Did
a Uruguayan ex-Tupamaro - later
paid government informant - try to kill Contra
leader Eden Pastora?
DIA
responds to a five-year-old FOIA request about the 1984 La Penca bombing in
which Contra leader Eden Pastora (ARDE) was injured. The bomb went off
during a press conference on the Costa Rica/Nicaragua border - killing Pastora's girlfriend and injuring several journalists, which sent serious
shock waves through the journalist community. Various actors,
from Sandinista Commander Tomás Borge to the CIA have been blamed for the incident,
but this is the first DIA report released on the subject and it alleges that a Tupamaro turncoat
committed the attempt. If this version is true, it lets the Sandinistas off the
hook - they would not have employed someone who had gone against a fellow
revolutionary movement. At the time, it was widely rumored that the Honduran-based
Contras of the FDN, which were run by the CIA, had more than enough reason
to get rid of Pastora, and this evidence would argue in that direction.
And what about this turncoat? What can we learn from him? Tupamaro leader Raul Sendic was allegedly sleeping with his wife. One lesson here is that the combination of leaders' philandering and the sexual jealousy of the aggrieved party is most often the unseen cause of the undoing of clandestine operations, revolutionary or not. The money is also of interest. The Tupamaro turncoat was allegedly paid some US$50,000 for his treason, money which this commentator doubts would have been available Uruguayan government at the time. No. If this took place, it would have most likely been CIA money.
However, to get back to the real story -- the bombing-- Martha Honey of the Institute for Policy Studies in DC doesn't believe any of this. She investigated the story at length and actually met the Tupamaro turncoat. He was too small to have been the bomber, she reports. She believes that it was an Argentine guerrilla who did it - under the guidance of the Sandinistas.
So what really happened? We shall probably never know.
Please scroll down or go directly to text below.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE JCS MESSAGE CENTER
ROUTINE R2618362 JUL 84 [REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED REDACTED]
SERIAL (U) [REDACTED]
COUNTRY (U) URUGUAY (UY), NICARAGUA (NU)
SUBJ: REDACTED POSSIBLE PERPETRATOR OF BOMBING ATTEMPT ON ANTI-SANDANISTA GUERRILLA LEADER EDEN PASTORA (U)
WARNING: (U) THIS IS AN INFO REPORT, NOT FINALLY EVALUATED INTEL.
DOI: (U) 84079
REQS: (U) [REDACTED]
SOURCE: (U) [REDACTED]
SUMMARY: (S/NOFORN) FORMER TUPAMARO, ADMODIO ((PEREZ)), IS ALLEGED TO HAVE PLANTED THE BOMB WHICH EXPLODED DURING EDEN ((PASTORA))'S NEWS CONFERENCE ON 31 MAY 84.
TEXT: (S/NOFORN) [REDACTED LINE] THE COMMUNIST THREAT IN GENERAL AND THE PROBLEMS IN CENTRAL AMERICA IN PARTICULAR. ONE THIS THEME, [REDACTED] STATED THAT THE PERSON WHO PLANTED THE BOMB WHICH ALMOST KILLED ANTI-SANDANISTA LEADER EDEN PASTORA ON 31 MAY 84, WAS AN URUGUAYAN NAMED ADMODIO PEREZ. PEREZ HAD BEEN AN ACTIVE TUPACAMARO IN MONTEVIDEO DURING THE 1960'S AND EARLY 70'S. ACCORDING TO [REDACTED] PEREZ BECAME AN INFORMER FOR THE MILITARY WHEN HE FOUND THAT HIS WIFE WAS HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH TUPAMARO LEADER RAUL ((SENDIC)). PEREZ'S COLLABORATION WITH THE MILITARY AUTHORITIES THEN RESULTED IN THE CAPTURE OF SENDIC AND SEVERAL OTHER PROMINENT TUPAMAROS. [REDACTED] FURTHER TOLD REDACTED THAT PEREZ WAS PAID $50,000 DOLLARS US FOR HIS COOPERATION, GIVEN A NEW IDENTITY, AND LEFT THE COUNTRY.
COMMENTS: (U) [REDACTED 2 LINES]
PROJ: (U) N/A
COLL: (U) NONE
INSTR: (U) NO
PREP: (U) [REDACTED LINE]
