Date: Fri, 4 Jan 91 10:51:38 CST Date: Fri, 4 Jan 91 10:48:29 CST Reply-To: cdp!christic%labrea.stanford.edu@UCHIMVS1.UCHICAGO.EDU From: cdp!christic%labrea.stanford.edu@UCHIMVS1.UCHICAGO.EDU Subject: JOHN HULL FLEES NICARAGUA To: Multiple recipients of list ACTIV-L /* Written 7:31 am Jan 4, 1991 by christic in cdp:christic.news */ /* ---------- "JOHN HULL FLEES NICARAGUA" ---------- */ ----------------------------------------------------------------- JOHN HULL, WANTED ON LA PENCA MURDER CHARGES, RETURNS TO STATES Christic Institute, Friday, Jan. 4, 1990 Pursued by a Costa Rican extradition order, accused terrorist and drug trafficker John Hull has found a safe haven in the United States. Hull, a C.I.A. contract agent whose ranch in Costa Rica was a base for contras and drug traffickers, was discovered in Nicaragua last fall after disappearing from the United States. Hull's flight from justice began in 1989 when he illegally left Costa Rica following his release from jail on a $35,000 bail bond. He is wanted by Costa Rican authorities on charges that he planned a 1984 terrorist bombing in La Penca, Nicaragua, which killed three journalists and left several wounded. The United States State Department blamed the bombing on Nicaragua's former Sandinista Government, but Costa Rican Government prosecutors say the attack was organized by the contras and Hull to assassinate a rival contra commander, Eden Pastora. Hull's stay in Nicaragua was cut short when the Nicaraguan Supreme Court ordered his arrest and extradition to Costa Rica. According to sources, Hull was in Tampa, Fla., Wednesday night and left Thursday for Washington, D.C. He apparently stayed at the Tampa home of his longtime friend and business associate, Bruce Jones. Jones fled Costa Rican in 1984 after boasting to Life magazine that he was helping Nicaraguan contras on orders from the Central Intelligence Agency. During his stopover in Florida, Hull spoke by phone to a local radio station and to Costa Rican television and radio, but refused to say how he had evaded Nicaraguan authorities and escaped from the country. Hull is still a fugitive from Costa Rican justice. The Government there is preparing to request his extradition from the United States. Hull's name has been added to Interpol's most- wanted list at the request of Costa Rican law enforcement officials. He is also a defendant in Avirgan v. Hull, a Federal lawsuit filed in Miami by the Christic Institute on behalf of journalists Tony Avirgan and Martha Honey. Avirgan was wounded in the La Penca attack. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Andrew Lang 151251507 CHRISTIC telex Christic Institute tcn449 tcn Washington, D.C. christic PeaceNet 202-529-0140 BBS uunet!pyramid!cdp!christic UUCP 202-462-5138 fax cdp!christic%labrea@stanford Bitnet 202-797-8106 voice cdp!christic@labrea.stanford.edu Internet