WEBVTT - Iran Contra: Bonus - Bombs, Drugs, and the Contra War 0:00:16.271 --> 0:00:16.711 Pushkin. 0:00:23.191 --> 0:00:25.511 I had all the skin was burned off my face 0:00:25.631 --> 0:00:30.351 and my left hand was all the skin was burned 0:00:30.351 --> 0:00:32.911 off and the bones were sticking out. 0:00:33.031 --> 0:00:36.031 I mean, we kept saying, our interest is what's the 0:00:36.071 --> 0:00:38.631 identity of the bomber and who was the paymaster? That's 0:00:38.671 --> 0:00:39.431 what we want to track. 0:00:41.231 --> 0:00:44.591 Hey, Fiasco listeners, we are now halfway through our season 0:00:44.671 --> 0:00:47.751 on the Iran Contra Scandal, which feels like the perfect 0:00:47.751 --> 0:00:50.150 time to take a break from our regular episodes and 0:00:50.231 --> 0:00:54.591 share something a little different. It's a conversation with two reporters, 0:00:54.831 --> 0:00:58.271 Martha Honey and Tony Abergan, a husband and wife team 0:00:58.551 --> 0:01:02.071 covered the Contra War in Central America in the mid 0:01:02.191 --> 0:01:05.831 nineteen eighties. Martha and Tony were living in and reporting 0:01:05.871 --> 0:01:10.551 from Costa Rica. Costa Rica, which is located just south 0:01:10.591 --> 0:01:13.670 of Nicaragua, was a peaceful country that had abolished its 0:01:13.791 --> 0:01:16.551 army and was using the money on infrastructure and education. 0:01:17.511 --> 0:01:19.791 For Martha and Toni, it was an ideal place to 0:01:19.871 --> 0:01:22.711 raise their kids, but it was also a good place 0:01:22.791 --> 0:01:23.871 for a couple of reporters. 0:01:24.311 --> 0:01:26.791 Although Costa Rica was nice and peaceful, there were wars 0:01:26.791 --> 0:01:30.111 going on in Nicaragua and El Salvador and Guatemala and 0:01:31.071 --> 0:01:34.871 Costa Rica was not in those wars, but close enough 0:01:34.871 --> 0:01:36.031 that we could report on them. 0:01:36.191 --> 0:01:38.351 Except what we didn't realize at the time was that 0:01:38.551 --> 0:01:41.231 just about the time we relocated there, the CIA was 0:01:41.271 --> 0:01:44.191 also in the process of tripling the size of its 0:01:44.311 --> 0:01:45.751 operations in Costa Rica. 0:01:46.791 --> 0:01:49.551 As you may remember from episode three, and it's okay 0:01:49.591 --> 0:01:53.231 if you don't, the Contras were not one unified army. 0:01:54.151 --> 0:01:57.351 There were several leaders in factions fighting against the Sandinista 0:01:57.351 --> 0:02:00.671 government in Nicaragua, and the war was being waged on 0:02:00.751 --> 0:02:05.231 two fronts, the north and the south. So far this season, 0:02:05.471 --> 0:02:08.270 you've been hearing mostly about the northern front, where the 0:02:08.351 --> 0:02:12.791 Nicaragua Democratic Force known as the FDN was operating out 0:02:12.791 --> 0:02:17.511 of Honduras. In Costa Rica, Martha and Tony were close 0:02:17.591 --> 0:02:21.111 to the southern front of the war. There, the Contras 0:02:21.111 --> 0:02:25.271 were led by a man named Eden Pastora. Pastora was 0:02:25.271 --> 0:02:28.751 a former Sandinista who had grown disillusioned and alienated from 0:02:28.751 --> 0:02:32.951 the leftist movement. The Contra forces under Pastora's command had 0:02:32.951 --> 0:02:36.471 a reputation for being less brutal than the FDN, as 0:02:36.471 --> 0:02:39.471 you'll hear in this interview, Martha and Tony's time in 0:02:39.511 --> 0:02:42.911 Costa Rica came to be defined by one incident, an 0:02:42.911 --> 0:02:47.591 assassination attempt against Eden Pastora. It happened during a press 0:02:47.591 --> 0:02:51.431 conference that Tony was covering for ABC News. A bomb 0:02:51.551 --> 0:02:55.711 killed four people and left Tony seriously injured. The incident 0:02:55.751 --> 0:02:57.911 turned out to be the beginning of an ordeal that 0:02:57.951 --> 0:03:01.111 would drag on for years, as Tony and Martha set 0:03:01.111 --> 0:03:04.071 out to figure out the bomber's identity and ended up 0:03:04.111 --> 0:03:06.391 as the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the number of 0:03:06.431 --> 0:03:10.391 Americans involved in Iran Contra. But before we get into 0:03:10.431 --> 0:03:13.631 all that, let's start with Martha and Tony talking about 0:03:13.671 --> 0:03:16.071 how hard it was to convince their editors that the 0:03:16.111 --> 0:03:18.911 Contras even had a presence in Costa Rica. 0:03:19.511 --> 0:03:22.831 The official story was that all of the infrastructure and 0:03:22.871 --> 0:03:26.231 the war against Nicaragua was out of Honduras the Northern Front, 0:03:26.471 --> 0:03:29.951 and we moved to Costa Rica, which became known as 0:03:29.991 --> 0:03:32.991 the Southern Front. And because Costa Rica had abolished its army, 0:03:33.031 --> 0:03:36.231 didn't have an army and was officially neutral, the Costa 0:03:36.311 --> 0:03:38.791 Rican government and the US government both denied that there 0:03:38.831 --> 0:03:40.431 was anything going on in Costa Rica. 0:03:41.391 --> 0:03:44.751 When you arrived, could you see Contras around you or 0:03:44.991 --> 0:03:46.151 was it obvious that they were there. 0:03:46.231 --> 0:03:48.631 Well, that was the interesting thing that when we would 0:03:48.631 --> 0:03:52.391 call our editors in particularly in Washington, and say we've 0:03:52.391 --> 0:03:54.271 seen this or that, and they say, oh, no, no, no, no, 0:03:54.351 --> 0:03:56.231 it can't be. We're told by the State Department, we're 0:03:56.271 --> 0:03:58.151 told by the White House that there's nothing going on 0:03:58.191 --> 0:04:01.831 in Costa Rica. But there would be journalists from the 0:04:01.871 --> 0:04:04.271 local press who would go up to see to the 0:04:04.351 --> 0:04:06.711 Quandra camps, and they always had to say that they 0:04:06.751 --> 0:04:09.831 went deep inside Nicaragua. In fact, when we first a 0:04:09.831 --> 0:04:11.711 few months after we arrived, we were taken up to 0:04:11.751 --> 0:04:14.311 a contra camp. It was in Costa Rica, and so 0:04:14.711 --> 0:04:17.431 that was becoming better known. And there were reports of 0:04:18.111 --> 0:04:22.551 hospitals in private homes right in our neighborhood that were 0:04:22.791 --> 0:04:25.231 hospitals for wounded Contras that they were being brought down 0:04:25.231 --> 0:04:28.231 to San Jose for recuperation. Sometimes it would be exposed 0:04:28.271 --> 0:04:30.111 by neighbors or whatever and would make it into the 0:04:30.111 --> 0:04:33.151 local press. So it was just anybody who opened their 0:04:33.151 --> 0:04:35.871 eyes would see what was going on. And then we 0:04:35.991 --> 0:04:39.591 very quickly began to develop sources who told us much more. 0:04:39.831 --> 0:04:42.151 I mean, there was at that point the government of 0:04:42.191 --> 0:04:46.671 Costa Rica was really very much in collaboration with the US, 0:04:46.751 --> 0:04:49.671 and the deal was that they were getting enormous amounts 0:04:49.671 --> 0:04:53.151 of economic aid in return for the creation of the 0:04:53.191 --> 0:04:57.431 Southern fronting the presidents allowing the presence of it, and 0:04:57.471 --> 0:04:58.191 just to be. 0:04:58.151 --> 0:05:01.911 Clear, like this is eighty three eighty four, is there 0:05:01.951 --> 0:05:06.950 anything in the public realm about the US using Costa 0:05:07.031 --> 0:05:09.711 Rica as a base for contra activity. 0:05:10.191 --> 0:05:12.231 There was much more attention to what was going on 0:05:12.271 --> 0:05:15.031 in the north from Honduras because that was where the 0:05:15.111 --> 0:05:17.991 FDN and the main contra force was, and just about 0:05:18.031 --> 0:05:20.031 all the news was about that, and it was it 0:05:20.151 --> 0:05:24.231 was hard to convince our editors and people, especially Americans, 0:05:24.351 --> 0:05:26.511 It was a much harder sell trying to convince them 0:05:26.511 --> 0:05:29.190 that there was something important happening in the on the 0:05:29.231 --> 0:05:32.991 Southern Front, because it just wasn't it wasn't nearly as 0:05:33.031 --> 0:05:35.111 developed as what was going on in Honduras. 0:05:35.191 --> 0:05:37.871 But did you manage to file stories that got published out? Well? 0:05:37.871 --> 0:05:40.831 I think one of the early, you know, really big ones. 0:05:40.911 --> 0:05:43.710 Tony was filming for ABC Television and I was writing 0:05:43.751 --> 0:05:45.871 for the New York Times as a stringer, so it 0:05:45.911 --> 0:05:49.630 never had my byline was writing for them and we 0:05:49.911 --> 0:05:56.631 actually uncovered what was Eden Pastora's secret radio station that 0:05:56.711 --> 0:05:58.950 he always said was broadcasting from the hills of Nicaragua. 0:05:58.951 --> 0:06:01.031 In fact, it was broadcasting from the hills of San Jose. 0:06:01.191 --> 0:06:03.511 Tell our listeners real quick, who is so? 0:06:03.671 --> 0:06:06.831 Eden Pastora was the main contraur anti Sandinista leader on 0:06:06.871 --> 0:06:09.991 the Southern Front, and there were a number of different 0:06:10.991 --> 0:06:13.551 sort of small armies that were under his coalition, which 0:06:13.591 --> 0:06:16.871 was known as ARDI. And he officially denied he was 0:06:16.871 --> 0:06:19.591 getting CIA for a long For the first period of 0:06:19.591 --> 0:06:21.111 time that we were there, he denied that he was 0:06:21.111 --> 0:06:23.591 getting any CIA help. The fiction was that he was 0:06:23.671 --> 0:06:24.471 running his own. 0:06:24.311 --> 0:06:27.190 War and it was so important to him and others 0:06:27.231 --> 0:06:31.951 to conceal his location, not just for like military strategic reasons, 0:06:31.951 --> 0:06:34.351 because but because Coast Eco was officially not supposed to 0:06:34.351 --> 0:06:34.791 be there all. 0:06:34.711 --> 0:06:36.390 In the way, that was the condition under which he 0:06:36.471 --> 0:06:37.551 was allowed to operate there. 0:06:37.751 --> 0:06:41.630 And did that story sort of establish as fact that 0:06:41.871 --> 0:06:44.711 there was in fact a contra operation being run out 0:06:44.711 --> 0:06:45.711 of Custrica. 0:06:45.431 --> 0:06:47.751 Yes, it did, and there were other there were there 0:06:47.751 --> 0:06:50.390 were beginnings to be other reports. As I recall, there 0:06:50.471 --> 0:06:53.591 was an expose in Newsweek that had also talked about 0:06:53.591 --> 0:06:55.551 and there were you know, there were beginning to be reports, 0:06:55.551 --> 0:06:58.031 but this was one of the early sort of real 0:06:58.231 --> 0:06:59.991 you know, we sort of caught them. 0:07:00.511 --> 0:07:02.871 What do you think accounts for the difference between the 0:07:02.991 --> 0:07:07.351 character of the contras in the north and the seemingly gentler, 0:07:07.591 --> 0:07:10.871 less brutal contras are just driving in the south. 0:07:11.311 --> 0:07:15.831 In the north, I mean, these were you know, Somosa's 0:07:15.991 --> 0:07:19.751 National Guard, and they continued to commit atrocities. They would 0:07:19.751 --> 0:07:23.671 go into villages and just shoot everybody and things like that, 0:07:23.791 --> 0:07:25.951 and none of that was happening on the southern front. 0:07:26.031 --> 0:07:29.191 I mean, the people in the south were much different. 0:07:29.231 --> 0:07:34.951 They were peasants from southern Nicaragua who didn't like the 0:07:35.311 --> 0:07:39.671 heavy handed reforms being made by the Sandinistas. There were 0:07:39.751 --> 0:07:42.551 some people from the Atlantic coast who didn't like the 0:07:42.631 --> 0:07:48.191 imposition of a Spanish based culture. They were generally not Catholic. 0:07:48.271 --> 0:07:55.671 They were Moravian or other Protestant groups. So the Sandinistas 0:07:55.751 --> 0:08:00.231 were trying to change their schools and change their culture, 0:08:00.271 --> 0:08:06.711 and they rebelled against that. And militarily they were not 0:08:06.911 --> 0:08:09.511 very competent. I mean, they didn't have a lot of 0:08:09.511 --> 0:08:14.671 military experience or very good military training. The arms they 0:08:14.671 --> 0:08:17.591 were getting from the US were like the dregs of 0:08:17.631 --> 0:08:21.591 the arms. They were, you know, the sort of the 0:08:21.711 --> 0:08:25.631 leftover stuff. And they would complain that even the uniforms 0:08:25.671 --> 0:08:28.711 they were getting, their camouflage uniforms were made for like 0:08:29.271 --> 0:08:33.430 six foot tall Americans, these enormous boots and the pants 0:08:33.430 --> 0:08:36.151 that dragged down on the ground, shirts that were reached 0:08:36.151 --> 0:08:41.111 their knees and stuff. So they were well equipped and 0:08:41.351 --> 0:08:43.111 well suited to really do any real. 0:08:43.351 --> 0:08:45.870 Fighting despite the aid coming from the US. 0:08:46.151 --> 0:08:49.670 Yes, there were periods of time when money was flowing 0:08:49.710 --> 0:08:51.670 and arms were supposed to be coming in, and still 0:08:51.710 --> 0:08:54.631 the Southern Front was always the step child. And one 0:08:54.670 --> 0:08:57.511 of the questions was was money being ripped off? And 0:08:57.670 --> 0:08:59.631 I think, you know, some of the work that we 0:08:59.631 --> 0:09:02.311 did in Miami and really looking deeper into the drug 0:09:02.391 --> 0:09:06.271 trafficking and so on, it was apparent that some of 0:09:06.271 --> 0:09:08.310 the Countra leaders were ripping off money and there was 0:09:08.351 --> 0:09:11.550 just no priority given to either training or equipping the 0:09:12.391 --> 0:09:14.190 sort of the cannon fodder on the Southern Front. 0:09:14.991 --> 0:09:19.271 Okay, so you just heard Martha reference drug trafficking. I 0:09:19.310 --> 0:09:21.670 get asked a lot about the drug angle of the 0:09:21.670 --> 0:09:25.111 Iran Contra story. Is it true that the Contras were 0:09:25.151 --> 0:09:28.671 smuggling cocaine into the US, is it true that American 0:09:28.670 --> 0:09:31.990 officials put a blind eye to it? According to Tony 0:09:32.030 --> 0:09:35.271 and Martha, the answers to these questions are gauzy and 0:09:35.391 --> 0:09:37.111 unsatisfying at best. 0:09:37.910 --> 0:09:40.750 One of the things that I think we know, I mean, 0:09:40.790 --> 0:09:44.951 we've learned looking at drug trafficking and in a number 0:09:44.991 --> 0:09:48.391 of parts of the world, is that it tends to 0:09:48.430 --> 0:09:52.670 thrive where they are covert operations. So I think that 0:09:52.751 --> 0:09:57.511 the operations out of Costa Rica on, you know, based 0:09:57.511 --> 0:10:00.590 out of the north, on these airstrips that were sort 0:10:00.590 --> 0:10:04.790 of a classic cover for moving drugs. It was at 0:10:04.830 --> 0:10:08.151 the time when first marijuana and then cocaine was coming 0:10:08.190 --> 0:10:11.151 in from Columbia and they needed sort of stop over 0:10:11.190 --> 0:10:13.231 places in Central America. A lot of the countries in 0:10:13.231 --> 0:10:18.791 Central America, Guatemalan so on, became bases for drugs stopping. 0:10:18.991 --> 0:10:23.391 But the Contra operations provided, you know, particular ability to 0:10:23.871 --> 0:10:24.550 move the drugs. 0:10:24.871 --> 0:10:27.151 The CIA had this problem that they had to move 0:10:28.111 --> 0:10:31.871 arms in through these very small airstrips carved out of 0:10:31.871 --> 0:10:34.670 the jungle, and they needed pilots willing to do that, 0:10:34.910 --> 0:10:36.710 and there was not too many pilots are willing to 0:10:36.790 --> 0:10:41.470 land on these very short landing and takeoff runway airstrips, 0:10:42.070 --> 0:10:44.830 and the only the most experienced people at doing that 0:10:44.910 --> 0:10:49.070 were drug pilots. So they ended up recruiting a bunch 0:10:49.111 --> 0:10:53.831 of these pilots. And these people had a background in drunks, 0:10:53.830 --> 0:10:56.511 so they were figuring, well, they're flying these planes down 0:10:57.151 --> 0:10:59.830 full of arms, unloading the arms and flying back empty, 0:10:59.950 --> 0:11:04.910 that's a wist. So they would fly back with drugs 0:11:04.950 --> 0:11:09.151 that started to come up from Colombia or other places 0:11:09.190 --> 0:11:14.670 and America, and they would five them back into the States, 0:11:14.790 --> 0:11:17.871 often with actually the cover of the CIA. 0:11:18.790 --> 0:11:22.190 So, just as a table setting question, what would have 0:11:22.310 --> 0:11:25.951 been in it for the US or the CIA to 0:11:25.991 --> 0:11:30.350 put a blind eye towards this or to encourage it. 0:11:30.351 --> 0:11:33.311 It's sort of lay what level are you talking about? 0:11:33.471 --> 0:11:40.271 Because there were the CIA operatives or contract employees in 0:11:40.351 --> 0:11:43.991 the field, the pilots, and these various other sort of 0:11:44.351 --> 0:11:47.710 lower level officials who were clearly profiting from it. The 0:11:48.351 --> 0:11:51.830 CIA operation the Southern Front needed this kind of pilots, 0:11:51.830 --> 0:11:53.910 and so they kind of turned at least they turned 0:11:53.910 --> 0:11:57.030 a blind eye. The central question that or one of 0:11:57.030 --> 0:12:00.151 the central questions we have never been able to fully 0:12:00.710 --> 0:12:05.070 resolve as how far up the line of command did 0:12:05.670 --> 0:12:09.151 profiting from the drug operations go. And I don't think 0:12:09.190 --> 0:12:09.711 we know that. 0:12:10.631 --> 0:12:12.871 If you're curious to learn more on the drug smuggling 0:12:12.910 --> 0:12:16.070 aspect of Iran Contra, it's worth looking up the findings 0:12:16.070 --> 0:12:18.950 of a Senate subcommittee chaired by John Kerry that looked 0:12:18.950 --> 0:12:22.871 into the issue in nineteen eighty seven. In their official report, 0:12:23.231 --> 0:12:26.550 Kerry and his investigators concluded that there was no evidence 0:12:26.550 --> 0:12:30.871 that Contra leaders were personally involved in drug smuggling. However, 0:12:31.070 --> 0:12:33.471 there was substantial evidence of drug smuggling on the part 0:12:33.471 --> 0:12:37.631 of individual Contras, as well as Contra suppliers, Contra pilots, 0:12:37.871 --> 0:12:41.431 mercenaries who worked with the Contras, and Contra supporters throughout 0:12:41.430 --> 0:12:45.391 the region. The report also found that US officials working 0:12:45.391 --> 0:12:48.351 in Central America failed to address the drug issue out 0:12:48.391 --> 0:12:51.351 of fear that doing so would jeopardize the war effort 0:12:51.391 --> 0:13:10.870 against the Sandinista government. We'll be right back. The drug 0:13:10.910 --> 0:13:13.950 trade was not the only murky story that Martha Honey 0:13:13.950 --> 0:13:17.471 and Tony Averrigan came across during their time in Central America. 0:13:18.430 --> 0:13:20.830 At one point, Tony and Martha got worried about a 0:13:20.871 --> 0:13:23.910 dramatic new development on the southern front of the Contra war. 0:13:24.871 --> 0:13:28.991 It involved Eden Pastora, the former Sandinista who is now 0:13:29.030 --> 0:13:33.271 the primary Contra leader in Costa Rica. Pastora was going 0:13:33.271 --> 0:13:35.230 to hold a press conference at one of his bases 0:13:35.271 --> 0:13:36.511 in the Nicaraguan jungle. 0:13:37.511 --> 0:13:39.391 We had developed some very good sources. 0:13:39.511 --> 0:13:40.310 Thiseteen eighty four. 0:13:40.511 --> 0:13:43.231 This is nineteen eighty four. This is May nineteen eighty four. 0:13:43.710 --> 0:13:46.430 But leading up to that we had developed it, particularly 0:13:46.430 --> 0:13:50.910 one intelligence officer within the Quantum movement who became a 0:13:50.991 --> 0:13:52.790 very important source. And we later learned that he was 0:13:52.830 --> 0:13:55.871 Costa Rican and he was actually had infiltrated to try 0:13:55.871 --> 0:13:58.511 to find out for a proral Costa Ricans what was 0:13:58.511 --> 0:14:02.231 going on inside. And so one of the things that 0:14:02.310 --> 0:14:07.271 Andras said was that the CIA was really putting pressure 0:14:07.351 --> 0:14:11.310 on Pastora to align the of in Front with the 0:14:11.351 --> 0:14:14.471 Northern Front, with the known as the FDN, Somosa's old 0:14:14.511 --> 0:14:16.950 National Guard in the Northern Front, and Pastor was under 0:14:16.950 --> 0:14:20.671 a lot of pressure. Pastor at that point had never 0:14:21.231 --> 0:14:24.350 said that he was getting CIA money, but. 0:14:25.151 --> 0:14:27.591 In the align, what does it mean that they wanted 0:14:27.631 --> 0:14:28.151 him to do so? 0:14:28.231 --> 0:14:30.710 They wanted they wanted for instance, Pastor to take all 0:14:30.710 --> 0:14:33.350 of his military orders out of Honduras. 0:14:33.511 --> 0:14:36.751 Rather, they were switching under the command of the FDN. 0:14:37.431 --> 0:14:40.231 So that he would no longer really be the general 0:14:40.271 --> 0:14:42.271 in the South, but he would be taking his orders 0:14:42.311 --> 0:14:45.671 from the North and basically from the CIA, that they 0:14:45.710 --> 0:14:49.311 would be directing it. And so one of the things 0:14:49.351 --> 0:14:52.710 that I was told a few days before the press 0:14:52.751 --> 0:14:57.110 conference was that the CIA had given Pastor an ultimatum, 0:14:57.191 --> 0:15:00.271 a thirty day ultimatum that was up May thirtieth, nineteen 0:15:00.311 --> 0:15:04.551 eighty four, that he had to by then publicly say 0:15:04.551 --> 0:15:07.830 that he was aligning with the FDN in the North. 0:15:08.751 --> 0:15:13.191 And Pastor Or basically called the press conference to say 0:15:13.231 --> 0:15:15.470 publicly for the first time that he was getting CIA 0:15:15.590 --> 0:15:18.391 support and that he was announcing that he was breaking 0:15:18.431 --> 0:15:21.551 his ties with the CIA and going to basically run 0:15:21.551 --> 0:15:24.071 his own operation out of the South. So that was 0:15:24.071 --> 0:15:26.911 the purpose of the press conference, because wow. 0:15:26.710 --> 0:15:28.871 So this was no this was no routine press conference. 0:15:28.991 --> 0:15:33.031 No, no, no, no. And because I knew this, I 0:15:33.071 --> 0:15:34.791 decided not to go to the press conference, and I 0:15:34.791 --> 0:15:36.990 wrote a story for the New York Times. There was 0:15:36.991 --> 0:15:38.871 a front page story the next day saying that the 0:15:38.871 --> 0:15:41.551 CIA put this thirty day ultimatum on Pastor. I didn't 0:15:41.551 --> 0:15:42.870 know that the bombing was going to happen. 0:15:42.991 --> 0:15:46.151 You said the CIA, yes, you were able to say 0:15:46.151 --> 0:15:46.511 that it was. 0:15:46.951 --> 0:15:50.631 Yes, yes. And so I stayed home and I. 0:15:50.631 --> 0:15:55.111 Was stringing them for ABC Television, and you know, I 0:15:55.191 --> 0:15:57.671 had to go there because we needed actually tape of 0:15:57.911 --> 0:16:02.391 Pastora saying it. So we had a Toyota jeep and 0:16:02.511 --> 0:16:05.511 we used that and a bunch of others to go 0:16:05.631 --> 0:16:08.511 up travel up to the north and then get into 0:16:08.951 --> 0:16:15.311 these small boats to go down to the San Juan 0:16:15.431 --> 0:16:19.191 River that separates Nicaraguay and Costa Rica and up to 0:16:19.311 --> 0:16:23.511 the place called Lopenka. But there was one person there 0:16:23.671 --> 0:16:26.230 who was not part of our regular group. He wasn't 0:16:26.231 --> 0:16:28.911 one of the Costa Rican journalists or the foreign journalists 0:16:28.911 --> 0:16:32.351 that were regularly doing these these trips up to the 0:16:32.351 --> 0:16:35.671 country camps. I went and talked to him and he 0:16:35.710 --> 0:16:41.911 said that he was a Danish photographer and was going 0:16:41.911 --> 0:16:44.551 to cover the press conference. And I mean, I wasn't 0:16:44.590 --> 0:16:49.431 so unusual. I didn't think that was anything alarming about that. Anyway, 0:16:49.431 --> 0:16:53.431 we got up to the country camp known as Lipenka 0:16:54.671 --> 0:17:00.230 just after sundown and it was just really a one 0:17:00.311 --> 0:17:06.791 room shack piled high. Inside, there were piles of rice 0:17:06.871 --> 0:17:13.711 bags that people were using the seats, and there were 0:17:14.031 --> 0:17:23.511 various contras with AK forty seven and sixteen's over their shoulders, 0:17:23.551 --> 0:17:29.670 milling around and like a high table in the center, 0:17:29.711 --> 0:17:36.191 and Pastora got behind that. So just as he began speaking, 0:17:36.511 --> 0:17:40.590 he motioned to a young woman who was part of 0:17:40.630 --> 0:17:44.391 his force, woman named Rosita, to bring him a cup 0:17:44.390 --> 0:17:48.430 of coffee. We found out later that the bomber, the 0:17:48.511 --> 0:17:51.950 person who came to the press conference with four pounds 0:17:51.951 --> 0:17:56.390 of Sea four plastic explosive in a Haliburton camera case, 0:17:57.271 --> 0:18:01.231 was this very the Danish journalist who I had said 0:18:01.231 --> 0:18:03.670 hello to early in the morning, and he put that 0:18:03.791 --> 0:18:09.871 down underneath the counter on which Pastora was leaning and talking, 0:18:10.830 --> 0:18:16.151 and then went outside and set it off by remote control. 0:18:16.991 --> 0:18:20.071 But this young woman handed him a cup of coffee, 0:18:20.110 --> 0:18:22.110 and as she did so, her foot hit the camera 0:18:22.191 --> 0:18:25.551 case knocked it on its side. So then when the 0:18:25.590 --> 0:18:29.031 glass went off, it went up and down and made 0:18:29.110 --> 0:18:31.951 a huge hole in the floor and blew the roof 0:18:31.991 --> 0:18:37.510 off the building. Finally I realized that everything was black, 0:18:37.551 --> 0:18:40.271 and there was this moaning and crying, and there was 0:18:40.311 --> 0:18:44.430 all this dust in the air and everything. Well, it 0:18:44.590 --> 0:18:50.590 killed three journalists in Rosita, and there were nearly twenty 0:18:50.870 --> 0:18:56.271 people injured, and some very people lost arms and legs 0:18:56.311 --> 0:18:59.071 and eyes. And I had all the skin was burned 0:18:59.110 --> 0:19:02.470 off my face, and I had a big cut on 0:19:02.511 --> 0:19:05.190 the side of my face, and then my left hand 0:19:05.471 --> 0:19:10.031 was all the skin was burned off and the bone 0:19:10.191 --> 0:19:13.671 were sticking out, and I had a big hole the 0:19:13.711 --> 0:19:17.350 size of a tennis boar a little bigger than that 0:19:17.471 --> 0:19:21.311 in my side. I didn't think I was going to die, 0:19:21.311 --> 0:19:22.990 but I thought if I did die, it was going 0:19:23.031 --> 0:19:24.670 to be because of this hole on my side. So 0:19:24.751 --> 0:19:29.031 I tore off my shirt and stuffed it into the hole. 0:19:29.671 --> 0:19:33.751 And then there was only one boat there, and the 0:19:33.830 --> 0:19:37.390 people who were released injured ran down to the boat 0:19:37.431 --> 0:19:44.110 and left the most injured behind. And I ended up 0:19:44.150 --> 0:19:47.870 being on the ground for nearly twelve hours before any 0:19:48.191 --> 0:19:50.271 the boat had to make a four hour round trip 0:19:50.311 --> 0:19:53.110 to go down to the nearest rural hospital from there. 0:19:54.031 --> 0:19:57.711 And well, Martha was there, and she can tell you 0:19:58.071 --> 0:20:00.471 about about what happened to that, and. 0:20:02.431 --> 0:20:05.271 So just backtracking a little, so I hadn't gone to 0:20:05.350 --> 0:20:08.551 the press conference because I already knew what Pestora was 0:20:08.590 --> 0:20:10.830 going to say. So. I wrote a story for the 0:20:10.830 --> 0:20:13.711 New York Times, filed it and was sitting at home 0:20:13.751 --> 0:20:16.270 with our daughter and the phone rang and it was 0:20:16.830 --> 0:20:19.031 another American journalist and I said, oh, I thought you 0:20:19.031 --> 0:20:20.911 were at the press conference. He said no, I overslept, 0:20:20.951 --> 0:20:22.830 I didn't go. But do you have the radio on? 0:20:22.951 --> 0:20:25.271 I said no. He said, well, I'm really sorry to 0:20:25.271 --> 0:20:28.191 tell you this, but there's been a bomb that's gone 0:20:28.191 --> 0:20:30.630 off at the press conference, and they're reporting that at 0:20:30.711 --> 0:20:33.791 least one American has been killed, and they haven't said 0:20:33.951 --> 0:20:37.910 who it is, and so I was kind of like, 0:20:38.110 --> 0:20:41.631 you know, my world fell apart, and I began calling 0:20:42.390 --> 0:20:44.590 everybody I could think of in the Contras, in the 0:20:44.711 --> 0:20:49.191 US embassy and the coast streaking government, and everybody said, yeah, 0:20:49.231 --> 0:20:52.071 we're hearing these reports. You know, some people have died, 0:20:52.110 --> 0:20:55.870 including an American, and we but we don't have any names. 0:20:55.991 --> 0:21:01.151 So of course I thought the worst, and eventually good 0:21:01.191 --> 0:21:03.231 Canadian friends of ours came over and the woman stayed 0:21:03.231 --> 0:21:05.350 with our kids and I went to the hospital in 0:21:05.390 --> 0:21:08.071 San Carlos where they were bringing in the people, and 0:21:08.390 --> 0:21:11.710 while I was standing there, I noticed that there was 0:21:11.911 --> 0:21:15.031 someone sitting outside in a hospital garb but sitting in 0:21:15.031 --> 0:21:18.031 a wheelchair with a beard, just sitting there very quietly 0:21:18.191 --> 0:21:20.590 outside the hospital. And at one point one of the 0:21:20.630 --> 0:21:25.150 nurses came over to me and said, are you the 0:21:25.191 --> 0:21:27.630 woman who has come to collect And she pointed to 0:21:27.671 --> 0:21:30.751 this guy and I said, who is that and she said, oh, 0:21:30.751 --> 0:21:33.870 he's a Danish journalist and he wasn't injured and he 0:21:33.911 --> 0:21:35.711 says that a woman's coming to collect him and he's 0:21:35.711 --> 0:21:37.791 waiting for her. And said, no, no, it's not me, 0:21:37.911 --> 0:21:40.951 and didn't think anything more of it. I remember when 0:21:40.991 --> 0:21:44.391 Tony finally arrived in the last ambulance. I was following 0:21:44.390 --> 0:21:46.791 Tony into the swinging doors and I remember glancing and 0:21:46.830 --> 0:21:49.311 seeing that the wheelchair was empty. This guy had been 0:21:49.350 --> 0:21:52.350 sitting in that we learned two days later was the bomber. 0:21:52.951 --> 0:21:55.671 And he managed to get himself out on his own 0:21:55.991 --> 0:21:57.631 and then he disappeared. 0:22:01.711 --> 0:22:04.511 More with Martha Honey and Tony Averergan. After a quick 0:22:04.511 --> 0:22:17.430 break after the bombing at Eden Pastora's press conference, Tony 0:22:17.511 --> 0:22:20.311 Averergan had to be flown to an American hospital where 0:22:20.311 --> 0:22:23.671 he was treated by a world class hand specialist. After 0:22:23.751 --> 0:22:27.311 two months in the hospital, Tony recovered and kept his hand, 0:22:28.150 --> 0:22:31.791 but the episode would consume Martha and Tony's lives for 0:22:31.951 --> 0:22:32.670 years to come. 0:22:33.431 --> 0:22:35.991 I was contacted by the Committee to Protect Journalists in 0:22:36.031 --> 0:22:38.791 New York and they had put together, you know, very 0:22:38.791 --> 0:22:41.551 modest fun and they said, could you undertake an investigation 0:22:41.590 --> 0:22:43.511 and find out who was responsible? And I said, sure, 0:22:43.671 --> 0:22:46.110 you know, I thought it would be pretty easy, and 0:22:46.231 --> 0:22:48.951 so he thought it put it be easy. I thought, 0:22:48.951 --> 0:22:50.431 a couple you know, a couple of weeks, a couple 0:22:50.431 --> 0:22:52.231 of months, will you nail this down? 0:22:52.271 --> 0:22:54.791 And was it easy as you thought? 0:22:54.870 --> 0:22:58.311 No, No, it was a nightmare. It was and it 0:22:58.471 --> 0:23:01.991 still is. You know, we're not we don't. There's still 0:23:02.071 --> 0:23:06.990 unanswered questions. But we initially started out, you know, the investigation. 0:23:07.110 --> 0:23:10.631 So I went back to meet with this contrac guy 0:23:11.630 --> 0:23:14.390