Nicaragua Frees Jailed U.S. Flier to Californian

American rancher James Jordan Denby, jailed since being shot down while flying his light plane over Nicaragua on Dec. 6, was released Saturday into the custody of Democratic U.S. Senate contender Bill Press of California.

Denby, 58, who had been accused of working with the Contras, then flew with Press to Los Angeles in a chartered luxury jet.

The rancher’s only comment to a crowd of reporters who had been called by Nicaragua’s Sandinista government to witness his release was succinct: “Thank you very much--let’s go.”

The Managua regime, Press said, decided to free Denby in hopes of tilting congressional votes against President Reagan’s $36.25-million aid request for the Nicaraguan Contras fighting the Sandinista government.

The aid package is scheduled to be voted on by the House on Wednesday. If passed, it will go to the Senate for a vote on Thursday.

Press’ pitch to Nicaraguan officials for releasing Denby to him was that it might help get him elected to the Senate, where he vowed to battle against U.S. financial backing for anti-Sandinista rebels.

More immediately, Press said he would go to Washington on Monday to lobby hard against new Contra funds.

In the works for two weeks, Press’ mission--until he arrived in Managua on Friday--had been rife with false starts, apparent Sandinista turf wars and unintended comedy.

Denby himself became, it seemed, merely a pawn in a high stakes chess game of international and domestic political public relations.

“I’ll tell you one thing, their PR is among the best in the world,” Denby said of the Sandinistas, speaking to a Times reporter as he relaxed en route from Managua to Los Angeles.

‘Treated Well’

Denby, of Carlinville, Ill., said he had “been treated well and fed well,” although “a little confined” while jailed in an old Spanish fort on a hill above a volcanic lake on the Managua outskirts.

To legally justify releasing Denby on Saturday, the Nicaraguan government had to expedite judicial proceedings involving charges against him of violating public order and security.

A judge quickly approved a couple of unusual agreements.

In one, Aris Anagnos, head of the Los Angeles-based Humanitarian Law Project that paid for the $50,000 charter flight, guaranteed Denby’s return to Nicaragua if it ever became necessary for him to be sentenced. But the agreement clearly was signed with a wink and a smile.

The other agreement was necessary because Denby’s Nicaraguan attorney was away at the beach and unreachable on the day the Sandinistas decided to spring their prisoner. The solution was to appoint a member of Press’ party as Denby’s legal counsel. She was Martha Sanchez, 31, the fiancee of Press operative Llewellyn C. Werner. Sanchez is a Yale Law School graduate, but not a practicing attorney.

The agreement also required Denby to travel with Sanchez to the United States on Saturday.

Although he had been locked in a jail cell for more than seven weeks, Denby initially hesitated at accepting Press’ offer.

Colorful Attire

Dressed in a Hawaiian-print shirt, and looking like a character out of the movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark” as he sat in a holding room where he had been brought to meet with Press, Denby expressed concern about the possibility of giving up custody of his 32-year-old single-engine Cessna. He later estimated the plane’s worth at “maybe $10,000” and described it as “just one notch above a hang glider.”

But “it’s the only airplane that I have,” he told Press. Denby also was worried that if he left Nicaragua without putting up a full defense and was convicted, he would be persona non grata in Costa Rica and lose his 700-acre ranch that abuts the Nicaraguan border.

“If they (Sandinistas) want this for propaganda value, that’s fine,” Denby told Press. “But I don’t want to give up my airplane and my property.”

A clause was added to the agreement stating that by signing it, Denby was not waiving any rights to his plane. But he still balked until his brother, William, an Illinois attorney who has spent the last month holed up in Managua, entered the room.

‘Go For It’

After briefly scanning the agreement and reviewing the bidding, his brother firmly advised him: “Jim, I’d say if we can get you out of here, let’s go for it.” And Denby signed.

The man principally responsible for Denby’s release was Nicaraguan Interior Minister Tomas Borge, commander of the Marxist-led regime’s police and jails and one of the three founders of the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front.

Borge told The Times, in a handwritten statement penned into a reporter’s notebook, that he was convinced that Denby had “violated Nicaraguan air space and collaborated in counterrevolutionary activities.”

‘Nonetheless,” he said, “the Nicaraguan tribunal did not find sufficient evidentiary elements to convict him. Furthermore, the sentence that could have been imposed upon Mr. Denby was set aside, due to humanitarian reasons and in response to the petitioning and interceding of Bill Press.”

Former TV Commentator

Press, 47, who last year gave up his job as a Los Angeles television commentator to run for the 1988 Democratic Senate nomination, said he has been involved in the Central American peace movement for about three years. He turned into “practically a missionary” in 1986, he said, when he produced a videotape called “Inside Nicaragua” that became “kind of a cult item” for people opposing U.S. aid to the Contras.

However, Press had mainly a political motive for getting Denby released into his custody. He figured it would provide a badly needed boost to his underdog Senate campaign, focusing public attention on him as a “can do” man of action and a strong opponent of Contra aid.

A survey by the California Poll in November found Press trailing Lt. Gov. Leo T. McCarthy, who also opposes Contra aid, by a whopping 59-point margin in their nomination race.

sh Downed by Rifle Fire Denby, who owns both an Illinois soybean farm and a Costa Rican cattle ranch, was jailed after his plane was forced down by Sandinista rifle fire during a storm along the Caribbean coast. Denby had been flying from Honduras to San Jose, Costa Rica, en route from the United States.

“I didn’t even know I had been shot down,” Denby recalled. “All I knew was the motor quit. I thought I heard hail, then realized they don’t have hail down here. Then I thought I had water in the fuel line.”

Denby landed on the beach and got “awfully afraid when soldiers came running up--young kids--all out of breath. One got down and used a log for a rifle rest and I thought he was going to blow me away. Then another guy with a grenade launcher, man, did he want to blow that airplane away. But his officer came over and said, ‘No, don’t do that.’ ” Denby said he almost talked the soldiers into helping him repair the plane’s shot-up fuel line and letting him fly away, but another squad ran up and took him into custody.

He was transferred to a state security prison in the capital and charged with anti-government activities.

Crimes in Costa Rica

Denby’s alleged crimes were committed in Costa Rica. The government’s prosecutor had built much of the case on a 1984 interview Denby gave to a farming magazine, in which he admitted to sympathizing with the rebel cause and allowing Contras to use his Costa Rica ranch as a haven.

After a few weeks, various politicians began racing to see which one could secure Denby’s freedom.

Press said he got wind that Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) was attempting to obtain Denby’s release.

Democratic Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson also apparently was jockeying for Denby’s release. In 1984, Jackson benefited politically by persuading the Syrians to turn over to him downed U.S. Navy flier Lt. Robert O. Goodman Jr.

“For a while there, I thought Jesse Jackson was going to ace you out,” Denby told Press on Saturday while riding in the back seat of a speeding off-road vehicle to the Managua airport, as TV crews follows feverishly.

“So did I,” Press replied.

Press’ frustrating but ultimately successful efforts to obtain Denby’s freedom began with a visit to a meeting of Central American presidents in San Jose, Costa Rica, on Jan. 16.

That led to his first meeting with Borge who indicated that Denby could be released if Press obtained a letter from some members of Congress asking for “the benevolence of the revolution in freeing Denby.” He also had to keep their plan secret.

Press flew to Washington and, after unsuccessfully seeking out several congressmen, received signatures from three: Reps. Howard L. Berman (D-Los Angeles), Mel Levine (D-Los Angeles) and Matthew F. (Matt) McHugh (D-New York).

But then there became apparent turf battles between the Nicaraguan Embassy in Washington and various Nicaraguan ministries which had not initially been consulted by Borge.

One upshot was a comic 51-hour delay in receiving Sandinista permission for Press’ charter to fly through Nicaraguan airspace en route to Managua, after the jet had been fueled and loaded for departure on Wednesday.

Press--accompanied by Werner, Dr. Michael Witte, a physician of Pt. Reyes, and a reporter for The Times--finally flew ahead by commercial overnight “Red Eye” to Managua on Thursday night.

And a deal was cemented with Borge on Friday night and early Saturday morning during four hours of eating, drinking and dancing among various Sandinista officials and Press’ contingent at a Managua outdoor cafe and piano bar.

“It was a high wire act with no net,” Press said of his mission.