officer (Mossad) and advisor to Vice President Bush);

<img src="/e3e03a3b-8066-5354-aef2-ac645804722e.gif"/> Felix Rodriguez (CIA). <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tatum-chronicles-D-G/dp/B0006QS5C8" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('D. G. \'Chip\' Tatum, ">The Tatum Chronicles (Florida: Self Published, 1996).')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">TATUM, 1996</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=asum1985airstriptambs#asum1985airstriptambs" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">Summer 1985: Costa Rica Allows Contra Airstrip</a></h2><h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;">
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Lewis Tambs becomes the US Ambassador to Costa Rica. Tambs is under orders to open what is called a “southern front” for the Nicaraguan Contras; a small force of Contras is striking into southern Nicaragua from northern Costa Rica, and the Costa Rican government wants them out of their territory. Tambs believes that the orders for the “southern front” come from National Security Council (NSC) officer Oliver North, Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, and their Restricted Interagency Group (RIG—see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=alate85abramsnorth&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('Late 1985 and After: State Department Official Joins NSC, CIA Officials in Funding Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Late 1985 and After</a>). Tambs, with the assistance of North’s liaison in Central America, Felix Rodriguez (see<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a>), secures permission from the Costa Rican government to build an airstrip for use by the Contras in northern Costa Rica, as long as it is not close enough to the border to allow the Contras to use it as a staging area for ground raids. One of Abrams’s first questions to North after being tasked to “monitor” the NSC officer (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a090485abramsmonitor&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('September 4, 1985: State Department Official Learns of North’s Illegal Funding of Contras, Tasked to ‘Monitor’ North')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">September 4, 1985</a>) is why the Costa Ricans are allowing the airstrip. The airstrip will be built at Santa Elena, Costa Rica, by the Udall Corporation, one of the private firms controlled by North’s partner, retired General Richard Secord (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a111985secord&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('November 19, 1985: Retired General Secord Sets up Contra Supply Operation')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">November 19, 1985</a> and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a020287caseyresigns&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('February 2, 1987: CIA Director Casey Resigns Due to Terminal Illness; Iran-Contra Commitee Unable to Question Him')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">February 2, 1987</a>), and will be called “Point West.” Abrams will later testify, falsely, that no US officials were involved in securing permission to build the airstrip. Notes taken by the US Ambassador to El Salvador, Edwin Corr, about discussions concerning the airstrip, will prove that Abrams lies under oath about the airstrip. <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite>

Timeline Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=us_international_relations" style="text-decoration: none;">US International Relations</a>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_geopolitics_and_diplomacy" style="text-decoration: none;">Geopolitics and Diplomacy</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_elliott_abrams" style="text-decoration: none;">Elliott Abrams</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_richard_secord" style="text-decoration: none;">Richard Secord</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=amid0985rodriguezcontras#amid0985rodriguezcontras" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras</a></h2>

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The National Security Council’s Oliver North persuades former CIA officer Felix Rodriguez to help him divert funds and weapons to the Nicaraguan Contras (see<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a120685northfund&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('December 6, 1985: North: Arms Profits Will Go to Fund Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">December 6, 1985</a> and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a048612millioncontras&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('April 4, 1986: North Diverts $12 Million in Iran Arms Sales Profits to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">April 4, 1986</a>). Rodriguez agrees to set up the servicing of CIA transport planes and other aircraft at the Ilopango Air Base in San Salvador, El Salvador. Rodriguez works out of Ilopango, helping the Salvadoran Air Force in its own counter-insurgency activities. Rodriguez was placed at Ilopango by Donald Gregg, a former CIA agent who now serves as the foreign policy adviser to Vice President Bush (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a037183plancontras" onmouseover="return OL('March 17, 1983: Bush’s Foreign Policy Adviser, Ex-CIA Agent Create Plan to Supply Nicaraguan Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">March 17, 1983</a>). While in El Salvador, Rodriguez uses the alias “Max Gomez.” <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_george_hwbush" style="text-decoration: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_oliver_north" style="text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a1085northnhao#a1085northnhao" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">October 1985: North Helps Distribute Humanitarian Aid to Contras</a></h2><h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;">
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The first meeting of the State Department’s Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office (NHAO) is held. Two aides to Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a041985abramsstate&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('April 19, 1985 and After: Prominent Neoconservative Becomes Influential State Department Official')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">April 19, 1985 and After</a> and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a090485abramsmonitor&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('September 4, 1985: State Department Official Learns of North’s Illegal Funding of Contras, Tasked to ‘Monitor’ North')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">September 4, 1985</a>) attend the meeting. During the meeting, National Security Council (NSC) officer Oliver North offers the services of former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez to assist in distributing the $27 million in humanitarian aid recently approved for the Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a0885humanitarianaid&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('August 1985: Congress Appropriates $27 Million in Humanitarian Aid for Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">August 1985</a>). Rodriguez is helping North channel illegal funds to the Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a>). The agreement is to channel the funds to the Contras through El Salvador’s Ilopango Air Base, Rodriguez’s center of operations. By early 1986, the legal NHAO fund distribution will merge with the illegal North fund distribution (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a120685northfund&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('December 6, 1985: North: Arms Profits Will Go to Fund Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">December 6, 1985</a> and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a048612millioncontras&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('April 4, 1986: North Diverts $12 Million in Iran Arms Sales Profits to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">April 4, 1986</a>). <cite style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite> Some of the $27 million is never used for humanitarian purposes, but instead used to buy weapons, both for the Contras and for the mujaheddin in Afghanistan. <cite style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKgreggD.htm" target="blank" onmouseover="return OL('">Spartacus Schoolnet, “Donald P. Gregg,” 28 December 2007.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">SPARTACUS SCHOOLNET, 12/28/2007</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_oliver_north" style="text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a010986bushgregg#a010986bushgregg" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">January 9, 1986: North, CIA Official Discuss Possible Connection to Vice President</a></h2>

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National Security Council officer Oliver North, running the secret and illegal network that diverts funds from US-Iranian arms sales to the Nicaraguan Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a120685northfund&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('December 6, 1985: North: Arms Profits Will Go to Fund Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">December 6, 1985</a> and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a048612millioncontras&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('April 4, 1986: North Diverts $12 Million in Iran Arms Sales Profits to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">April 4, 1986</a>), has a phone conversation with CIA official Alan Fiers (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=asum1986fiersgeorge&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('Summer 1986: CIA Official Told to Lie to Congress')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Summer 1986</a>). A diary entry by North documenting the conversation reads in part, “Felix talking too much about V.P. connection.” “Felix” is CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, a key member of North’s network (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a0527cheneyrodriguez" onmouseover="return OL('May 27, 1987: CIA Operative Testifies, Turns Questioning into Anti-Soviet Diatribe')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">May 27, 1987</a>). It is not clear whether the “V.P.” notation refers to Vice President George H. W. Bush or to former CIA official Donald Gregg, now Bush’s foreign policy adviser and a liaison to Rodriguez. In later testimony before the Iran-Contra Congressional committee (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a050587congresstestimony&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('May 5, 1987: Iran-Contra Committee Begins Public Hearings')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">May 5, 1987</a>), Gregg will deny that Bush’s office was involved in recruiting Rodriguez to work with North.<cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,973440,00.html" target="blank" onmouseover="return OL('Richard Lacayo, Jonathan Beaty, and Bruce van Voorst, “Iran-Contra: The Cover-Up Begins to Crack,” ">Time, 22 July 1991.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">TIME, 7/22/1991</a>]</cite> Gregg has a long and clandestine relationship with Rodriguez, going back as far as 1959, when the two were involved in “Operation 40,” a CIA-led attempt to overthrow Cuba’s Fidel Castro. <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKoperation40.htm" target="blank" onmouseover="return OL('">Spartacus Schoolnet, “Operation 40,” 3 February 2008.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">SPARTACUS SCHOOLNET, 2/3/2008</a>]</cite>Gregg also worked with Rodriguez in covert operations during the Vietnam War.<cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKgreggD.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('">Spartacus Schoolnet, “Donald P. Gregg,” 28 December 2007.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">SPARTACUS SCHOOLNET, 12/28/2007</a>]</cite>

Entity Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=fidel_castro" style="text-decoration: none;">Fidel Castro</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=central_intelligence_agency" style="text-decoration: none;">Central Intelligence Agency</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=alan_fiers_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Alan Fiers</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=donald_gregg_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=felix_rodriguez_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=national_security_council" style="text-decoration: none;">National Security Council</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=oliver_north" style="text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=joint_house_senate_iran_contra_committee_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Joint House-Senate Iran-Contra Committee</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=george_herbert_walker_bush" style="text-decoration: none;">George Herbert Walker Bush</a>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_investigations=irancontraaffair_house_senate_committee" style="text-decoration: none;">House-Senate Committee</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_alan_fiers" style="text-decoration: none;">Alan Fiers</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_george_hwbush" style="text-decoration: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_oliver_north" style="text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=irancontraaffair_151#irancontraaffair_151" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">August 12, 1986: Contra Liaison Claims Contras Being Sold Shoddy Goods; Indicates Link between Contras and Bush</a></h2>

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Former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, the liaison between the Nicaraguan Contras and the National Security Council (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a>), comes to Washington to argue that retired General Richard Secord (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a111985secord&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('November 19, 1985: Retired General Secord Sets up Contra Supply Operation')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">November 19, 1985</a> and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a020287caseyresigns&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('February 2, 1987: CIA Director Casey Resigns Due to Terminal Illness; Iran-Contra Commitee Unable to Question Him')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">February 2, 1987</a>) is providing shoddy airplanes and goods to the Contras at exorbitant prices. Rodriguez meets with his patron, Donald Gregg, the foreign affairs adviser to Vice President Bush (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a037183plancontras" onmouseover="return OL('March 17, 1983: Bush’s Foreign Policy Adviser, Ex-CIA Agent Create Plan to Supply Nicaraguan Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">March 17, 1983</a> and<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a101086bushlink" onmouseover="return OL('October 10, 1986: Press Alleges Bush, Not CIA, Is Government Link to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 10, 1986</a>). Gregg then meets with other administration officials to discuss Rodriguez’s concerns. Officials discuss Rodriguez’s claim that his “working w/VP [Bush] [is a] blessing for CIA,” indicating that despite later denials (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=us_plans_to_use_military_force_against_iran_395&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('December 1986: Vice President Bush Claims He Is Briefed on Iran-Contra Operation for First Time')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">December 1986</a> and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=us_plans_to_use_military_force_against_iran_421&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('August 6, 1987: Vice President Bush Claims Ignorance of Details of Iranian, Iraqi Arms Deals')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">August 6, 1987</a>), Bush is well aware of Rodriguez’s activities on behalf of the Contras and may be facilitating them. According to Gregg’s notes, he is particularly concerned that Rodriguez is “go[ing] around to bars saying he is buddy of Bush… we want to get rid of him from his [involvement] w[ith] private ops. Nothing was done so he still is there shooting his mouth off.” <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_george_hwbush" style="text-decoration: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_richard_secord" style="text-decoration: none;">Richard Secord</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a0986exposeairstrip#a0986exposeairstrip" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">Early September 1986: Costa Rica Shuts Down Contra Airstrip, Threatens Public Exposure</a></h2>

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Costa Rica’s newly elected president, Oscar Arias Sanchez, a foe of the Nicaraguan Contras, is outraged to learn of the deal made by his predecessor for a Contra airstrip in the northern portion of his country (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#asum1985airstriptambs" onmouseover="return OL('Summer 1985: Costa Rica Allows Contra Airstrip')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Summer 1985</a>). He stops its use for Contra resupply. On September 6, 1986, CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, the liaison for National Security Council officer Oliver North in the region (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a>), informs North and CIA official Alan Fiers that Arias intends to hold a press conference denouncing the airstrip, revealing its construction by North’s partner, retired General Richard Secord, and announcing that its existence is a violation of Costa Rican law. North discusses the impending conference with Fiers, Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, and the US Ambassador to Costa Rica, Lewis Tambs. They mull over informing Arias that he will never be allowed in the White House, and will never get any of the $80 million promised to Costa Rica by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) if the airstrip is revealed. Tambs passes along these threats, and the press conference is initially canceled. Fiers later testifies (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a071791fiersguilty&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('July 17, 1991: Former CIA Official Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress during Investigation')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">July 17, 1991</a>) that he, North, and Abrams are worried that the public revelation of the airstrip will expose the connections between the Contras, North, and the White House. <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite> In late September, Costa Rica will publicly reveal the existence of the airstrip (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a092586costaricaexpose&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('September 25, 1986: Costa Rica Reveals Illegal Contra Airstrip, Role of US Government Remains Secret')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">September 25, 1986</a>).

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_geopolitics_and_diplomacy" style="text-decoration: none;">Geopolitics and Diplomacy</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_alan_fiers" style="text-decoration: none;">Alan Fiers</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_elliott_abrams" style="text-decoration: none;">Elliott Abrams</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_oliver_north" style="text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_richard_secord" style="text-decoration: none;">Richard Secord</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a100986hasenfusgomez#a100986hasenfusgomez" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">October 9, 1986: Connections between CIA, US Government, and Contras Alleged</a></h2>

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CIA cargo handler Eugene Hasenfus, in the custody of Nicaraguan officials after his transport plane filled with weapons and supplies for the Contras was shot down (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a100586hasenfus&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('October 5, 1986: CIA Transport Plane Shot Down in Nicaragua; Story Reveals Illegal Contra-Arms Program')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 5, 1986</a>), publicly states that he had made ten other trips to ferry arms and supplies to the Contras. Six of those were from the Ilopango airfield in El Salvador (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a>). He also states that he worked closely with two CIA agents, “Max Gomez” and “Ramon Medina.” “Gomez” is actually Felix Rodriguez, who serves as the liaison between the Contras and National Security Council officer Oliver North. “Medina” is another CIA operative, Rafael Quintero. Hasenfus says that Gomez and Medina oversaw the housing for the crews, transportation, refueling, and flight plans. The same day as Hasenfus’s public statement, Nicaraguan officials reveal that one of Hasenfus’s crew members, who died in the crash, carried cards issued by the Salvadoran Air Force identifying them as US advisers. And, the Nicaraguans claim, one of the crew members had a business card identifying him as an official with the US’s Nicaraguan Humanitarian Assistance Office (NHAO—see<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a1085northnhao" onmouseover="return OL('October 1985: North Helps Distribute Humanitarian Aid to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 1985</a>). <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>; <a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKwheaton.htm" target="blank" onmouseover="return OL('">Spartacus Schoolnet, “Gene Wheaton,” 29 December 2007.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">SPARTACUS SCHOOLNET, 12/29/2007</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_eugene_hasenfus" style="text-decoration: none;">Eugene Hasenfus</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_oliver_north" style="text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a101086bushlink#a101086bushlink" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">October 10, 1986: Press Alleges Bush, Not CIA, Is Government Link to Contras</a></h2>

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The US press reports that Vice President Bush, and not the CIA, is the US government link to the downed CIA flight intended to supply weapons to the Nicaraguan Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a100586hasenfus&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('October 5, 1986: CIA Transport Plane Shot Down in Nicaragua; Story Reveals Illegal Contra-Arms Program')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 5, 1986</a> and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a100986hasenfusgomez" onmouseover="return OL('October 9, 1986: Connections between CIA, US Government, and Contras Alleged')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 9, 1986</a>). The San Francisco Examiner reports that Felix Rodriguez, the CIA liaison between the Contras and the White House (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a>), was assigned to El Salvador’s Ilopango airfield by Bush’s foreign policy adviser, former CIA official Donald Gregg (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a010986bushgregg&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('January 9, 1986: North, CIA Official Discuss Possible Connection to Vice President')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">January 9, 1986</a>). <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_george_hwbush" style="text-decoration: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a101086abramsnovak#a101086abramsnovak" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">October 10, 1986: State Department Official Repeats Lies about Contra Knowledge to Conservative Columnist</a></h2>

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Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams is interviewed by conservative columnist Robert Novak and Novak’s partner, Rowland Evans. Novak, who is openly sympathetic to the Nicaraguan Contras, asks Abrams about his knowledge of the connections between the US government and the Contras as revealed by the downing of a CIA transport plane over Nicaragua (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a100586hasenfus&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('October 5, 1986: CIA Transport Plane Shot Down in Nicaragua; Story Reveals Illegal Contra-Arms Program')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">October 5, 1986</a>). Abrams, who provides false testimony to Congress today and in the following days, tells a similar story to Novak. Abrams goes further with Novak than he does with Congress, denying that any such person as “Max Gomez,” the CIA liaison to the Contras, even exists (Gomez is actually former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez—see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a10101586abramslies" onmouseover="return OL('October 10-15, 1986: State Department, CIA Officials Lie to Congress about Government Support for Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">October 10-15, 1986</a>). “Whoever that gentleman is, he certainly isn’t named Max Gomez,” Abrams notes. Abrams also denies that “Gomez” has any connection to Vice President Bush (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a10111486abramsbush" onmouseover="return OL('October 11-14, 1986: State Department Official Denies Any Knowledge of Contra Connection to Vice President')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">October 11-14, 1986</a>). Abrams adds that whoever this “Gomez” is, “he is not on the US government payroll in any way.” Novak asks if Rodriguez has any connection to the National Security Council or any other government agency, and Abrams says: “I am not playing games.… No government agencies, none.” In June 1987, Abrams will admit that he lied to Novak. <cite style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_elliott_abrams" style="text-decoration: none;">Elliott Abrams</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a10101586abramslies#a10101586abramslies" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">October 10-15, 1986: State Department, CIA Officials Lie to Congress about Government Support for Contras</a></h2>

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Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=alate85abramsnorth&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('Late 1985 and After: State Department Official Joins NSC, CIA Officials in Funding Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Late 1985 and After</a> and<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a090485abramsmonitor&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('September 4, 1985: State Department Official Learns of North’s Illegal Funding of Contras, Tasked to ‘Monitor’ North')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">September 4, 1985</a>) testifies three times to Congress that the Contra resupply operation, exposed by the downing of a CIA transport plane (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a100586hasenfus&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('October 5, 1986: CIA Transport Plane Shot Down in Nicaragua; Story Reveals Illegal Contra-Arms Program')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 5, 1986</a> and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a100986hasenfusgomez" onmouseover="return OL('October 9, 1986: Connections between CIA, US Government, and Contras Alleged')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 9, 1986</a>), is not a US government operation. There is no coordination whatsoever from any government official (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#asum1985airstriptambs" onmouseover="return OL('Summer 1985: Costa Rica Allows Contra Airstrip')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Summer 1985</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a1085northnhao" onmouseover="return OL('October 1985: North Helps Distribute Humanitarian Aid to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 1985</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=alate85abramsnorth&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('Late 1985 and After: State Department Official Joins NSC, CIA Officials in Funding Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Late 1985 and After</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a027886northdivert&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('February 7-8, 1986: CIA, State Department Officials Worry about North’s Connections to Humanitarian Funds')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">February 7-8, 1986</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a051686reaganprivate&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('May 16, 1986: Reagan Asks about Private Funding for Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">May 16, 1986</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a0786northrig&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('July 1986 and After: North Asserts His Control of Contra Project in Interagency Group Meetings')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">July 1986 and After</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a09192086sabotage&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('September 19-20, 1986: Third-Party Sabotage on Behalf of Contras Discussed')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">September 19-20, 1986</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a092586costaricaexpose&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('September 25, 1986: Costa Rica Reveals Illegal Contra Airstrip, Role of US Government Remains Secret')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">September 25, 1986</a>, and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a010986bushgregg&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('January 9, 1986: North, CIA Official Discuss Possible Connection to Vice President')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">January 9, 1986</a>), and no one in the government knows who organized or paid for the transport flight that was shot down.

'Not Our Supply System' - Abrams tells the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that while he and other government officials are aware of the Contra resupply operation, “[i]t is not our supply system. It is one that grew up after we were forbidden from supplying the resistance, and we have been kind of careful not to get closely involved with it and to stay away from it.… We do not encourage people to do this. We don’t round up people, we don’t write letters, we don’t have conversations, we don’t tell them to do this, we don’t ask them to do it. But I think it is quite clear, from the attitude of the administration, the attitude of the administration is that these people are doing a very good thing, and if they think they are doing something that we like, then, in a general sense, they are right.” In testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, Abrams is asked by Chairman Lee Hamilton (D-IN), “Can anybody assure us that the United States government was not involved, indirectly or directly, in any way in supply of the contras?” Abrams responds: “I believe we have already done that, that is, I think, the president has done it, the secretary has done it [Secretary of State George Shultz], and I have done it.… Now again, this normal intelligence monitoring is there, but the answer to your question is yes.” Abrams and CIA officials Clair George and Alan Fiers tell the same falsehoods to a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee. “We don’t know,” Abrams asserts, “because we don’t track this kind of activity.”

No Knowledge of 'Gomez' - He also claims under questioning not to know the identity of “Max Gomez,” who he well knows is former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a>). Senator John Kerry (D-MA) asks, “You don’t know whether or not [Gomez] reports to the vice president of the United States?” (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a101086bushlink" onmouseover="return OL('October 10, 1986: Press Alleges Bush, Not CIA, Is Government Link to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">October 10, 1986</a>). Both George and Abrams deny any such knowledge, though Abrams is highly aware of Rodriguez’s activities in El Salvador (he does not inform the committee of those activities). During the Congressional sessions, media reports identify Gomez as Rodriguez. <cite style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite>

Entity Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=lee_hamilton" style="text-decoration: none;">Lee Hamilton</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=elliott_abrams" style="text-decoration: none;">Elliott Abrams</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=clair_george_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Clair George</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=alan_fiers_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Alan Fiers</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=felix_rodriguez_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=george_herbert_walker_bush" style="text-decoration: none;">George Herbert Walker Bush</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=george_shultz" style="text-decoration: none;">George Shultz</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=house_intelligence_committee" style="text-decoration: none;">House Intelligence Committee</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=ronald_reagan" style="text-decoration: none;">Ronald Reagan</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=senate_foreign_relations_committee_1" style="text-decoration: none;">Senate Foreign Relations Committee</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=john_kerry" style="text-decoration: none;">John Kerry</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=house_foreign_affairs_committee_1" style="text-decoration: none;">House Foreign Affairs Committee</a>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_alan_fiers" style="text-decoration: none;">Alan Fiers</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_elliott_abrams" style="text-decoration: none;">Elliott Abrams</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_george_hwbush" style="text-decoration: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_george_shultz" style="text-decoration: none;">George Shultz</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_oliver_north" style="text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_ronald_reagan" style="text-decoration: none;">Ronald Reagan</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a10111486abramsbush#a10111486abramsbush" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">October 11-14, 1986: State Department Official Denies Any Knowledge of Contra Connection to Vice President</a></h2>

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After the press identifies former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez as Contra liaison “Max Gomez” (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a10101586abramslies" onmouseover="return OL('October 10-15, 1986: State Department, CIA Officials Lie to Congress about Government Support for Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 10-15, 1986</a>), and learns that Rodriguez reports to Vice President Bush’s foreign policy adviser, Donald Gregg (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a101086bushlink" onmouseover="return OL('October 10, 1986: Press Alleges Bush, Not CIA, Is Government Link to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 10, 1986</a>), Bush denies any knowledge of Rodriguez’s involvement with the Contras. Bush admits to having met Rodriguez a few times, but refuses to clarify what relationship, if any, they may have. Bush tells one reporter that Rodriguez is a US counter-insurgency adviser working with the government of El Salvador, an assertion strongly denied by the Salvadoran government. Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, who has lied repeatedly to Congress about the government’s role in supplying and supporting the Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a10101586abramslies" onmouseover="return OL('October 10-15, 1986: State Department, CIA Officials Lie to Congress about Government Support for Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 10-15, 1986</a>), tells the House Intelligence Committee that he knows nothing of any link between Rodriguez and Bush that concerns the Contras. <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_elliott_abrams" style="text-decoration: none;">Elliott Abrams</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_george_hwbush" style="text-decoration: none;">George H. W. Bush</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a121786abramsnotknow#a121786abramsnotknow" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">December 17, 1986: State Department Official Claims Not to Know Contra Liaison</a></h2>

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Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says that before the Iran-Contra revelations of October 1986 (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a100586hasenfus&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('October 5, 1986: CIA Transport Plane Shot Down in Nicaragua; Story Reveals Illegal Contra-Arms Program')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 5, 1986</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a10101586abramslies" onmouseover="return OL('October 10-15, 1986: State Department, CIA Officials Lie to Congress about Government Support for Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 10-15, 1986</a>, and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a10111486abramsbush" onmouseover="return OL('October 11-14, 1986: State Department Official Denies Any Knowledge of Contra Connection to Vice President')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 11-14, 1986</a>) he had never even heard of CIA agent Felix Rodriguez, the liaison between the Nicaraguan Contras and the National Security Council (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a>). As he has done so many times before, Abrams is lying. When he took his position in July 1985 (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a041985abramsstate&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('April 19, 1985 and After: Prominent Neoconservative Becomes Influential State Department Official')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">April 19, 1985 and After</a>), Rodriguez was already working out of the Ilopango airfield in El Salvador. Notes taken by the US Ambassador to El Salvador, Edwin Corr, indicate that Abrams knew of Rodriguez by September 1985 at the latest (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a090485abramsmonitor&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('September 4, 1985: State Department Official Learns of North’s Illegal Funding of Contras, Tasked to ‘Monitor’ North')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">September 4, 1985</a>). During that month, Abrams and Corr discussed Rodriguez in at least one meeting. (Corr will later say he cannot recall any such meeting.) Rodriguez was also a frequent topic of discussion in meetings held in late 1985 by the Restricted Interagency Group (RIG—see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=alate85abramsnorth&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('Late 1985 and After: State Department Official Joins NSC, CIA Officials in Funding Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">Late 1985 and After</a>) chaired by Abrams. And Abrams was aware of concerns within the government about Rodriguez’s involvement in disbursing humanitarian funds allocated by the US Congress to the Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a1085northnhao" onmouseover="return OL('October 1985: North Helps Distribute Humanitarian Aid to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 1985</a>). <cite style="font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_elliott_abrams" style="text-decoration: none;">Elliott Abrams</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a0527cheneyrodriguez#a0527cheneyrodriguez" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">May 27, 1987: CIA Operative Testifies, Turns Questioning into Anti-Soviet Diatribe</a></h2>

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<img src="/0ef86fb4-8a73-55bb-8380-48e2aba37cc6.jpg"/>Felix Rodriguez, in US Army uniform. [Source: Cuba Informazione]CIA operative Felix Rodriguez testifies before the Iran-Contra committee (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a050587congresstestimony&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('May 5, 1987: Iran-Contra Committee Begins Public Hearings')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">May 5, 1987</a>). Rodriguez, a Cuban exile and former US Army officer, is notorious for his involvement in the execution of South American revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara in 1967. Rodriguez also ran covert assassination operations for the CIA during the Vietnam War. Rodriguez’s connection to the White House was through Donald Gregg, the national security adviser to Vice President Bush (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a037183plancontras" onmouseover="return OL('March 17, 1983: Bush’s Foreign Policy Adviser, Ex-CIA Agent Create Plan to Supply Nicaraguan Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">March 17, 1983</a>). Gregg had helped station Rodriguez at an airport in El Salvador, where Rodriguez could, under the pseudonym “Max Gomez,” manage the Contra resupply operation for Oliver North and Richard Secord (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#amid0985rodriguezcontras" onmouseover="return OL('Mid-September 1985: North Persuades Former CIA Agent to Assist in Funneling Illegal Funds, Arms to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">Mid-September 1985</a> and<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a111985secord&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('November 19, 1985: Retired General Secord Sets up Contra Supply Operation')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">November 19, 1985</a>). CIA cargo handler Eugene Hasenfus (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a100586hasenfus&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('October 5, 1986: CIA Transport Plane Shot Down in Nicaragua; Story Reveals Illegal Contra-Arms Program')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">October 5, 1986</a>) told his Sandinista captors that “Max Gomez” was his contact with the CIA. Rodriguez’s testimony is potentially explosive, but committee member Dick Cheney (R-WY) has no interest in eliciting any such infomation. Instead, he invites Rodriguez to launch a well-scripted diatribe against allowing the Soviet Union to establish a Communist foothold in Latin America. <cite style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1-4000-6576-3/centerforcoop-20" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Lou Dubose and Jake Bernstein, ">Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency (New York City: Random House, 2006)., 73-74.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style=" color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">DUBOSE AND BERNSTEIN, 2006, PP. 73-74</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_investigations=irancontraaffair_house_senate_committee" style="text-decoration: none;">House-Senate Committee</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_dick_cheney" style="text-decoration: none;">Dick Cheney</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_donald_gregg" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Gregg</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_eugene_hasenfus" style="text-decoration: none;">Eugene Hasenfus</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>

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<h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a100791abramsguilty#a100791abramsguilty" title="View in context" style="text-decoration: none;">October 7, 1991: Former State Department Official Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress</a></h2>

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Former Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, facing multiple counts of lying under oath to Congress about, among other things, his knowledge of the US government’s involvement in the resupply operation to the Nicaraguan Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a10101586abramslies" onmouseover="return OL('October 10-15, 1986: State Department, CIA Officials Lie to Congress about Government Support for Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">October 10-15, 1986</a>), his knowledge of the role played by former CIA agent Felix Rodriguez in the resupply (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez#a121786abramsnotknow" onmouseover="return OL('December 17, 1986: State Department Official Claims Not to Know Contra Liaison')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">December 17, 1986</a>), and his knowledge of third-party funding of the Nicaraguan Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a112586abramsliesbrunei&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('November 25, 1986: State Department Official Lies about Third-Party Funding of Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none;">November 25, 1986</a>), agrees to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of withholding evidence from Congress. Abrams agrees to the plea after being confronted with reams of evidence about his duplicity by investigators for special prosecutor Lawrence Walsh as well as from testimony elicited during the House-Senate investigation of 1987 (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a07071087northtestify&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('July 7-10, 1987: North Testifies before Iran-Contra Committee')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">July 7-10, 1987</a>) and the guilty plea and subsequent testimony of former CIA agent Alan Fiers (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a071791fiersguilty&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('July 17, 1991: Former CIA Official Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress during Investigation')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">July 17, 1991</a>). Abrams pleads guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress, to unlawfully withholding information from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, and admits lying when he claimed that he knew nothing of former National Security Council official Oliver North’s illegal diversion of government funds to the Contras (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a120685northfund&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('December 6, 1985: North: Arms Profits Will Go to Fund Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">December 6, 1985</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a048612millioncontras&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('April 4, 1986: North Diverts $12 Million in Iran Arms Sales Profits to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">April 4, 1986</a>, and <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a11252886abramslying&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('November 25-28, 1986: Senator Accuses Iran-Contra Figure of Lying to Congress')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">November 25-28, 1986</a>). Abrams says that he lied because he believed “that disclosure of Lt. Col. [Oliver] North’s activities in the resupply of the Contras would jeopardize final enactment” of a $100 million appropriation pending in Congress at the time of his testimony, a request that was narrowly defeated (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a0306100milliondefeat&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('March 1986: Congress Denies Contras $100 Million')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">March 1986</a>). Abrams also admits to soliciting $10 million in aid for the Contras from the Sultan of Brunei (see <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/item.jsp?item=a061186brunei&timeline=irancontraaffair" onmouseover="return OL('June 11, 1986: Sultan of Brunei to Donate Money to Contras')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none;">June 11, 1986</a>). <cite style="font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">[<a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm" target="_blank" onmouseover="return OL('Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters: Chapter 25: United States v. Elliott Abrams: November 1986, 1993, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, 4 August 1993.')" onmouseout="return nd()" style="text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.5px;">FINAL REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT COUNSEL FOR IRAN/CONTRA MATTERS: CHAPTER 25: UNITED STATES V. ELLIOTT ABRAMS: NOVEMBER 1986, 8/4/1993</a>]</cite>

Category Tags: <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_aiding_the_contras=irancontraaffair_aid_for_nicaraguan_contras" style="text-decoration: none;">Aid for Nicaraguan Contras</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_iran_contra_affair" style="text-decoration: none;">Iran-Contra Affair</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_general_events=irancontraaffair_violation_of_us_law" style="text-decoration: none;">Violation of US Law</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_investigations=irancontraaffair_special_prosecutor" style="text-decoration: none;">Special Prosecutor</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_alan_fiers" style="text-decoration: none;">Alan Fiers</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_elliott_abrams" style="text-decoration: none;">Elliott Abrams</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez" style="text-decoration: none;">Felix Rodriguez</a>, <a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_lawrence_walsh" style="text-decoration: none;">Lawrence Walsh</a>,<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_oliver_north" style="text-decoration: none;">Oliver North</a>

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<a href="http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez">http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=irancontraaffair&irancontraaffair_key_figures=irancontraaffair_felix_rodriguez</a>

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