---
category: Authors & Journalists
summary: Martha Honey was a New York Times stringer in Costa Rica who pursued the
  Contra drug story and was placed under FBI surveillance for her reporting.
tags:
- person
- journalist
- contra-war
---

Martha Honey was a [New York Times](/organizations/new-york-times/) stringer in [Costa Rica](/places/costa-rica/) who pursued the Contra drug story and was placed under [Federal Bureau of Investigation](/organizations/federal-bureau-of-investigation/) surveillance for her reporting. Honey and her husband [Tony Avirgan](/people/tony-avirgan/), an ABC cameraman, were among the journalists who investigated the connections between the [Contras](/organizations/contras/) and drug trafficking on Costa Rica's Southern Front.[^1]

### Under Surveillance

The FBI's decision to place Honey under surveillance revealed the government's willingness to monitor journalists who investigated the Contra-drug connection. Honey's reporting from Costa Rica documented the overlapping worlds of covert operations, drug trafficking, and Contra political activity on the Southern Front. The surveillance of a journalist by federal law enforcement illustrated the lengths to which the government went to suppress information about its relationship with drug traffickers.[^2]

[^1]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 18.
[^2]: Webb, Gary. *Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.* Seven Stories Press, 1998. Ch. 18.