$1.3M bomb attack libel thrown out

Press, 12 June 1986, Page 21

$1.3M bomb attack libel thrown out

Three journalists were killed when a bomb blasted a press conference in Nicaragua two years ago. A deep probe into who and what were behind the bombing led to a $1.3 million libel action. BILL ROSENFELD reports from San Jose, Costa Rica.

To wild applause in a crowded Costa Rican courtroom, Judge Jorge Chacon dismissed a $1.36 million libel suit brought against two United States journalists based in Costa Rica. The action, brought by an American rancher, arose from a lengthy investigative report by the journalists on who was responsible for a bomb attack at a press conference two years ago that killed three journalists and injured a further 18, some critically. The 84-page report named John Hull, the United States rancher, as the main C.I.A. agent in Costa Rica and implicated him in the planning and execution of the bomb attack. The explosion took place at a press conference hastily convened by the rebel leader, Eden Pastora, at his jungle headquarters in Nicaragua. Ten minutes after the start of the meeting, in which Pastora was denouncing C.I.A. interference, a powerful bomb exploded in the crowded room, causing carnage. But it failed to kill the intended target, Pastora, who was inadvertently protected by the journalists crowding round him. Many of the injured attended the trial and excitedly congratulated their exonerated colleagues, Martha Honey, and her husband, Tony Avirgan, as the verdict was read out.

Honey and Avirgan had undertaken an exhaustive investigation into who was responsible for the 1 bomb attack. The investigation was dogged with difficulties. Honey said she and her husband received a number of death threats as did witnesses and informants. More sinisterly, a key informant mysteriously

disappeared. Honey believes he was murdered. Another had to be sent into exile and only last week a crucial witness also disappeared as he left Honey’s house — all efforts, says Honey, to cover up and block their investigation. At the trial only 10 witnesses for the defence were admitted by the judge instead of the 150 the defendants had asked for — but their evidence was sufficient to convince the judge. Perhaps the most damning witness was Jack Terrell from Washington D.C. who described himself as a security consultant. He said he joined the main antiSandinista Contra force, the Nicaraguan Democratic Front (F.D.N.) in 1984, and helped to plan the formation of a southern front.

He said he attended meetings to discuss eliminating Pastora, the main obstacle to a merger of the two main Contra forces, at the house of another rebel leader, Adolfo Caleras, in Miami in December, 1984. Terrell said they had discussed the failure of the bomb attack which killed the journalists in May that year. Present at the meeting was John Hull and a man introduced as a former Israeli intelligence official, whom Honey and Avirgan say was the man who actually planted the bomb. Avirgan said after the trial that he and other victims of the bomb attack will now file a $45 million suit in the United States against Hull and 30 other people. These include leaders of the F.D.N., alleged C.I.A. agents, and other Americans who have been helping the Contra cause.

Copyright — London Observer Service.