POLITICS-HONDURAS: US Military Aid Targets Anti-Drug Fight

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejía

TEGUCIGALPA, Sep 7 1999 (IPS) - The United States revised its co- operation with the Honduran armed forces to focus on the anti-drug fight, natural disaster prevention and environmental protection.

Though U.S. aid to Honduras will be primarily for training, in the case of the anti-drug fight, Washington hopes to push its strategies even farther and to study the extent to which the Honduran military might be useful. The U.S. will also increase its control over the designated resources.

General Charles Wilhelm, head of the U.S. army’s Southern Command, based in Miami, Florida, made a surprise visit to Honduras five days ago to build closer contact with the country’s new military commanders.

Honduran sources said Wilhelm told military officers that the United States would “re-evaluate” its financial support of the army and that such evaluations would be based on efficiency – its goal being to insure that the army has placed priority on the right areas.

After meeting with Honduran president Carlos Flores, Wilhelm told a press conference that it had been a very productive dialogue because they had defined new missions, but they will probably need to review the changes made in the nation’s military, as well as their priorities.

He explained that his trip came out of the necessity to meet the new “leaders” of the armed forces and to determine what path the institution will take.

The Honduran government is quietly purging the armed forces in order to put them entirely under civilian power, after recent attempts at rebellion and insubordination exposed the fragility of the nation’s democratic structures.

Defence minister Edgardo Dumas told IPS that the purpose of Wilhelm’s visit was to focus military co-operation “on the fight against drugs.”

Dumas added that they had discussed several “new visions” the United States has for the Honduran armed forces, where “respect, cordiality and sovereignty govern the principles, according to what we established in the meeting with Wilhelm.”

The defence minister said he was optimistic about what he called a new stage in relations with Washington. Previously, their relations had been marred by human rights violations, disappearances, torture and death squads.

Dumas is the first civilian defence minister in the nation’s history following a constitutional amendment earlier this year that eliminated the post of commander in chief, putting the armed forces under civilian authority.

The two countries are attempting to erase the negative image of relations between the U.S. and Honduran militaries, leaving behind the strategy of “destruction and the fight against communism,” giving it a more humanitarian face by linking it with environmental defence and disaster prevention.

But defence minister Dumas confirmed that the principal concern of the U.S. official is drug trafficking. Honduras is no longer just a point on the drug route but has become a consumer country and a convenient place for what are known as “mini-cartels” to launder their drug money.

Officials from the government prosecutor’s office told IPS that Washington is planning to intensify its support in the drug fight, which until now has totalled some 500,000 dollars annually, through the creation of specialised teams to detect the movements of drug traffickers.

In the case of the armed forces, their involvement in the drug fight is being closely analysed by the government of U.S. president Bill Clinton, due to the Honduran army’s dark past.

In the 1970s several military personnel were implicated in the drug trade and were included on a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) list of operatives.

Political analyst Victor Meza said the new relationship between the two countries will be governed by the fight against drugs, “as long as they (U.S. officials) are sure the Honduran military personnel are clean and can guarantee large-scale operations by air or sea.”

“Washington is not going to provide the money just like that, as they did in the 1980s. General Wilhelm made it clear when he said that once they review the new situation of the military, they will see what their real capacity is in carrying through on these objectives,” said Meza.

One of the things that stands out in the talks is that Washington offered Honduras logistical support, such as airplanes, boats and vehicles for covert anti-drug operations.

They are also studying the possibility of performing training missions at the Palmerola military base, located in Honduras’s central Comayagua valley, for Central American police and military contingents in drug-fighting strategies.

Sources linked to the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa, meanwhile, told IPS that U.S. military and civilian intelligence teams have been tracking influential local people tied to the illegal activity and are preparing a large-scale covert action.

The country’s most sensitive areas for drug activity are the two ocean coasts and the borders with Guatemala and Nicaragua, where the police and the public prosecutor’s office estimate that cocaine traffic totals some 100 kilos per day.