News In Brief

CIA accused of furnishing bribe money in Costa Rica

The CIA has tripled the number of agents it has working in Costa Rica while supplying cash used to bribe public officials there, and is also directing the strategy of Nicaraguan rebels, according to broadcast and published reports.

The rebels are directed and controlled by the CIA from military headquarters in San Jose, Costa Rica, ABC News reported Sunday night. Orders are carried out from secret landing strips hidden in the rugged mountains of Costa Rica, it said.

The rebels operating out of San Jose have been bribing public officials, including law-enforcement officers, with cash given them by the CIA, according to ABC and the New York Times's Monday editions. The Costa Rican government has denied Nicaraguan government charges that the officials were being bribed.