APPENDIX 5 LETTER SUBMITTED BY THE RT. REV. PAUL MOORE, JR., BISHOP OF NEW YORK 15 May 1987 The Hon. George Crockett Foreign Affairs Committee 2170 Rayburn Office Building Washington, DC 20575 Dear Congressman Crockett: I hope you will be good enough to enter the following statement into the record of proceedings of the Foreign Affairs Committee's Sub-committee on Western Hemispheric Affairs regarding the situation in Nicaragua: Ben Linder was a close friend of my son, who lived and worked in Managua for three years. I have been down there myself and had met Mr. Linder. His death has dramatized the obscenity of the Contra strategy. I am absolutely horrified by way in which the military and economic power of the United States is being leveled at a tiny nation, trying to bring it to its knees, murdering women and children, as well as young men now even American citizens! and There is no threat to our security. If the Soviet Union were to attempt to put a base in Nicaragua, we could eliminate it quickly. We have no business using military force, even indirectly, against a government which is duly constituted - no matter to what degree it differs from our own - and with which we still have formal ambassadorial relations. I trust, sir, that you will have a complete hearing into the circumstances of Mr. Linder's death and into the outrageous conduct of the Contra forces which are funded by the tax dollars of a reluctant majority. APPENDIX 6 FOLLOWUP CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE ON THE DEATH OF BENJAMIN LINDER April 29, 1987 The Honorable George P. Shultz Secretary of State Washington, DC 20520 Dear Secretary Shultz: An American, Benjamin Linder, was killed in Nicaragua yesterday. He was reportedly killed while unarmed by elements of the Nicaraguan Contras, which are armed, trained, funded and advised by the United States Government. It has been alleged that these Nicaraguan counterrevolutionaries specifically targeted United States citizens. If true, these facts are intolerable and require a strong and unequivocal response. The United States cannot acquiesce in the murder of any American. Still less can we allow a group armed, trained, and funded by the United States Government to murder our citizens for political reasons. Any consistency in our anti-terrorism policy requires an immediate and thorough investigation of this killing and the bringing to justice of Benjamin Linder's murderers, preferably in U.S. courts. We would appreciate your assistance in providing prompt, unclassified answers to the following questions: Who killed Benjamin Linder? Under what circumstances was Mr. Linder killed? Under whose orders did the killers of Mr. Linder act? Were the killers of Mr. Linder members of a Nicaraguan counterrevolutionary group such as the Nicaraguan Democratic Force? Were the killers of Mr. Linder armed, trained, advised, supplied or funded by the Is there evidence that the killers of Mr. Linder knew that their victin was a United States citizen? Is there evidence that the killers of Mr. Linder specifically intended to kill a United States citizen? What steps is the United States Government taking to bring the killers of Mr. Linder to justice? Have requests been made to the governments of Honduras or Nicaragua, or to the officers of the Nicaraguan Democratic Resistance, to apprehend Mr. Linder's killers and to extradite them to the United States for trial? If not, will such requests be made? If not, why not? W'e view this matter as one of utmost seriousness. We look forward to your prompt reply. M United States Department of State Washington, D.C. 20520 Dear Mr. Crockett: Thank you for your letter of April 29 concerning the circumstances surrounding the death in Nicaragua of Mr. Benjamin Linder, a U.S. citizen. We deeply regret Mr. Linder's death. He was, by all accounts, a generous young man with strong humanitarian instincts. Like you, we believe this death requires an immediate and thorough investigation. Unfortunately, our efforts to this end have been frustrated by the Nicaraguan Government. The Nicaraguan Government to date has refused to provide us with a copy of the military autopsy report. Nor can U.S. Embassy representatives visit the scene of Mr. Linder's death or interview eyewitnesses systematically. Furthermore, the Nicaraguan Government has not authorized an investigation by the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH), which was established to provide human rights training to the democratic resistance and to investigate allegations of human rights violations. I am Accordingly, we do not sufficiently know the facts surrounding Mr. Linder's death to answer your questions. certain you are aware that there are conflicting accounts given of how he died. We do know that Mr. Linder died when a group of his colleagues working on a hydroelectric project was attacked on April 28 by a unit of the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN). Survivors of the attack have said that some of the people in Mr. Linder's group were in uniform and armed at the time of the attack. According to the survivors, Mr. Linder was not in uniform, but was wearing a cartridge belt. The FDN reports it attacked an armed, uniformed unit that returned fire. According to the FDN, three members of the group that included Mr. Linder, including Mr. Linder, and one member of the FDN unit were killed. The FDN reports that Mr. Linder was killed by an exploding grenade fragment. The Honorable George W. Crockett, Jr., House of Representatives. MAY 2 0 1987 On May 6 we learned that Mr. Linder's father told journalists that he had seen a Nicaraguan military autopsy report that indicated Benjamin Linder had been wounded and then shot at close range and killed. As I noted, the Nicaraguan government has not yet provided our Embassy with a copy of the autopsy report. Barricada, the Sandinista party newspaper, reported that two American doctors had also viewed the body. Dr. Timothy Takaro, was one of the American doctors who viewed the body, but he told reporters that Mr. Linder appeared to have died from a grenade attack. When questioned later by Journalists about the military autopsy report Dr. Takaro said he could not say whether the report was accurate because his technical expertise was insufficient to allow him to determine how Mr. Linder died. A member of Witness for Peace told our Ambassador to Managua on April 29 that a Witness for Peace investigator had seen Mr. Linder's body the afternoon of April 28. She reported Mr. Linder's features were substantially distorted when she first saw the body but was surprised that the corpse looked much better after it was prepared for the wake that was held in the evening. We are particularly concerned at the report that Mr. Linder may have been shot at close range while wounded and defenseless. We intend to investigate the cause of Mr. Linder's death as fully as circumstances permit. We will continue to press the Nicaraguan government for a copy of the autopsy report, to seek to interview eyewitnesses, and--when possible--to have an Embassy officer visit the scene of Mr. Linder's death. The ANPDH will also continue to try to obtain first-hand information from those UNO/FDN members involved in the attack in which Mr. Linaer was killed. We fully expect the FDN to make them available to the ANPDH. If there is any truth to the allegations that Mr. Linder was shot at close range, while wounded and defenseless, we would encourage the FDN to punish the guilty individual or individuals and expel him or them from the force. You are correct that it has been alleged that Nicaraguan "counterrevolutionaries" specifically targeted United States citizens. That is precisely what the Sandinista regime would have the public believe. I can assure you that the U.S. government would not tolerate the targeting of U.S. citizens by the Nicaraguan democratic resistance. I am also certain that the leadership of the democratic resistance has not and will not make U.S. citizens the target of their attacks. The UNO/FDN is a part of the United Nicaraguan Opposition which is in part armed, trained, advised, supplied and funded by the |