christic@labrea.Stanford.EDU (06/07/91)
/* Written 6:18 pm Jun 6, 1991 by christic in cdp:christic.news */
/* ---------- "JOHN HULL CHRONOLOGY WITH SOURCES" ---------- */
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CHRONOLOGY OF JOHN HULL'S ALLEGED CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES
Christic Institute, Friday, June 7, 1991
1982-1986 John Hull's ranch in Northern Costa Rica
serves as the main supply base for the
contras on the Southern Front of Nicaragua.
[Newsday, 5/10/87]
October 1984 Hull receives $10,000 a month from the Reagan-
Bush Administration's National Security
Council . . .
September 1985 . . . and deposits the money into a Miami bank
account. [Senate Foreign Relations
subcommittee report, ```Private
Assistance' and the Contras: A Staff Report.''
10/14/86] [Common Cause, Sept/Oct. 1985]
[Covert Action Bulletin, Winter 86] [New York
Daily News, 1/8/87]
1984 Hull takes out a $375,000 loan from the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation for a
supposed manufacturing project. Hull deposits
the money into his private account in Indiana
and the project is never started. He later
defaults on the loan. [Senate Foreign
Relations narcotics and terrorism
subcommittee: ``Drugs, Law Enforcement, and
Foreign Policy,'' a report on investigation
of contra drug trafficking, April 1989]
April 9, 1984 Plane piloted by a Nicaraguan crashes while
taking off from the airstrip on Hull's ranch,
purportedly because it was overloaded with
military supplies. [Tico Times, 9/28/84]
April 25, 1984 Hull's ranch is raided and he is detained by
security officers investigating allegations of
Southern Front contra activities in Costa
Rica. [Tico Times 4/27/84]
April 1984 Pastora is given a 30-day deadline to unify
his forces with the F.D.N. in the North. [Out
of Control, Leslie Cockburn]
May 30, 1984 A bomb explodes in La Penca, Nicaragua,
killing three journalists--including U.S.
citizen Linda Frazier--and injuring many
others. The bomb's apparent target, moderate
contra leader Eden Pastora, is injured but
survives. One of the reporters wounded in the
bombing is ABC cameraman Tony Avirgan.
[Convergence, Spring 1987]
May 30, 1984 Hull, Robert Owen, C.I.A. station chief Phil
Holtz and several pilots meet in a C.I.A. safe
house in San Jose, Costa Rica. After news of
the explosion, Hull phones his associates to
instruct that his private plane not be used to
help the wounded. [Costa Rican Special
Prosecutor's Report, Dec. 1989]
June 22, 1984 Hull obtains Costa Rican citizenship, which he
later claims was at the C.I.A.'s request.
[Tico Times, 3/23/90]
October 1984 Costa Rican Government initiates investigation
of Hull after he admits on radio that he aided
the contras. [Tico Times, 10/26/84]
December 1984 According to mercenary Jack Terrell, Hull,
Robert Owen, Felipe Vidal and the alleged
bomber Amac Galil meet and discuss the
continuing need to kill Pastora. [New York
Times, 3/1/90]
July 18, 1985 David, an eyewitness source for Avirgan and
Honey's La Penca investigation, is kidnapped
and later allegedly murdered on Hull's ranch.
[Convergence Magazine, Spring 1988]
October 1985 At a San Jose, Costa Rica press conference,
Tony Avirgan (who was injured in the bombing)
and Martha Honey present the findings from
their investigation of the La Penca bombing,
identifying Hull as one of the bombing's
planners. [La Penca: Report of an
Investigation, Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey,
1985]
Days after Avirgan and Honey's report is
published, Hull files suit against the
journalists, charging them with ``injuries,
falsehood and defamation of character''
because of their allegations of his role in
the bombing [La Penca: On Trial in Costa Rica,
Edited by Avirgan and Honey, 1987]
April 1986 A CBS ``West 57th Street'' broadcast airs, in
which former contra resupply pilots identify
Hull's ranch as major transhipment point for
military supplies and drugs, but Hull denies
any role in the contra resupply network.
May 22-23, 1986 Trial against Avirgan and Honey takes place,
resulting in a victory for the two journalists
after documents and witnesses confirm their
findings. The judge throws Hull's lawsuit out
of court. [La Penca: On Trial in Costa Rica,
edited by Avirgan and Honey, 1987]
May 1986 Christic Institute attorneys file the La Penca
lawsuit (Avirgan v. Hull) on behalf of Avirgan
and Honey, naming Hull and 28 others as major
figures in a racketeering network involved in
drug trafficking, arms smuggling. The same
ring engineered the La Penca bombing, the suit
alleges. [Convergence, Spring 1987]
May 5, 1988 Costa Rican police announce an investigation
into charges of Hull's involvement in arms and
drug trafficking.
May 1988 Christic Institute takes Hull's deposition for
the La Penca lawsuit. He refuses to cooperate
in the proceedings.
June 1988 Federal Judge James L. King dismisses La Penca
lawsuit in Miami two days before the trial is
scheduled to begin, arguing that there is no
evidence linking Hull and others to the
bombing. The Christic Institute immediately
announces it will appeal.
January 1989 Costa Rican authorities arrest Hull on charges
of drug trafficking and using Costa Rican
territory for ``hostile acts'' against
NIcaragua. [Tico Times, 3/23/90]
April 1989 Sen. John Kerry's Foreign Relations narcotics
and terrorism subcommittee releases a 1,200-
page report, ``Drugs, Law Enforcement, and
Foreign Policy,'' including testimony that
Hull's ranch was used for gun- and drug-
smuggling operations. One eyewitness tell the
subcommittee that Hull supervised the transfer
of drugs into a plane before its return
journey to the United States.
May 26, 1989 John Hull fails to appear to testify before
the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly's Special
Commission Investigating Narcotics. Hull later
appears before the commission but refuses to
be sworn in to testify.
July 1989 Costa Rican Legislative Assembly concludes in
an official report that Hull was trafficking
drugs through the country on behalf of the
contras. [The Guardian, 8/30/89]
July 1989 Hull flees Costa Rica while waiting trial,
jumping a $37,000 bail posted by friends.
Sevral reports confirm that D.E.A. agent Juan
Perez arranged his secret flight out of the
country. [Convergence, Winter 1991] [Tico
Times, 12/7/90]
September 1989 Based on the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly
report on drug trafficking, Oliver North,
Richard Secord, former U.S. Ambassador Lewis
Tambs and former National Security Adviser
John Poindexter are all declared personae non
gratae and banned from Costa Rica by the
country's government. Secord is a defendant in
Avirgan v. Hull. [The Guardian, 8/30/89]
March 1990 Hull is indicted for murder in Costa Rica on
charges that he masterminded the La Penca
bombing. [Convergence, Spring 1990]
May 1990 ABC Primetime Live airs Diane Sawyer's
interview with Carlos Lehder, a key figure in
the Medellin cocaine cartel. Lehder names Hull
as a major cocaine trafficker and says Hull
smuggled 30 tons of cocaine into the United
States yearly.
June 1990 Hull's name added to Interpol's ``most
wanted'' list of international fugitives at
the request of Costa Rican special prosecutor
Jorge Chaverria. [Convergence, Fall 1990]
November 1990 Costa Rican Legislative Assembly establishes
four-member La Penca investigative committee
with representatives from all political
parties.
November 1990 Hull slips into Nicaragua on a 72-hour visa
and soon disappears. [Los Angeles Times
12/7/90] [UPI 12/11/90]
December 1990 Investigators track Hull to a remote town in
Southern Nicaragua--Juigalpa--which is the
seat of an extreme right-wing movement against
the conservative government of Violetta
Chamorro. Hull is reported to be looking into
investments to help contra veterans. [Tico
Times, 12/7/90]
December 7, 1990 Costa Rica officially asks Nicaragua to
extradite Hull.
December 11, 1990 Nicaraguan Supreme Court orders the arrest of
Hull, although Presidential Minister Antonio
Lacayo denies any knowledge of the case and
says Hull was not facing criminal charges in
Nicaragua. [UPI 12/12/90] Hull quietly leaves
Nicaragua and returns to the United States.
April 19, 1991 The Costa Rican Ambassador submits a formal
request to the U.S. State Department to
extradite Hull.
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