The Scandal Breaks--On George Bush
October 5, 1986:
A C-123k cargo aircraft left El Salvador's Ilopango air base at 9:30 A.M., carrying `` 10,000 pounds
of small arms and ammunition, consisting mainly of AK rifles and AK ammunition, hand grenades,
jungle boots. '' It was scheduled to make air drops to Contra soldiers in Nicaragua.@s7@s1 Theflight had been organized by elements of the CIA, the Defense Department, and the National
Security Council, coordinated by the Office of Vice President George Bush. At that time, such arms
resupply was prohibited under U.S. law--prohibited by legislation which had been written to
prevent precisely that type of flight. The aircraft headed south along the Pacific coast of Nicaragua,
turned east over Costa Rica, then headed up norttoward the point at which it was to drop the cargo, the plane was hit in the right engine and wing byh into Nicaraguan air space. As it descended (^)
a ground-to-air missile. The wing burst into flames and broke up. Cargo handler Eugene Hasenfus
jumped out the left cargo door and opened his parachute. The other three crew members died in the
crash.@s7@s2 Meanwhile, Felix Rodriguez made a single telephone call--to the office of Vice
President George Bush. He told Bush aide Samuel Watson that the C-123k awas possibly down. ircraft was missing and
October 6, 1986:
Eugene Hasenfus, armed only with a pistol, took refuge in a small hut on a jungle hilltop inside
Nicaragua. He was soon surrounded by Sandinista soldiers and gave himself up.@s7@s3
Felix Rodriguez called George Bush's aide Sam Watson again. Watson now notified the White
House Situation Room and the National Security Council staff about the missing aircraft.
Oliver North was immediately dispatched to El Salvador to prevent publicity over the event, and to
arrange death benefits for the crew.@s7@s4
After the shoot-down, several elaborate attempts were made by government agencies to provide
false explanations for the origin of the aircraft.
A later press account, appearing on Mexposed one such attempted coverup: ay 15, 1989, after Bush was safely installed as President,
Official: Contras Lied to Protect VP Bush
By Alfonso Chardy, Knight-Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON-- Nicaraguan rebels falsely assumed responsibility for an arms-laden planedowned over Nicaragua in 1986 in an effort to shield then-Vice President George Bush from the (^)
controversy that soon blossomed into the Iran-Contra scandal, a senior Contra official said in early
May 1989. According to the Contra official, who requested anonymity but has direct knowledge of
the events, a Contra spokesman, Bosco Matamoros [official FDN representative in Washington,
D.C.], was ordered by [FDN Political Director] Adolfo Calero to claim ownership of the downedaircraft, even though the plane belonged to Oliver North's secret Contra supply network.... Calero (^)
called (Matamoros) and said, Take responsibility for the Hasenfus plane because we need to take the heat off the vice president, '' the Contra source said.... The senior Contra official said that shortly after Calero talked to Matamoros, Matamoros called a reporter for the New York Times and
leaked '' the bogus claim of responsibility. The Times ran a story about the claim on its frontpage.@s7@s5
October 7, 1986:
Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez (D-Tx.) called for a congressional investigation of the Nicaraguan air
crash, and the crash of a Southern Air Transport plane in Texas, to see if they were part of a covert
CIA operation to overthrow the Nicaraguan government.