The Pentagon circumvented Congress by building Honduran bases under exercise cover.

Evidence

“When Congress refused to fund the construction of new military bases in Honduras, the Pentagon built them anyway,” explains the historian William LeoGrande. Often they used military exercises as a cover. “When the exercises were over, the improved facilities and leftover supplies could be given to the Hondurans and the Contras.” Elsewhere, the military and CIA used Honduran bases to provide the Contras with supplies Congress hadn’t authorized and simply told Congress otherwise. By decade’s end, Honduras was “little more than a vast U.S. military base” and “a virtual U.S. protectorate.” — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 289

Categorization

• XREF: Directly contradicts Erin Solaro’s and others’ view that Congress reliably checks overseas basing; parallels executive branch circumvention elsewhere in the base system.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 289