RIGHTS-HONDURAS: Madrid-based Fugitive Officer Turns Himself In

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

TEGUCIGALPA, Dec 16 1998 (IPS) - Captain Billy Joya, accused of disappearances and torture in Honduras, gave himself up to legal authorities under the protection of an amnesty Wednesday, returning here after two years living as a fugitive in Spain.

The return of Joya, otherwise known as “Comandante Arrazola” of the 3-16 paramilitary squadron, was announced after the Court of Appeals decided Monday to extend the 1990 amnesty for leftist militants of the eighties to military human rights violators.

This decision was hotly contested by activists and officials in Honduras who threatened to take the case before the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights – a forum which awarded damages of more than 1.4 million dollars for two disappearances in the country ten years ago.

Ramon Custodio, chairman of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH), told IPS the court decision was “a slap in the face for democracy, justice and human rights.”

“When international law advances in other parts of the world and gives us examples like the case of Chilean former dictator Augusto Pinochet, soon to be tried for human rights offences in Spain, here, we go into reverse,” he added.

Leo Valladares, representative of the State Human Rights Commission, described the decision as “shameful, dishonouring the international image of Honduras yet again .”

The broadening of the amnesty, he said, will allow “criminals, murderers, and the corrupt to obtain a pardon and freedom.”

The unanimous verdict by the Court of Appeals ruled that the 1990 amnesty “covers the military” as their crimes were committed in the “special situation” the nation was living through at the time.

Indeed, the army helped 13 present and former officers accused of crimes to humanity to leave the country and hide abroad.

Meanwhile, the courts claim impartiality.

“I can say there was no political influence behind this verdict. Action was taken according to the law and the Court of Appeals judges merit absolute respect and trust,” said head of the Judicial Power, Armando Avila.

The 1990 amnesty was initially passed in order to permit the return of political exiles and the disarming of guerrilla groups. It did not clearly either include or exclude military human rights abusers, although todays legislators claim the inclusion is implicit.

Joya was the link between the Honduran 3-16 and the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and was related to at least 15 of the 187 cases of the disappearance of political opponents registered in the eighties.

The 3-16 was a “death squad” trained by CIA officials and Argentine and Chilean military officers, according to official documents.

In 1996, Joya confessed his crimes and publically called for forgiveness in his book “BJ: un rayo de luz en el camino” (BJ a bolt of lightning on the road,” widely seen as the army’s justification of its “low intensity war” against the leaders of the political opposition in the eighties.

He fled the country after the Attorney General’s office accused him of the abduction and torture of six students in 1982, settling down to life as a restaurant owner in Madrid, Spain. The six survived his efforts and are now the main witnesses against him.

Human rights activists were working for an extradition order, but the Court of Appeals decision cut them short, bringing Joya back home much faster, and with a smile on his face.

“I am happy to be in Honduras. We are going to court, and I trust in God I will be soon be free, because I am innocent,” he said.

Thirteen police cars were waiting at the airport to whisk him away to safe custody, as were a crowd of relatives of the disappeared, waving banners and shouting slogans.

Joya’s return will undoubtedly provide the green light to the other military leaders who fled, but there is still one slim chance the human rights violators could be brought to book.

However, Valladares, of the Human Rights Commission, was not optimistic on this score; “we must not create any illusions, because all indications are that the outcome will be unfavourable.”