La Penca bombing

La Penca bombing

The "La Penca bombing" refers to a bomb attack on May 30, 1984, in the small town of La Penca in Nicaragua, near the Costa Rican border. The bomb attack occurred during a press conference being conducted by Edén Pastora, a contra leader, who is presumed to have been the target cite news
first =Lindsay
last =Gruson
date = 1990-03-01
title =Turnover in Nicaragua; Costa Rica Is Asking U.S. to Extradite Rancher Tied to '84 Bombing That Killed 4
publisher =New York Times
url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2D91230F932A35750C0A966958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
accessdate = 2007-12-08
] . Four people, including three journalists, were killed in the attack.

The attack

A press meeting had been arranged in a small hut in the town of la Penca by Edén Pastora, a former Sandinista who had switched allegiance to the Contra rebels. The meeting was predominantly attended by American journlists who were reporting on the civil conflict occurring in Nicaragua at the time. ]

The bomb is believed to have been hidden in a camera case, and planted by an individual carrying a stolen Dutch passport. According to witnesses, the bomber used the name Per Anker Hansen and claimed he was a Danish photographer cite news
first =
last =
date = 1993-08-08
title =Costa Rica Reopens Inquiry in 1984 Bombing
publisher =New York Times
url =http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE5D7173FF93BA3575BC0A965958260&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Organizations/C/Central%20Intelligence%20Agency
accessdate = 2007-12-08
] . Those killed in the bombing were an American journalist, Linda Frazier; a Costa Rican cameraman, Jorge Quiros; his assistant, Evelio Sequiera, and one rebel. The bomb attempt also seriously injured Pastora in both legs. About a dozen others were seriously injured. ]

Investigation

The bombing led to an investigation by Tony Avirgan (an American journalist injured in the bombing) and his wife Martha Honey, and they concluded that the CIA was responsible cite news
first =
last =
date = 1996-06-01
title =La Penca and beyond
publisher =The Progressive
url =http://www.thefreelibrary.com/La+Penca+and+beyond-a018311889
accessdate = 2007-12-09
] . In 1986 the Christic Institute filed a $24M lawsuit on their behalf against several individuals all associated with Oliver North; including Rob Owen, John Hull, Richard Secord, Albert Hakim, and Thomas Clines ] . However the case was thrown out in June 1988 and the Christic Institute was ordered to pay approximately $1 million in costs to the defendantscite news
first = Associated Press
last =
date = 1989-02-04
title =CHRISTIC INSTITUTE ORDERED TO PAY $1M
publisher =Boston Globe
url =http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=BG&p_theme=bg&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EADEEBE41B7E15C&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
accessdate = 2007-12-09
] .

In 1990 the Government of Costa Rica accused the CIA of orchestrating the bombing using two intermediaries. Charges of murder were laid against Felipe Vidal, a Cuban-American, and John Hull, an American farmer who lived in Costa Rica at the time ] and who had been previously named in the Christic Institute lawsuit ] .

In 1993 the Miami Herald claimed that the bomber was a leftist Argentine rebel, Vital Roberto Gaguine, who had been hired by the Sandinista Government. The report also stated that Gaguine was posing as a journalist with the stolen passport of a Dane named Per Anker Hansen at la Penca at the time of the bombing. The association between the perpetrator and the FSLN led the Herald reporter, Juan Tamayo, to conclude that the Sandinistas were solely responsible ] .

References

ources

*http://www.skepticfiles.org/socialis/cia_murd.htm
*"THE MIAMI HERALD," 1/6/90, "Cost Rican Prosecutor Links Two Americans to Fatal Bombing," by John McPhaul, p 19A;
*"PROPAGANDA REVIEW," Winter 1990, "La Penca Cover-up Continues," by Johan Carlisle, pp 40-41.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Christic Institute — Formation 1980 Headquarters Washington, D.C., United States The Christic Institute was a public interest law firm founded in 1980 by Daniel Sheehan, his wife, Sara Nelson and their partner, William J. Davis, who was a Jesuit priest. Its… …   Wikipedia

  • Brought to Light — (ISBN 0 913035 67 X) is an anthology of two political graphic novels, published originally by Eclipse Comics in 1988. Both are based on material from lawsuits filed by the Christic Institute against the US Government. The two stories are… …   Wikipedia

  • Edén Pastora — Edén Atanacio Pastora Gómez (born in Ciudad Darío January 22, 1937[1]) is a Nicaraguan politician and former guerrilla who ran for president as the candidate of the Alternative for Change (AC) party in the 2006 general elections.[2] In the years… …   Wikipedia

  • Secret Team — The Secret Team, or ST, is a phrase coined by L. Fletcher Prouty, and used by the Christic Institute in their investigation of the La Penca bombing, which suggests the existence of a covert alliance between certain people within the U.S.… …   Wikipedia

  • comic strip — a sequence of drawings, either in color or black and white, relating a comic incident, an adventure or mystery story, etc., often serialized, typically having dialogue printed in balloons, and usually printed as a horizontal strip in daily… …   Universalium

  • Edén Pastora Gómez — Edén Pastora Gómez, auch Cero oder Comandante Cero genannt, (* 22. Januar 1937 in Ciudad Dario) ist ein nicaraguanischer ehemaliger Guerillaführer der Sandinisten. Edén Pastora unternahm am 22. August 1978 mit 23 Männern und Frauen einen Überfall …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”