Calero Praises North as Contra ‘Savior’

WASHINGTON —  Contra leader Adolfo Calero told a federal court jury Thursday that Oliver L. North was the financial “savior” of the resistance movement at the time official U.S. aid was banned and that a monument may one day be erected in Nicaragua to the retired Marine lieutenant colonel.

Calero, although called as the second witness for the prosecution, sought also to defend North against charges that he had misused $4,300 in Contra funds, declaring that he would trust North with his life.

The former manager of a Coca-Cola bottling plant who became the non-military president of the Contra movement in 1983, Calero praised North for funneling millions of dollars in privately raised funds to the Nicaraguan rebels in 1985 and 1986, when Congress had prohibited U.S. military aid.

The most serious of 12 felony counts against North are that he misled Congress and obstructed congressional inquiries by lying about his relationship with the Contras.

“For us he became sort of a savior . . . when we felt abandoned and were in a desperate situation,” Calero said. “They are going to erect a monument to him once we are in power.”

Calero said that North, while a top staff official of the National Security Council, directed the flow of at least $32 million in private funds to a Contra bank account in Miami. Evidence has shown that North and other U.S. officials, including former President Ronald Reagan, solicited the donations from other foreign governments and from private U.S. citizens.

Calero said that on numerous occasions he gave North a total of about $90,000 from this bank account, in the form of travelers checks, when North told him he was short of funds to carry out another secret project, freeing U.S. hostages overseas. North said that he also needed money to cover other costs associated with funding the Contras, Calero testified.

Prosecutors have charged that North used at least $4,300 of this money as his “personal piggy bank.”

Associate independent counsel John W. Keker, the prosecutor, asked Calero: “Did you ever give him any money for his personal use?”

“No sir, that was not one of the purposes,” Calero replied.

Later, Brendan V. Sullivan Jr., North’s attorney, said to Calero: “The prosecutor says Col. North stole $4,000 in Contra funds. Do you think that is conceivable?”

“No,” said Calero, adding that he saw North write down figures on a sheet of paper whenever he gave him money. North never gave him a formal accounting of how the funds were spent, “but I didn’t demand an accounting--I trusted him absolutely,” Calero declared.

Sullivan said that North “would often reimburse himself in connection with expenses. You’d have no problem with any of that, would you?”

“Absolutely not,” Calero replied.

Keker asked Calero if he knew that North had used $1,000 of the money as a wedding present for Robert W. Owen, a private citizen who often acted as North’s go-between with the Contras.

Calero said that Owen once had mentioned the gift to him “and I thought the wedding present was compensation for his services.”

“Col. North was the representative of U.S. government authority. I never questioned the legality of our arrangement,” Calero testified.

U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell leaned forward to ask Calero: “Who did Col. North say he was representing?”

Calero replied that North was not specific “but he brought us in to see the President (Ronald Reagan) two or three times.”

“Was any business ever transacted?” Gesell wanted to know.

“We talked mostly in generalities,” Calero replied. “We told him (Reagan) we had gotten help from other countries--he seemed happy to hear it--and help from the private sector.”

Earlier Thursday, Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, concluded testimony he began Wednesday by declaring, in response to questioning by Sullivan, that he was not told in 1985 and 1986 that former Secretary of State George P. Shultz and former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane were soliciting aid for the Contras from some U.S. allies.