Judge Won’t Dismiss Suit Against 2 Ex-U.S. Generals, Contra Leaders

MIAMI —  A federal judge on Friday kept alive a lawsuit accusing two retired U.S. generals and top contra leaders of belonging to a ring that carried out assassinations, gunrunning and drug smuggling in Central America.

Chief U.S. District Judge James L. King denied motions by nine of the 29 defendants to throw out the case because the accusations did not constitute violations of federal racketeering laws.

“We’re real pleased,” said plaintiff Martha Honey, a journalist from San Jose, Costa Rica. “It means things can go ahead now.”

Honey and her husband, Tony Avirgan, also a journalist, filed the suit after he was injured when an attempt was made to assassinate maverick contra leader Eden Pastora during a May, 1984, news conference in Nicaragua.

Three journalists and five Pastora supporters were killed. Pastora was slightly injured.

Among other charges, the suit accuses top contra leader Adolfo Calero of conspiring to kill Pastora, contending that Calero and 13 other defendants wanted to take over leadership of the contras’ southern front, “in part to assure a base for transshipment of drugs.”

Retired Army Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord are accused in the suit of helping to set up an illegal arms flow to the contras.