Chronology of a Disinformation Campaign
- 9/8/83
- Gregorio Jimenez arrested in Costa Rica. A summary of
Costa Rican press reports prepared by the OPD, in the June 15,
1984 memo referred to in the article, said, "Jimenez, a member of
the Basque Homeland & Liberty (ETA), was apprehended by Costa
Rican authorities. He had drawings of Eden Pastora's residence,
and was found to be part of an ETA commando group assigned to
assassinate Pastora and other ARDE (the Honduran-based contras)
leaders." Jimenez signed a sworn affadavit, after his release
from prison, that he had been tortured into signing a statement
saying he was involved with an ETA assassination plot.
- 9/17/83
- Articles (from State Department cables cited in the OPD
memo), in Spain editorialize about Nicaraguan and Cuban support
and training of "Etarras" (members of ETA). They cite Costa
Rican intelligence, which worked closely with the CIA, as their
source and blasted the socialist administration of Spain for
aiding the Sandinistas.
- 1/17/84
- La Republica, a conservative newspaper in Costa Rica
reports that six "Etarras" arrived recently in Panama.
- 1/20/83
- La Nacion, a right-wing newspaper in Costa Rica also
carries the above story.
- 2/13/84
- La Republica and La Nacion report that the six ETA
members who arrived in Panama in mid-January left the country
without their destiny being known although "all indications are
that they must have travelled to Venezuela, Mexico, Nicaragua, or
Cuba."
- 2/17/84
- La Nacion says the arrival in Costa Rica of members of
an ETA commando group is being investigated by the Directorate of
Intelligence and Security (DIS).
- 3/12/84
- OPD interview with Alejandro Montenegro: "Montenegro, a
former Salvadoran guerilla leader who defected in 1983, stated
that he knew that an attempt on Pastora's life was carried out by
the ETA. In more detail he described an alleged ETA operation in
1981 planned against General Jos Guillermo Garcia, then El
Salvador's Defense Minister. The terrorists posed as journalists
from a European magazine requesting an interview with General
Garcia. The plan entailed employing plastic explosives hidden in
video-cassettes; however, the attempt failed." (According to
David MacMichael, an ex-CIA analyst for Central America stationed
in El Salvador at the time, the CIA was unaware of the alleged
ETA actions. Interestingly, the Montenegro scenario contains
many of the elements of the La Penca bombing.)
- 3/14/84
- La Republica and La Nacion report that DIS ordered a
general alert in the face of the possible arrival of nine Spanish
ETA terrorist leaders. La Nacion doesn't include Lujua while La
Republica does.
- 5/84
- Wesley Smith, a propaganda film-maker, an employee of
Spitz Channell, and an associate of John Hull (a CIA operative in
Costa Rica and a defendant in the Christic Institute lawsuit)
works as an intern at La Nacion Internacional , a right-wing
Costa Rican newsmagazine associated with La Nacion, from May to
July.
- 5/28/84
- Cambio 16, a Spanish magazine, reported that Lujua was
one of the ETA members sent to Panama in January.
- 5/30/84
- The La Penca bombing.
- 5/31/84
- MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour featured Robert Leiken saying
that the Sandinistas, using ETA, was behind the bombing.
- 5/31/84
- Rob Owen, aid to Col. North, was seen at the San Jos,
Costa Rica, airport. He later revealed that he had been at John
Hull's ranch at the time of the bombing. Owen and Hull are
defendants in the Christic Institute lawsuit which claims that
the "Secret Team" was behind the bombing.
- 6/1/84
- ABC World News Tonight ran a long story by John McWethy,
their Pentagon correspondent, saying that ETA and the
Sandinistas, were behind the bombing.
- 6/3/84
- The June 15, 1984 OPD memo cited the Foreign Broadcast
Information Service (FBIS) as saying: "Havana International
Service reported that La Nacion reported that 'the CIA had taken
possession of the remnants of the plastic explosive long before
the Costa Rican authorities reported the discovery.'"
- 6/7/84
- USA Today mentions that "Costa Rican police reportedly
identified a man suspected of planting a bomb aimed at killing
Nicaraguan rebel leader Eden Pastora as a member of Spain's
Basque separatist guerilla group ... that has been linked to a
previous attempt to assassinate Pastora."
- 6/11/84
- World Anti-Communist League leader, Roger Fontaine,
summarizes the elements of the disinformation story, using
information from the OPD memo (6/15/84) in the Washington Times,
a widely read (inside the Beltway) right-wing newspaper owned by
WACL sympathizer Rev. Moon.
- 6/15/84
- Office of Public Diplomacy memo entitled "Press Reports
on Attempt on Eden Pastora's Life".