Bush spoke in favor, according to minutes of the meeting. Bush said, `` How can anyone object to
the U.S. encouraging third parties to provide help to the anti- Sandinistas under the [intelligence]finding. The only problem that might come up is if the United States were to promise to give these (^)
third parties something in return so that some people might interpret this as some kind of an
exchange '' [emphasis added]. Warning that this would be illegal, Secretary of State Shultz said: I would like to get money for the contras also, but another lawyer [then-Treasury Secretary] Jim Baker said if we go out and try to get money from third countries, it is an impeachable offense. ''CIA Director Casey reminded Shultz that Jim Baker changed his mind [and now supported the (^)
circumvention].... '' NSC adviser Robert McFarlane cautioned, I propose that there be no authority for anyone to seek third party support for the anti-Sandinistas until we have the information we need, and I certainly hope none of this discussion will be made public in any way. '' President Ronald Reagan then closed the meeting with a warning against anyone leaking the factthey were considering how to circumvent the law: If such a story gets out, we'll all be hanging by (^)
our thumbs in front of the White House until we find out who did it. '' In March of the following
year, Bush personally arranged the transfer of funds to the Contras by the Honduran government,
assuring them they would receive compensating U.S. aid. The minutes of this meeting, originally
marked secret, '' were released five years later, at Oliver North's trial in the spring of1989.@s1@s6 October 3, 1984: Congress enacted a new version of the earlier attempt to outlaw the U.S. secret war in Central America. This Boland II '' amendment was designed to prevent any conceivable form of deceit by
the covert action apparatus: During fiscal year 1985, no fundsAgency, the Department of Defense, or any other agency or entity of the United States involved in available to the Central Intelligence intelligence activities may be obligated or expended for the purpose or which would have the effect of supporting, directly or indirectly, military or paramilitary operations in Nicaragua by any nation, group, organization, movement, or individual. '' This law was effective from October 3, 1984, to December 5, 1985, wwere referred to as Boland III. ''@s1@s7 hen it was superceded by various aid-limitation laws which, taken together,
November 1, 1984:
Felix Rodriguez's partner, Gerard Latchinian, was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Latchinian was then tried and convicted of smuggling $10.3 million in cocaine into the United
States. The dope was to finance the murder and overthrow of the President of Honduras, RobertoSuazo Cordova. Latchinian was sentenced to a 30-year prison term.
On Nov. 10, 1983, a year before the arrest, Felix Rodriguez had filed the annual registration with
Florida's secretary of state on behalf of Latchinian's and Rodriguez's joint enterprise, Giro Aviation Corp. 'December 21, 1984:'@s1@s8 Felix Rodriguez met in the office of the Vice President with Bush adviser Donald Gregg. Immediately after this meeting, Rodriguez met with Oliver North, supposedly for the first time in his life. But Bush's adviser strenuously denied to investigators that he introduced '' his CIA
employee to North.@s1@s9 January 18, 1985 (Friday):
Felix Rodriguez met with Ramon Milian Rodriguez (not known to be a relative of Felix),
accountant and money launderer, who had moved $1.5 billion for the Medelli@aan cocaine cartel.
Milian testified before a Senate investigation of the Contras' drug-smuggling, that more than a year
earlier he had granted Felix's request and given $10 mContras. illion from the cocaine cartel to Felix for the
Milian Rodriguez was interviewed in his prison cell in Butner, North Carolina, by investigative
journalist Martha Honey. He said Felix Rodriguez had offered that `in exchange for money for the Contra cause he would use his influence in high places to get the [Cocaine] cartel U.S.good will'....