COCAINE PLANE SCANDAL ROCKS NICARAGUAN ELITE

President says he was innocent victim

Managua -- Maybe Arnoldo Aleman's mother never warned him against accepting
rides from strangers.

Aleman, the president of Nicaragua, allowed himself to be flown around
earlier this year in a plane allegedly owned by a silver-haired Cuban
American named Jose Francisco Guasch.

But now Aleman probably wishes he hadn't done that. The jet was stolen from
a Florida airport days before Guasch brought it to Managua last December to
offer free rides.

In addition to carting around the president, his wife .and several other
unsuspecting dignitaries, the plane was also used to transport large
quantities of cocaine, according to Nicaraguan Police. Authorities say they
don't know whether the jet ever transported cocaine at the same time that
it transported Aleman and his associates.

The case has resulted in the firing of government officials, including the
head of the Civil Aeronautics Division, who now awaits trial on
drug-trafficking charges.

Like just about every other important Nicaraguan taken for a ride on the
jet, Aleman says he was an innocent victim.

"I think the whole nation has been jarred by these events," Aleman told an
investigating judge. He blamed his civil aviation authorities and security
guards for allowing him to fly on the plane.

U.S. authorities say they believe Aleman. "We have no information linking
the president either to the theft of the airplane or to narco-trafficking,"
said an embassy spokesmanin Managua.

Court records in Managua contain a copy of an American passport indicating
that Guasch, 52, was born in Cuba and naturalized as a U.S. citizen. The
records also contain a letter from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency
indicating that Guasch has previously been investigated in connection with
international drug trafficking. But there is no indication that he has ever
been arrested.

Months before bringing the plane to Managua, Guasch began visiting
Nicaragua to look into the possibility of setting up a commercial airline,
which he

planned to call Ceylon Air. He met with the head of Nicaragua's Civil
Aeronautics Division, Mario Rivas Montealegre, whom he knew from Florida
pilot schools in the 1980s.

Guasch told Montealegre that he worked for the CIA, according to court
records.

When it came time to form the company, Guasch needed a Nicaraguan to be
named as the majority owner. Montealegre volunteered his chauffeur, who
became listed as the owner in the paperwork.

But the new airlines still needed an airplane.

No problem. On the morning of December 16, workers at a small Fort
Lauderdale airline arrived at the airport to discover their jet was missing
from the hangar.

Police dutifully took a report about a stolen 1975 Lear jet, white with
gold and maroon trim, and eight leather passenger seats. Estimated value:
$3 million.

A few days later, the jet showed up in Managua, accordmg to authorities.
Guasch told people that he had bought it in Germany. Instead of parking the
plane at the principal international airport, Guasch decided to Store it at
a mostly abandoned airport known as Brasiles.

The airport has no active control tower and no immigration inspectors.

As part of Ceylon Air's rollout, Guasch offered 10 hours of free flights to
his new friends in the government. The transportation minister used the
plane to fly to Montelimar, an exclusive beach resort on the Pacific. The
trip was billed as an official opportunity to inspect the quality of the
runway there.

The tourism, minister and the vice president also made trips. Aleman's
wife, Dolores, flew with friends to visit the Atlantic coast. Aleman and
his aides took the plane to a February Conference of Central American
presidents in El Salvador.

Exactly what other flights the plane took Out of the uncontrolled airport
are not known. Authorities are aware of one April flight where the plane
went from Managua to San Jose, Costa Rica, where it was also allowed to
land without being searched. It went On to Medellin, Colombia, before
heading home the next day.

While top officials were enjoying the seemingly limitless access to the
luxury jet, police were groing

suspicious. In May, Officials entered the hangar and searched the plane. A
sophisticated drug-detecting device found high levels of cocaine residue in
12 of the 13 locations searched.

The presence of residual cocaine, even in compartments led authorities to
conclude that the plane had recently been used to transport large
quantities of the drug. No actual cocaine was found, however.

Four people have been arrested, including Montealegre and his chauffeur.
Guasch slipped out of the country and remains at large.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski