christic@labrea.Stanford.EDU (06/07/91)
/* Written 6:14 pm Jun 6, 1991 by christic in cdp:christic.news */ /* ---------- "WILL U.S. EXTRADITE TERRORIST?" ---------- */ ------------------------------------------------------------ WILL THE U.S. EXTRADITE JOHN HULL? By RICK EMRICH Convergence Magazine, Christic Institute, Summer 1991 The Government of Costa Rica on April 19 asked the United States to extradite U.S.-born rancher John Hull, a naturalized Costa Rican citizen who supported the Nicaraguan contra rebels from 1982 through 1986. The Costa Ricans have accused Hull of murder, drug trafficking and ``hostile acts'' against Nicaragua in violation of Costa Rica's neutrality. This appears to be the first time a foreign government has asked the United States to turn over a major contra supporter for trial on criminal charges stemming directly from the U.S.-supported rebel operation. The extradition request could become a political nightmare for the Bush Administration. The President has been dogged by charges that he knew about the illegal contra support operation during his term as Vice President under Ronald Reagan. The Costa Ricans have charged Hull, 70, with engineering a terrorist bombing on May 30, 1984. The attack occurred while moderate contra commander Edn Pastora was meeting reporters at his jungle outpost in La Penca, Nicaragua. Pastora survived, but five others--including three journalists--were killed and twenty injured. Hull is also accused of violating Costa Rican neutrality when he used his ranch in Costa Rica near the Nicaraguan border as a base and supply depot for the contras. The Costa Rican Government further charges that Hull and other contra supporters used the rebel arms supply route to smuggle drugs through Costa Rican territory. Colombian drug kingpin Carlos Lehder told ABC News in May 1990 that Hull ``was pumping about 30 tons of cocaine into the United States a year'' from his base in Costa Rica. If Hull is forced to return to Costa Rica, a trial could confirm allegations that United States officials condoned drug trafficking and terrorism by the contras and their supporters. A trial may also underscore the American role in pressuring Costa Rica--a traditionally neutral country--to allow the rebels to operate freely from their territory. ``The Administration's reaction to this extradition request will test its commitment to the war against drug trafficking and international terrorism,'' says Christic Institute General Counsel Daniel Sheehan. ``We will find out whether President Bush really believes in `zero tolerance' for drug smugglers.'' Sheehan says the Administration may try to bottle up Hull's extradition unless the public demands justice for the La Penca bombing victims. See ACTION box on page 14. The criminal charges against Hull parallel allegations made in Avirgan v. Hull, a Federal civil racketeering suit filed in 1986 by the Christic Institute on behalf of American reporters Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey. Avirgan was one of the reporters wounded at La Penca. The suit identified Hull as an arms smuggler, drug trafficker and a key player in the attempt on Pastora's life. The lawsuit also says Hull and 28 other defendants were part of a criminal racketeering enterprise responsible for the bombing. That enterprise, the Institute charges, organized the illegal shipment of arms to the contras and used contra bases to smuggle narcotics into the United States. Several of the defendants-- including retired American generals Richard Secord and John Singlaub, arms dealer Albert Hakim, and Robert Owen, who served as Oliver North's liaison with the Nicaraguan rebels--later became widely-known when their roles in the Iran-contra affair were exposed. Avirgan v. Hull was dismissed in June 1988, in the midst of a Republican Presidential campaign determined to defuse the Iran- contra affair as an election issue. Days before the Avirgan trial was scheduled to begin, Federal Judge James Lawrence King ruled there was insufficient evidence that Hull was involved in the bombing. Christic attorneys appealed, calling King's ruling a politically motivated attempt to derail the case. The Institute has since told the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that the criminal charges against Hull are further proof that King was wrong and the dismissal should be overturned. For more detail on the Christic Institute's appeal, see the story on page 11. Throughout the Reagan Administration's war on Nicaragua, Hull was a central figure in the anti-Sandinista campaign. Working for both the C.I.A. and the North network, he served as liaison between the Americans and contra groups in Costa Rica and southern Nicaragua. Hull played an important role in the C.I.A. attempt to unify under agency command several rebel factions fighting on the ``Southern Front''--the war zone in southern Nicaragua bordering on Costa Rica. He has described himself as a ``coordinator'' between the C.I.A. and contras. In that capacity, he aligned himself with contra groups--such as Adolfo Calero's Nicaraguan Democratic Force (F.D.N.)--intent on removing Edn Pastora as commander of the rival Democratic Revolutionary Alliance (ARDE). Hull believed that Pastora, who had fought on the side of the Sandinista rebels during the war against Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza, was a leftist who was blocking efforts to bring the contra armies together. The La Penca bomb was detonated while Pastora was meeting with reporters to denounce C.I.A. attempts to force him out of the contra war. After the attack, United States Government officials said the bombing was probably the work of a Basque terrorist working for the Sandinistas. Pastora blamed the C.I.A. Journalists Martha Honey and Tony Avirgan, however, discovered that the Basque terrorist was under house arrest in France when the bomb exploded. Instead, they found substantial evidence that Hull, the C.I.A. and a group of right-wing Americans were behind the attempt to kill Pastora. The two journalists also concluded that the bombing was intended to kill reporters at the press conference--both to eliminate witnesses and to give the bomber a chance to escape. Their findings were published in a 1985 study, La Penca: Report of an Investigation. Hull sued the two reporters for libel in a Costa Rican court. In Costa Rica, libel is a criminal offense and in libel cases the burden of proof is on the defendant accused of publishing false or defamatory information. In a May 1986 trial, Honey and Avirgan were able to prove to the court they had the evidence to support their charges, and Hull's case was dismissed. Immediately afterwards, the Christic Institute filed Avirgan v. Hull in Miami Federal court. The lawsuit alleged that a racketeering enterprise was smuggling arms and drugs through contra bases. Six months later, the Iran-contra scandal made headlines in the United States and abroad. Since then, Hull's activities on behalf of the contras have exposed him to continuing international scrutiny, though his role in the operation was never fully investigated by the United States Government. But dozens of official inquiries, independent investigations and news reports in the United States and Costa Rica have corroborated charges made by Avirgan, Honey and the Christic Institute. In January 1989 Costa Rica arrested Hull on charges of drug trafficking and using Costa Rican territory to supply the contras. The rancher spent two months in jail under a law that allows the government to detain accused narcotics dealers until their trial, then was released on $37,000 bail. In July 1989 Hull skipped bail and fled Costa Rica. Returning to the United States, he claimed he had left the country on his doctor's advice because of a heart condition. At the time, he told reporters he would return to Costa Rica for trial. Days after his flight, Costa Rica's Special Legislative Commission on Narcotics Trafficking concluded its investigation of contra involvement in the drug trade. In its report the commission said Hull had used contra supply planes to smuggle narcotics through Costa Rica. Acting on the commission's advice, the Costa Rican Government later banned Oliver North, Robert Owen, Richard Secord, former United States Ambassador Lewis Tambs and former National Security Adviser John Poindexter from Costa Rica for their role in the contra guns-for-drugs operation. Evidence of Hull's drug trafficking also surfaced in a report published in April 1989 by the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on terrorism, narcotics and international operations, chaired by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. The report, titled Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy, devoted an entire section to Hull's role in the contra supply operation and described the testimony of five eyewitnesses who said Hull used his ranch to smuggle drugs and weapons for the rebels. Costa Rica has charged Hull as a fugitive. In June 1990 the rancher's name was added to the ``most-wanted'' list circulated by Interpol, the international police organization. In December 1989 Costa Rica indicted Hull and another Avirgan defendant, Cuban-American Felipe Vidal, for murder as architects of the La Penca bombing. The 54-page indictment said that Robert Owen probably knew about the bombing in advance, and recommended indictments against Owen and four other Avirgan defendants-- Americans Tom Posey and Bruce Jones, and Cuban-Americans Ren Corvo and Moises ``Dagoberto'' Nu$ez--for ``hostile acts.'' The indictment also described attempts to undermine the original investigation of the bombing, including the creation of a secret C.I.A. unit known as ``the Babies'' which bribed Costa Rican officials and fed false leads to investigators. Since his flight from Costa Rica, Hull has lived primarily at his farm in Indiana. Despite his claims of poor health, he has made at least two trips to Central America. In early 1990, Hull travelled to El Salvador as part of what he described as a ``humanitarian'' mission. And in December 1990 Hull turned up in Juigalpa, Nicaragua, the seat of an extreme right-wing movement against President Violeta Chamorro. Within days of his appearance there, Costa Rica asked Nicaragua to extradite Hull, but the farmer had disappeared by the time an arrest warrant was issued. He returned to the United States shortly thereafter. The Bush Administration may have motives to derail the extradition. A criminal trial of Hull could uncover important evidence on United States backing for an operation that committed terrorist acts and smuggled drugs to support the contras. Critics of the American role in the contra war say this makes it all the more unlikely that the Administration--unless pressured-- would turn Hull over to the Costa Ricans. They point to earlier criminal investigations of contras and their supporters that were undermined by the Reagan-Bush Administration: 1. In May 1986 Jeffrey Feldman, an assistant United States Attorney in Florida, recommended formation of a Grand Jury to investigate Hull's role in the contra resupply operation. Within days, Attorney General Edwin Meese was able to block the inquiry and ordered the Feldman memorandum rewritten to reverse the original recommendation. 2. The Kerry subcommittee report described several instances in which Administration officials and national security agencies interfered with criminal investigations of individuals working to support the contras. The committee also found evidence that Justice Department officials may have interfered with its investigation in order to protect the contra network or the Reagan Administration. 3. In the name of ``national security,'' the executive branch has refused to release evidence needed for criminal trials of defendants accused of Iran-contra crimes. This posture has forced the dismissal of charges against several prominent Iran-contra figures. 4. Costa Rican prosecutors found that the C.I.A. was involved in an elaborate operation to undermine their investigation of the La Penca bombing. ``The nature of the charges against Hull and the evidence of executive branch involvement in his activities creates a clear conflict of interest for the Justice Department, which is responsible for extraditing him,'' says the Christic Institute's Dan Sheehan. The extradition process may give the Americans several opportunities to stop the procedure practically before it begins. Initially, Costa Rican Embassy officials presented the request to the State Department, where officials will decide whether the request merits attention. If it clears that hurdle, the request will be transmitted to the Justice Department, where a hearing would be held before a Federal magistrate to decide if an arrest warrant should be issued. The Costa Ricans would be represented in the hearing by an attorney appointed by the Bush Administration's Justice Department. If the magistrate decides there is cause to issue a warrant, Hull would have the opportunity to ask a Federal court for a writ of habeas corpus. Hull could appeal if the writ were denied. Finally, the Bush Administration's Secretary of State would have to certify the decision before Hull could be forced to return to Costa Rica. ``In order to protect themselves, the Reagan and Bush Administrations have stymied any detailed investigation of the contra-drug connection,'' says Sheehan. ``Unless the public demands Hull's extradition, he will be allowed to slip away.'' ----------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Lang 151251507 CHRISTIC telex Christic Institute christic PeaceNet Washington, D.C. tcn tcn449 202-797-8106 voice uunet!pyramid!cdp!christic UUCP 202-529-0140 BBS cdp!christic%labrea@stanford Bitnet 202-462-5138 fax cdp!christic@labrea.stanford.edu Internet