Tiempo reported today that the newly passed US budget bill includes money for, and suggests the implementation of, a Comision Internacional Contra la Impunidad y la Corupción en Honduras (CICIH), something the indignados have been calling for since they began marching in May of this year.
Tiempo did not get it quite right. The bill does contain authorization of funding for a CICIH, should Honduras implement it, but does not suggest or mandate that Honduras do so nor does it set a cap on support for one, if implemented. It provides that
if Honduras or El Salvador establishes an International Commission
against corruption and impunity, funds from the Central American
Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) can be used to support them if the
House Appropriations Committee agrees after consultation.
Which is not to say that the bill has no policy implications for Honduras, and for US relations with it. House Bill 2029, which passed and was signed by President Obama, establishes the appropriations for the State Department, including the authorization language regarding the Alliance for Prosperity in the Northern Triangle of Central America.
In reaction to concerns about continuing migration from these countries, Congress bars the disbursement of 25% of the approved funds to the Northern Triangle countries unless the Secretary of State can certify that these governments are informing their population of the dangers of traveling to the southwestern border of the United States; are combating human trafficking and smuggling; have improved their border security; and are cooperating with the US government and governments in the region to facilitate the return, repatriation, and reintegration of those that do not qualify for refugee status under International law.
A further 50% of the funds for the Alliance are embargoed until and unless the Secretary of Sate can certify that each government meets twelve other criteria. In the case of Honduras, we think the State Department has its work cut out for it.
First the Secretary of State must certify in writing that each government is taking effective steps to
"establish an autonomous public accountability entity to provide oversight of the Plan". Honduras does not currently have such an entity that we can identify.
Next the Secretary of State must certify that each government is combating
corruption "including investigating and prosecuting government officials
credibly alleged to be corrupt."
In Honduras, there
are far more identified cases of corruption than the Public Prosecutor's
office has chosen to prosecute, and it has not prosecuted the most
flagrant cases involving high status individuals in the National Party
(the current ruling party in Honduras).
The Secretary of State is also charged to certify that these governments, including Honduras, has taken steps to "implement reforms, policies, and programs to improve transparency and strengthen public institutions, including increasing the capacity and independence of the judiciary and the Office of the Attorney General".
Honduras has recently been signatory to an agreement with Transparency International and the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ) to promote and encourage transparency in the Honduran government.
There's a conflict between what Honduras agreed to do with Transparency
International, and what it is doing with the Ley de Secretos Oficiales, which allows the Honduran government to arbitrarily and unilaterally make anything it wants unavailable to the public for up to 25 years, an action taken despite strong opposition from groups like the ASJ and its own government transparency watchdog, the Instituto de Acceso a la Información Publica. In June of 2015 the Instituto de Acceso a la Información Publica issued a resolution ordering the Honduran Congress to reform the law to follow Article 72 of the constitution and other laws related to human rights and other agreements Honduras has entered into regarding transparency. To date, the Honduran Congress has refused to amend the law.
Honduras has taken baby steps towards training the judiciary and the office of the Public Prosecutor to better be able to do their jobs. While there's been a large financial investment in training, there is little to show for it. The Honduran government has agreed to implement the OAS sponsored MACCIH, but it largely shaped this program into yet another advisory group that will propose changes to the judiciary and Public Prosecutor's office. The current President and Congress have ignored at least four sets of recommendations for changes to the judiciary since the 2009 coup and we don't see any reason to expect the outcome this time will be different.
The Secretary must further certify that civil society organizations
and local communities are consulted during the design of projects, and
participate in the implementation of them. The lack of such consultation has been a constant concern for indigenous and rural communities faced with mining, hydroelectric, and other government approved projects.
Another certification required by the bill is that the Honduran government is taking effective steps to "counter the activities of criminal gangs, drug traffickers, and organized crime."
Here the government of Honduras has a mixed record. On the one hand, it has somewhat improved the national homicide rate, bringing it down to about 60 homicides per 100,00 population this year. It has made numerous arrests of gang members and members of organized crime, but has successfully prosecuted none of them to date. All high level members of organized crime in Honduras have been extradited to the United States for trial on charges here. Extortion is rampant, kidnapping for ransom is on the rise, and mass murder, in which four or more people are killed in a single incident, is on the rise. Drug use within Honduras is increasing as well.
Another certification deals with the government taking effective
steps to "investigate and prosecute in the civilian justice system
members of military and police forces who are credibly alleged to have
violated human rights, and ensure that the military and police are
cooperating in such cases".
In theory this is already true under the Ley del Ministerio Publico
of 1993. However, the Public Prosecutor's office has to choose to
prosecute the case, and has a miserable success record in court.
The Secretary of State will have to certify that the Northern Triangle governments are taking effective steps to "cooperate with commissions against impunity, as appropriate, and with regional human rights entities." In Guatemala, the Public Prosecutor's office was slow to accept the help and guidance of its Comisión Internacional Contra la Corrupcion y la Impunidad (CICIG). Honduras and El Salvador currently don't have such International commissions. Although there is sentiment in both places to establish them, that sentiment is just not in either current government.
Honduras recently boycotted a series of InterAmerican Human Rights hearings on judicial independence and the corruption of government institutions
(see the videos of the hearings from October 22, 2015 on the linked
page). Its absence was notable, and noted by the court. It has, to
date, ignored the finding of the InterAmerican Court that Honduras
violated due process in dismissing three justices and a magistrate in
2010 for having opposed the 2009 coup. In October, the court ordered
two of the judges and the magistrate reinstated or paid lost wages. The Honduran government has done nothing to date, not even
acknowledge the finding. Ignoring and boycotting are not evidence of cooperation with regional human rights organizations.
The Secretary of State must also certify that the government will
"support programs to reduce poverty, create jobs, and promote equitable
economic growth in areas contributing to large numbers of migrants."
The
Honduran Congress is barely moving here. Historically National Party
governments, like the current one, have increased, rather than decreased
poverty in Honduras. This is visible both in the percentage of the
population living in poverty, and in the GINI index recorded each year
for Honduras. We've written about this trend before (here and here).
The Secretary of State will have to certify that the Honduran
government is taking effective steps to "create a professional, accountable civilian police force and curtail the role of the military in internal policing".
One could not certify that for
Honduras today. Not only is there no viable mechanism for removing
corrupt, crime-linked police officers (everything done to date has been
inconsequential), and no will to do so, but the current government is
expressly in favor of militarizing the police and abolishing the
civilian police force by progressively defunding it in favor of
increased funding to the militarized police force it is building up from
scratch. Honduras is therefore unlikely to take steps under its
current government to comply with this condition of funding.
The Secretary of State will have to certify that the government of
Honduras is taking effective steps to "protect the rights of political
opposition parties, journalists, trade unionists, human rights
defenders, and other civil society activists to operate without interference".
In the Honduras of today, reporters, trade unionists,
human rights defenders, and members of the opposition party all
regularly receive death threats via text messages. Many of those
threatened either quit, or get killed. The Honduran police don't have
the staff to pursue something as high tech as tracing a text message
source. The Honduran military intelligence group probably could do
this, since they effectively have a tap on all Internet and telephone
connections in the country, but haven't done anything about it.
Opposition parties in Congress are shut out of the public debate of
bills by the leadership.
The Secretary of State must certify that the governments of these countries, including Honduras, are taking steps to "increase government revenues, including by
implementing tax reforms and strengthening customs agencies".
Finally,
the Secretary must certify the government of Honduras is taking
effective steps to "resolve commercial disputes, including the confiscation
of real property, between United States entities and such government."
Given the situation on the ground, it should be difficult for the Secretary of State to certify the Honduras of today is taking effective steps to meet these criteria. Unless it makes changes, Honduras might not have access to the funding it thinks it is going to receive under this program.
Monday, December 21, 2015
Friday, December 11, 2015
Keeping the US border safe...in Honduras?
On November 18, five individuals were detained by Honduran authorities when they tried to enter Honduras with questionable Greek passports. Given the timing, in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris, the story was widely reported in US media.
The passports contained inconsistencies that raised the concern of Honduran immigration officials who ordered their detention. While it was widely reported from the first that they were Syrians, it was only on the 19th of November that Honduran officials were able to confirm their identities: four college students and a professor, all hoping to seek asylum in the United States.
The group arrived on an Avianca flight from San Jose, Costa Rica, to Tegucigalpa, on the evening of November 17. Some of the biometric data in the passports did not match the individuals, raising the concern of Honduran immigration officials, who then detained them. Greek officials reported that passports for people with those names had been stolen in Athens. Representatives of the Greek embassy of Honduras confirmed that none of the five spoke a word of Greek.
After these five were detained, Honduran immigration officials reported that one other individual, who tried to enter Honduras with a false Greek passport the previous Friday, had been denied entry and deported. Three days after the group of five were detained, three more people, reportedly a Syrian woman and two Pakistani men, were arrested after entering Honduras without proper documents, arriving over land from Nicaragua.
All this made it seem for a short while as if Honduras was a weak point in potential terrorism in the US, invoking fears that ISIS was sending people to infiltrate the US via the border with Mexico.
Never mind that getting to the US-Mexican border from Honduras is a daunting prospect, with Mexico responding strongly to US persuasion to stop refugees coming from Central America from reaching the US border. Even without the recent crack down, the route from Honduras to the US over land was hardly ever easy.
Within a week of the detentions in Honduras, it became clear to most international media that these five men were not the first wave of some subtle terrorist strategy.
Most English media dropped the story entirely. In an exception to this rule, the BBC reported on November 24 that the Syrians arrested at the Tegucigalpa airport had applied for asylum, "because their lives were at risk in their home country".
On December 1, Reuters reported that the men had been freed, and charges dropped, after they paid a fine equal to $450 each for falsifying documents, and that they were expected to be granted permanent refugee status on February 22, quoting a Honduran official saying
How the group reached Honduras is a fascinating illustration of the routes taken by those fleeing Syria.
Authorities said that the group that reached Honduras traveled from Syria to Lebanon, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, and Costa Rica before trying to enter Honduras. Honduras' El Heraldo reported that the five fake Greek passports were acquired in Brazil, specifically because Greeks do no need a visa to enter Honduras, but Syrians do.
At least six people traveling on Greek passports, including the five detained in Honduras, entered Costa Rica on a flight from Argentina on November 11. The sixth person, a woman, was detained in San Jose, Costa Rica for questioning.
Costa Rica and Honduras worked with Interpol to identify these individuals.
A check with Interpol found none of them had a criminal background.
On December 1, a Honduran court ordered their release after a plea bargain was reached. The five Syrians signed a document in which they admitted to the crime of forging government documents (their fake passports) and were fined. They were freed from prison, and the government of Honduras agreed to rule within the next 90 days on their application for refugee status.
The Syrian and Lebanese Christian community in Honduras that is supporting their application are descendants of immigrants who themselves came to Honduras as refugees from the Ottoman empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
None of these developments have been enough to stop the exploitation of the story, minus the actual outcome and the exoneration of the Syrians held in Honduras from any terrorist ties, by right wing media and politicians in the US.
Arguing against accepting any Syrian refugees in the US, just this week one state senator wrote
"Imminent danger".
From students and a professor fleeing violence, welcomed as refugees by one of the poorest nations in our hemisphere.
The passports contained inconsistencies that raised the concern of Honduran immigration officials who ordered their detention. While it was widely reported from the first that they were Syrians, it was only on the 19th of November that Honduran officials were able to confirm their identities: four college students and a professor, all hoping to seek asylum in the United States.
The group arrived on an Avianca flight from San Jose, Costa Rica, to Tegucigalpa, on the evening of November 17. Some of the biometric data in the passports did not match the individuals, raising the concern of Honduran immigration officials, who then detained them. Greek officials reported that passports for people with those names had been stolen in Athens. Representatives of the Greek embassy of Honduras confirmed that none of the five spoke a word of Greek.
After these five were detained, Honduran immigration officials reported that one other individual, who tried to enter Honduras with a false Greek passport the previous Friday, had been denied entry and deported. Three days after the group of five were detained, three more people, reportedly a Syrian woman and two Pakistani men, were arrested after entering Honduras without proper documents, arriving over land from Nicaragua.
All this made it seem for a short while as if Honduras was a weak point in potential terrorism in the US, invoking fears that ISIS was sending people to infiltrate the US via the border with Mexico.
Never mind that getting to the US-Mexican border from Honduras is a daunting prospect, with Mexico responding strongly to US persuasion to stop refugees coming from Central America from reaching the US border. Even without the recent crack down, the route from Honduras to the US over land was hardly ever easy.
Within a week of the detentions in Honduras, it became clear to most international media that these five men were not the first wave of some subtle terrorist strategy.
Most English media dropped the story entirely. In an exception to this rule, the BBC reported on November 24 that the Syrians arrested at the Tegucigalpa airport had applied for asylum, "because their lives were at risk in their home country".
On December 1, Reuters reported that the men had been freed, and charges dropped, after they paid a fine equal to $450 each for falsifying documents, and that they were expected to be granted permanent refugee status on February 22, quoting a Honduran official saying
they had been warmly received by Honduras' Arab community, and were planning to stay in the Central American country.
How the group reached Honduras is a fascinating illustration of the routes taken by those fleeing Syria.
Authorities said that the group that reached Honduras traveled from Syria to Lebanon, Turkey, Brazil, Argentina, and Costa Rica before trying to enter Honduras. Honduras' El Heraldo reported that the five fake Greek passports were acquired in Brazil, specifically because Greeks do no need a visa to enter Honduras, but Syrians do.
At least six people traveling on Greek passports, including the five detained in Honduras, entered Costa Rica on a flight from Argentina on November 11. The sixth person, a woman, was detained in San Jose, Costa Rica for questioning.
Costa Rica and Honduras worked with Interpol to identify these individuals.
A check with Interpol found none of them had a criminal background.
On December 1, a Honduran court ordered their release after a plea bargain was reached. The five Syrians signed a document in which they admitted to the crime of forging government documents (their fake passports) and were fined. They were freed from prison, and the government of Honduras agreed to rule within the next 90 days on their application for refugee status.
The Syrian and Lebanese Christian community in Honduras that is supporting their application are descendants of immigrants who themselves came to Honduras as refugees from the Ottoman empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
None of these developments have been enough to stop the exploitation of the story, minus the actual outcome and the exoneration of the Syrians held in Honduras from any terrorist ties, by right wing media and politicians in the US.
Arguing against accepting any Syrian refugees in the US, just this week one state senator wrote
Throw in the five Syrian nationals on their way to the U.S. that were apprehended two weeks ago in Honduras with fraudulent passports and we have a clear picture of imminent danger.
"Imminent danger".
From students and a professor fleeing violence, welcomed as refugees by one of the poorest nations in our hemisphere.
Separation of Church and State?
The Honduran constitution establishes Honduras as a secular nation, and calls for its elected and high government officials to be secular.
So why are candidates for the Honduran Supreme Court using religious, not secular, grounds to make legal arguments in their public job interviews?
The Honduran Constitution is quite clear about the separation of Church and State. It states in Article 77 that
Leonidas Rosa Suazo points out in his essay "Religion and the Contemporary Judicial System" that this principle has thus been encoded in a variety of Honduran laws, including the Ley de Codigo Penal (articles 210-213), the Ley de Policia y Convivencia Social (especially article 145, 149).
Likewise, there is clear juricial prohibition on the interaction of political parties and religion. Parties or movements within them cannot advocate for a particular form of religion.
There's clearly a tension between law and practice here. The Lobo Sosa government established, and later was forced to abolish, a Ministro de Culto as a cabinet level position. Lobo Sosa appointed the pastor of a specific evangelical church, Carlos Portillo, to the post. The Honduran Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional both that position, and an associated rule establishing what a "religion" was to be. Lobo Sosa was forced to fire his Minister.
As Rosa Sauzo points out, the Honduran state fails spectacularly when it comes to refraining from placing religious obligations on its citizens. The state assumes at times, that everyone is Catholic, or at least Christian, in the establishment of government holidays like Holy Week, and in the constant benedictions given at government and especially military ceremonies. Public national prayer meetings are common, both in the government, and in the military.
What Rosa Suazo doesn't address is the degree to which religion is the template and justification for legal reasoning, as manifest in the candidate interviews held this week.
The Nominating Commission, which will eventually give 45 names to the Honduran Congress to select 15 new Supreme Court Justices, held public hearings where it, and members of the public, questioned candidates for 20 minutes each on their ties to political parties and a variety of legal issues.
The list of candidates currently stands at 97 candidates. That list of 97 was whittled down from a larger list. Many didn't pass the lie detector and financial investigation portion of the preliminary investigation into candidates. Surprisingly, 10 candidates who failed that portion still are on the 97 person list. Of the 11 current members of the Honduran Supreme Court who are seeking re-election to the court, only 4 passed the first stage of screening.
The US government has intervened heavily in the selection process.
During the first phase, the US gave Honduras a list of 20 of the candidates that it argued needed to be eliminated from the list. They were.
During the current phase of candidate evaluation, the US government gave Honduras a list of 24 candidates that needed further investigation. The Nominating Committee has not decided what, if anything, it will do about the latest US intervention. Those candidates will be interviewed with the others remaining on the list.
In this context the public 20 minute interviews began. On the first day, 11 candidates were interviewed. The interviews were structured so that the candidate was given 3 minutes for an opening statement, 12 minutes to hear and answer questions from the Nominating Committee, and 5 minutes to hear and answer questions from the sparse audience.
First up was Celino Aguilera, currently a member of the Judiciary Committee, the committee that reviews judicial behavior and punishes Justices and Magistrates. Asked about same sex marriage, he replied that religious and juridical precedents establish that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Candidate Servando Alcerro Saravia, a lawyer with a masters degree in theology and a doctorate in divinity, was asked how he would resolve a hypothetical case in which the Honduran Congress had approved same sex marriage and it was being challenged in court.
He replied that the Honduran constitution doesn't allow same sex marriage, which is true. Article 112 establishes that a man and a woman have the right to contract marriage and be equal under the law. It specifically prohibits same sex marriages and excludes recognizing such marriages legally constituted in other jurisdictions that allow them.
However, he also said that he would have to take into account the universal guide that God established that marriage is between a man and a woman. Asked if being a minister was compatible with being a judge, he replied that "Jesus Christ was chief lawyer (abogado de los abogados)" and "Lawyering comes out of Christian principles".
We don't know how many of the other candidates were, or will be, asked about same sex marriage.
The prohibition was only put into the constitution in 2004-2005, so this is an issue that seems to have emerged in parallel with the global move towards legalizing marriage equality.
In the two cases where testimony was published in Honduran media, however, questioning about the issue is more illuminating the degree to which separation of church and state, called for in the Honduran constitution, has been eroded. It's one thing to cite Honduran law in support of a hypothetical legal decision. It is quite another thing to cite religion as the basis for possible action as a future Supreme Court justice.
And no matter what Servando Saravia thinks, the practice of the law in Honduras is not supposed to be based on "Christian principles". It is supposed to be based on legal precedent.
So why are candidates for the Honduran Supreme Court using religious, not secular, grounds to make legal arguments in their public job interviews?
The Honduran Constitution is quite clear about the separation of Church and State. It states in Article 77 that
"[The Constitution] guarantees the free exercise of all religions and beliefs without the pre-eminence of any one of them, when not contravening the laws and public order. Ministers of the various religions may not hold public office or engage in any form of political propaganda by invoking religious motives or basing themselves in it, to the religious beliefs of the people.
Artículo 77. Se garantiza el libre ejercicio de todas las religiones y cultos sin preeminencia alguna, siempre que no contravengan las leyes y el orden público.
Los ministros de las diversas religiones, no podrán ejercer cargos públicos ni hacer en ninguna forma propaganda política, invocando motivos de religión o valiéndose, como medio para tal fin, de las creencias religiosas del pueblo."
Leonidas Rosa Suazo points out in his essay "Religion and the Contemporary Judicial System" that this principle has thus been encoded in a variety of Honduran laws, including the Ley de Codigo Penal (articles 210-213), the Ley de Policia y Convivencia Social (especially article 145, 149).
Likewise, there is clear juricial prohibition on the interaction of political parties and religion. Parties or movements within them cannot advocate for a particular form of religion.
There's clearly a tension between law and practice here. The Lobo Sosa government established, and later was forced to abolish, a Ministro de Culto as a cabinet level position. Lobo Sosa appointed the pastor of a specific evangelical church, Carlos Portillo, to the post. The Honduran Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional both that position, and an associated rule establishing what a "religion" was to be. Lobo Sosa was forced to fire his Minister.
As Rosa Sauzo points out, the Honduran state fails spectacularly when it comes to refraining from placing religious obligations on its citizens. The state assumes at times, that everyone is Catholic, or at least Christian, in the establishment of government holidays like Holy Week, and in the constant benedictions given at government and especially military ceremonies. Public national prayer meetings are common, both in the government, and in the military.
What Rosa Suazo doesn't address is the degree to which religion is the template and justification for legal reasoning, as manifest in the candidate interviews held this week.
The Nominating Commission, which will eventually give 45 names to the Honduran Congress to select 15 new Supreme Court Justices, held public hearings where it, and members of the public, questioned candidates for 20 minutes each on their ties to political parties and a variety of legal issues.
The list of candidates currently stands at 97 candidates. That list of 97 was whittled down from a larger list. Many didn't pass the lie detector and financial investigation portion of the preliminary investigation into candidates. Surprisingly, 10 candidates who failed that portion still are on the 97 person list. Of the 11 current members of the Honduran Supreme Court who are seeking re-election to the court, only 4 passed the first stage of screening.
The US government has intervened heavily in the selection process.
During the first phase, the US gave Honduras a list of 20 of the candidates that it argued needed to be eliminated from the list. They were.
During the current phase of candidate evaluation, the US government gave Honduras a list of 24 candidates that needed further investigation. The Nominating Committee has not decided what, if anything, it will do about the latest US intervention. Those candidates will be interviewed with the others remaining on the list.
In this context the public 20 minute interviews began. On the first day, 11 candidates were interviewed. The interviews were structured so that the candidate was given 3 minutes for an opening statement, 12 minutes to hear and answer questions from the Nominating Committee, and 5 minutes to hear and answer questions from the sparse audience.
First up was Celino Aguilera, currently a member of the Judiciary Committee, the committee that reviews judicial behavior and punishes Justices and Magistrates. Asked about same sex marriage, he replied that religious and juridical precedents establish that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Candidate Servando Alcerro Saravia, a lawyer with a masters degree in theology and a doctorate in divinity, was asked how he would resolve a hypothetical case in which the Honduran Congress had approved same sex marriage and it was being challenged in court.
He replied that the Honduran constitution doesn't allow same sex marriage, which is true. Article 112 establishes that a man and a woman have the right to contract marriage and be equal under the law. It specifically prohibits same sex marriages and excludes recognizing such marriages legally constituted in other jurisdictions that allow them.
However, he also said that he would have to take into account the universal guide that God established that marriage is between a man and a woman. Asked if being a minister was compatible with being a judge, he replied that "Jesus Christ was chief lawyer (abogado de los abogados)" and "Lawyering comes out of Christian principles".
We don't know how many of the other candidates were, or will be, asked about same sex marriage.
The prohibition was only put into the constitution in 2004-2005, so this is an issue that seems to have emerged in parallel with the global move towards legalizing marriage equality.
In the two cases where testimony was published in Honduran media, however, questioning about the issue is more illuminating the degree to which separation of church and state, called for in the Honduran constitution, has been eroded. It's one thing to cite Honduran law in support of a hypothetical legal decision. It is quite another thing to cite religion as the basis for possible action as a future Supreme Court justice.
And no matter what Servando Saravia thinks, the practice of the law in Honduras is not supposed to be based on "Christian principles". It is supposed to be based on legal precedent.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Why the OAS MACCIH Will Likely Fail
Multiple articles (here and here, for example) appeared in the press Wednesday echoing what we have been saying in for some time: that the OAS proposal for a Mission de Apoyo Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad en Honduras (MACCIH) seems designed to fail, given Honduras's, and more particularly Juan Orlando Hernández's, history of meddling in the judicial system.
The indignados marches formed the context and motivation when Juan Orlando Hernández proposed the Sistema Integral Hondureño de Combate a la Impunidad y Corrupcion (SIHCIC). He made the proposal as an attempt to shut the indignados protests down.
At the same time he proposed a "national dialogue" to open up the process to improvement, but no part of the SIHCIC process involved actually generating concrete suggestions from the dialogues, and there was no actual legislative proposal or even a report resulting from them.
Hernández chaired the first several meetings, with groups usually allied politically with him, then turned the entire process over to a congressman to oversee.
The SIHCIC proposal has five basic components:
The proposal suggests nothing about judicial independence. It keeps the existing balance of power, tilted extraordinarily strongly towards the executive branch, and in fact, would reinforce it.
The indignados rejected this proposal precisely because it did nothing to further judicial independence. They continued to call for the establishment of a CICIH along the lines of the CICIG which has been successful in Guatemala.
However, some of the indignados, including a leader, Tomás Andino, believe that even a CICIH might not work. Andino said:
Because the indignados and other groups refused to participate in Hernández' dialogue, given its closed nature and lack of a mechanism for incorporating any results of the dialogues into legislation, Hernández eventually asked both the OAS and UN for mediators and facilitators.
The OAS sent John Biehl del Rio who met with many of the same groups that Hernández had, then met in turn with the indignados and other groups that had not participated in the dialogues. However, he was partisan from the start. He openly rejected the indignados' call for a CICIH and dismissed the opposition in Honduras in inappropriate ways.
As a result of his recommendations the OAS instead proposed, and Juan Orlando Hernández accepted, the Mission de Apoyo Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad en Honduras (MACCIH), designed to take another two years to perform studies and make recommendations.
MACCIH, not unsurprisingly given John Biehl's antipathy for the indignados, parallels and expands on the SIHCIC proposal of Hernández. It calls for the formation of a set of international judges and lawyers to advise the Public Prosecutor's office and provide technical support to the investigative services. It uses the Centro de Estudios de Justicia de las Americas (CEJA) to write a series of reports and recommendations on the justice system in Honduras. It invokes the OAS's Mecanismo de Seguimiento del Implementación del Convención InterAmericana contra la Corrupción (MESICIC) to evaluate and recommend legal changes necessary to fight corruption and bring Honduras into line with the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. It also calls for the establishment of an observatory of the judicial system to monitor its progress.
A Woodrow Wilson Center report authored by Eric Olsen and Katherine Hyde pointed out nine weaknesses of the MACCIH proposal that, they say, "must be addressed if this and other efforts are to be more than mere window dressing".
For us the most relevant and pressing of their questions is this one, which we also have been asking:
We would go further and suggest that Juan Orlando Hernández himself, while head of the Honduran Congress, was one of those who "failed to act on the vast majority of recommendations" for judicial reforms. While head of Congress he initiated questionable procedures to remove four sitting Supreme Court justices because he didn't like their ruling on Model Cities. Why does anyone, including the OAS, think that suddenly this will change, that the Honduran government will now act to implement the suggestions?
The MACCIH proposal has won support from James Nealon, US Ambassador to Honduras, who immediately after its announcement tweeted his approval. But Foreign Policy magazine called it "more like a tool to appease the masses rather than an effective tool for reform." Carlos Ponce of Freedom House said recently:
Meanwhile, Judicial independence in Honduras and Corruption in Honduras were the topics of two hearings last week at the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR in English and CIDH in Spanish).
The government of Honduras boycotted the hearings. That should give those supporting the MACCIH pause; is there any will to examine these basic questions?
The indignados marches formed the context and motivation when Juan Orlando Hernández proposed the Sistema Integral Hondureño de Combate a la Impunidad y Corrupcion (SIHCIC). He made the proposal as an attempt to shut the indignados protests down.
At the same time he proposed a "national dialogue" to open up the process to improvement, but no part of the SIHCIC process involved actually generating concrete suggestions from the dialogues, and there was no actual legislative proposal or even a report resulting from them.
Hernández chaired the first several meetings, with groups usually allied politically with him, then turned the entire process over to a congressman to oversee.
The SIHCIC proposal has five basic components:
- first, a support committee for the Public Prosecutor's office to include both Honduran and international jurists that would audit the actions of the Public Prosecutor's office and aid in the pursuit of corruption
- second, a similar support committee to oversee the Consejo de la Judicatura, the group that disciplines judicial misbehavior
- third, a group responsible for the security of judges and their families
- fourth, an observatory of the judicial system involving academic and civil society members
- fifth, a business integrity group that would promote transparency and ethical standards for businesses and could propose rules and legislation to support them.
The proposal suggests nothing about judicial independence. It keeps the existing balance of power, tilted extraordinarily strongly towards the executive branch, and in fact, would reinforce it.
The indignados rejected this proposal precisely because it did nothing to further judicial independence. They continued to call for the establishment of a CICIH along the lines of the CICIG which has been successful in Guatemala.
However, some of the indignados, including a leader, Tomás Andino, believe that even a CICIH might not work. Andino said:
Guatemala has a relatively greater independence of powers than Honduras, which does not function as a democratic state...Here, a U.N. commission would be embedded in a corrupt system.
Because the indignados and other groups refused to participate in Hernández' dialogue, given its closed nature and lack of a mechanism for incorporating any results of the dialogues into legislation, Hernández eventually asked both the OAS and UN for mediators and facilitators.
The OAS sent John Biehl del Rio who met with many of the same groups that Hernández had, then met in turn with the indignados and other groups that had not participated in the dialogues. However, he was partisan from the start. He openly rejected the indignados' call for a CICIH and dismissed the opposition in Honduras in inappropriate ways.
As a result of his recommendations the OAS instead proposed, and Juan Orlando Hernández accepted, the Mission de Apoyo Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad en Honduras (MACCIH), designed to take another two years to perform studies and make recommendations.
MACCIH, not unsurprisingly given John Biehl's antipathy for the indignados, parallels and expands on the SIHCIC proposal of Hernández. It calls for the formation of a set of international judges and lawyers to advise the Public Prosecutor's office and provide technical support to the investigative services. It uses the Centro de Estudios de Justicia de las Americas (CEJA) to write a series of reports and recommendations on the justice system in Honduras. It invokes the OAS's Mecanismo de Seguimiento del Implementación del Convención InterAmericana contra la Corrupción (MESICIC) to evaluate and recommend legal changes necessary to fight corruption and bring Honduras into line with the Inter-American Convention against Corruption. It also calls for the establishment of an observatory of the judicial system to monitor its progress.
A Woodrow Wilson Center report authored by Eric Olsen and Katherine Hyde pointed out nine weaknesses of the MACCIH proposal that, they say, "must be addressed if this and other efforts are to be more than mere window dressing".
For us the most relevant and pressing of their questions is this one, which we also have been asking:
The priority of the MACCIH seems to be assessment and recommendations for institutional reform. There is little question that institutional reforms are needed, but I know of at least two internationally sanctioned, highly credible assessments of Honduras's law enforcement institutions and justice system in the last four years, and their findings and recommendations are very sound. Yet the government of Honduras (both current and previous) failed to act on the vast majority of these recommendations. The question is whether it is really necessary at this point to carry out additional costly assessments and evaluations and again develop reform proposals when much of the work has already been done. Why not adopt the recommendations that have already been made by international bodies -- including ironically, the OAS just six months ago -- and get to work now.
We would go further and suggest that Juan Orlando Hernández himself, while head of the Honduran Congress, was one of those who "failed to act on the vast majority of recommendations" for judicial reforms. While head of Congress he initiated questionable procedures to remove four sitting Supreme Court justices because he didn't like their ruling on Model Cities. Why does anyone, including the OAS, think that suddenly this will change, that the Honduran government will now act to implement the suggestions?
The MACCIH proposal has won support from James Nealon, US Ambassador to Honduras, who immediately after its announcement tweeted his approval. But Foreign Policy magazine called it "more like a tool to appease the masses rather than an effective tool for reform." Carlos Ponce of Freedom House said recently:
"The solution is not making more reports, but bringing change to Honduras. We’re not talking about India or Brazil but a small country with lots of potential — but a lack of will to change. The families in power are in bed with factions in the government that also control the media. Corruption is linked directly to political parties, so you have to change the power structure."Nothing in MACCIH even seeks to addresses this fundamental problem. Without a demonstrated "will to change" there is no reason to expect MACCIH to bring about meaningful change in Honduras and more than previous studies cited in the Wilson Center report have.
Meanwhile, Judicial independence in Honduras and Corruption in Honduras were the topics of two hearings last week at the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR in English and CIDH in Spanish).
The government of Honduras boycotted the hearings. That should give those supporting the MACCIH pause; is there any will to examine these basic questions?
Yani Rosenthal Voluntarily Surrenders to DEA
Noti Cortos de Honduras reports that yesterday Yani Rosenthal voluntarily surrendered to the US Drug Enforcement Agency.
Saturday, October 24, 2015
Drug Planes: They're Back!
After an interlude of almost 18 months, drug planes are again using illicit landing strips in central Honduras, even as Honduras completes is radar coverage.
In February 2014, Willaim Brownfield, US State Department Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, told El Heraldo that drug flights had dropped off precipitously:
However, there were signs earlier that 2015 was not going to be like 2014.
In February, long before General Kelly's speech, the Honduran military allowed as how they were having trouble keeping up with clandestine landing strips in the Mosquitia. As fast as the Honduran military would blow deep holes in them to stop planes from landing, the drug runners would fix them up. One clandestine strip was destroyed on January 28, only to be usable again when visited on February 3 of this year.
In April of this year, a Brazilian newspaper revealed a new drug ring that was buying drugs from the FARC in Colombia, and loading it onto planes in Venezuela and flying it to Honduras. From Honduras it was flown to Mexico for the Sinaloa cartel. This seemed to be confirmed in May, when Honduran authorities found a Brazilian pilot with severe third degree burns in a hospital in Tocoa, Olancho the day after they found a crashed and burned drug plane in the Mosquitia.
But its not just the landing strips being renewed. After a long absence, drug planes are crashing and being abandoned in Honduras again. The crash in May was just the start.
On September 14, authorities found a burned plane in El Jobo, San Esteban, Olancho. There was no landing strip here, just a broad expanse of flat land. The plane was completely burned except for the tail section, and so far no identifying numbers were recovered from the crash. Local residents reported hearing the plane crash the previous day.
On September 25, a plane with two pilots from Olancho, crashed and burned in Tripoli, La Masica, Atlantida, killing both pilots. No drugs were found but a Mexican bank book, extra gas cans, and a satellite phone were found at the crash site.
Finally, on October 22, a plane crashed in La Cuarenta, Progreso, Yoro. The plane, a US registered (N40212) Piper Aztec from 1973, is currently registered to an owner in Miami, Florida but will probably turn out to have been recently sold. Locals said the plane attempted to land around 2 or 3 am that morning, but crashed. Several vehicles were observed around the plane. The crash was not reported to authorities until 6 am, by which time the pilot(s) and any cargo were long gone. Found inside the plane were buoys, colored lanterns for a landing strip, gas cans, a portable pump, and an inflatable raft.
All this activity comes as Honduras prepares to install its third and final radar bought from Israel for $30 million. Honduras bought these 3 radar systems explaining that they would put an aerial shield over Honduras. Two were supposed to be small, directional radar systems and this new one, a mobile system that does full 360 degree scans. In April, the military's commander, General Freddy Diaz said:
In February 2014, Willaim Brownfield, US State Department Assistant Secretary of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, told El Heraldo that drug flights had dropped off precipitously:
"In the last 12-18 months the number of traces, flights, that go to Honduras have enormously been reduced. We are talking about a reduction of more than 80%."That trend was still true as of May, 2015 when General Kelly of US Southern Command said drug flights in general were down all over, and that Honduras had dropped from first to fifth place as a destination for drug flights.
However, there were signs earlier that 2015 was not going to be like 2014.
In February, long before General Kelly's speech, the Honduran military allowed as how they were having trouble keeping up with clandestine landing strips in the Mosquitia. As fast as the Honduran military would blow deep holes in them to stop planes from landing, the drug runners would fix them up. One clandestine strip was destroyed on January 28, only to be usable again when visited on February 3 of this year.
In April of this year, a Brazilian newspaper revealed a new drug ring that was buying drugs from the FARC in Colombia, and loading it onto planes in Venezuela and flying it to Honduras. From Honduras it was flown to Mexico for the Sinaloa cartel. This seemed to be confirmed in May, when Honduran authorities found a Brazilian pilot with severe third degree burns in a hospital in Tocoa, Olancho the day after they found a crashed and burned drug plane in the Mosquitia.
But its not just the landing strips being renewed. After a long absence, drug planes are crashing and being abandoned in Honduras again. The crash in May was just the start.
On September 14, authorities found a burned plane in El Jobo, San Esteban, Olancho. There was no landing strip here, just a broad expanse of flat land. The plane was completely burned except for the tail section, and so far no identifying numbers were recovered from the crash. Local residents reported hearing the plane crash the previous day.
On September 25, a plane with two pilots from Olancho, crashed and burned in Tripoli, La Masica, Atlantida, killing both pilots. No drugs were found but a Mexican bank book, extra gas cans, and a satellite phone were found at the crash site.
Finally, on October 22, a plane crashed in La Cuarenta, Progreso, Yoro. The plane, a US registered (N40212) Piper Aztec from 1973, is currently registered to an owner in Miami, Florida but will probably turn out to have been recently sold. Locals said the plane attempted to land around 2 or 3 am that morning, but crashed. Several vehicles were observed around the plane. The crash was not reported to authorities until 6 am, by which time the pilot(s) and any cargo were long gone. Found inside the plane were buoys, colored lanterns for a landing strip, gas cans, a portable pump, and an inflatable raft.
All this activity comes as Honduras prepares to install its third and final radar bought from Israel for $30 million. Honduras bought these 3 radar systems explaining that they would put an aerial shield over Honduras. Two were supposed to be small, directional radar systems and this new one, a mobile system that does full 360 degree scans. In April, the military's commander, General Freddy Diaz said:
"With this equipment we will complete the oversight system which Honduras should have. This radar is part of a system of equipment with capacity to cover all of the national territory and parts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans."But now he's saying its not enough:
"Its not sufficient, we need more radars for us to do a strict watch over all the airspace."
Friday, October 23, 2015
Yoro Mayors Lead Drug Gangs
Since 2014 three different Mayors in the Honduran department of Yoro have been identified as criminals participating in murder for hire and the drug trade in Honduras.
The Department of Yoro, readers will remember, is important to the Zetas. It's where their drug planes historically have landed, both in clandestine airstrips and along established paved roads.
In July 2014, the Mayor of the town of Yoro, Arnulfo Urbina Soto, was arrested for drug trafficking, murder, rape, money laundering, and the possession of illegal weapons. After a two year long investigation, the National Police alleged that Urbina Soto led a drug trafficking gang of 37 people that had been operating at least since 2009. The National Police allege that Urbina Soto expropriated land in the small towns of Rio Nance and Rio Abajo, Locomapa, Yoro and converted them to landing strips for drug planes.
At the time of his arrest Urbina Soto, in addition to being Mayor, was a National Party operative, having coordinated the Presidential campaign of Juan Orlando Hernandez in 2013 in Yoro. His daughter, Diana, is a member of the Honduran Congress.
Urbina Soto is not alone.
In August 2015 the Fuerza de Seguridad Interinstitutional (FUSINA) went to Jocon, Yoro, to arrest members of Los Solis, wanted for being hit men, murderers, and cattle thieves, among other crimes. They captured five alleged members of Los Solis, but failed to capture the alleged leader, Mayor Santos Gabriel Elvir Arteaga. Los Solis was established around 2000 by the Solis family, but when Elvir Arteaga became Mayor in 2009 he also gained control of Los Solis, according to Police, and only two Solis family members are thought to be still part of the group. Mayor Santos Elvir is a member of the Liberal Party and still at large.
Thursday the Mayor of Sulaco, Yoro, was arrested on charges of homicide, murder, illicit association, and carrying illegal weapons. Mayor José Adalid Gonzalez Morales is alleged to be the leader of Los Banegas, a group operating in and around Sulaco, Yoro, consisting of 30-40 members. They are wanted for cattle theft, extortion, robbing buses and trucks, murder, and distribution of narcotics in Sulaco. The investigation into Gonzales Morales began three months ago when police arrested seven members of the group.
Los Banegas are alleged to have killed eight people in and around Sulaco. Gonzalez Morales is accused of killing peasant activist Secundino Orellana, who previously had been arrested and shot during peasant land protests.
In the 2013 elections, Gonzales Morales, a member of the National Party, received a verbal endorsement at a National Party rally by then Presidential Candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez, who called him "one of the best Mayors Honduras has ever had."
The Department of Yoro, readers will remember, is important to the Zetas. It's where their drug planes historically have landed, both in clandestine airstrips and along established paved roads.
In July 2014, the Mayor of the town of Yoro, Arnulfo Urbina Soto, was arrested for drug trafficking, murder, rape, money laundering, and the possession of illegal weapons. After a two year long investigation, the National Police alleged that Urbina Soto led a drug trafficking gang of 37 people that had been operating at least since 2009. The National Police allege that Urbina Soto expropriated land in the small towns of Rio Nance and Rio Abajo, Locomapa, Yoro and converted them to landing strips for drug planes.
At the time of his arrest Urbina Soto, in addition to being Mayor, was a National Party operative, having coordinated the Presidential campaign of Juan Orlando Hernandez in 2013 in Yoro. His daughter, Diana, is a member of the Honduran Congress.
Urbina Soto is not alone.
In August 2015 the Fuerza de Seguridad Interinstitutional (FUSINA) went to Jocon, Yoro, to arrest members of Los Solis, wanted for being hit men, murderers, and cattle thieves, among other crimes. They captured five alleged members of Los Solis, but failed to capture the alleged leader, Mayor Santos Gabriel Elvir Arteaga. Los Solis was established around 2000 by the Solis family, but when Elvir Arteaga became Mayor in 2009 he also gained control of Los Solis, according to Police, and only two Solis family members are thought to be still part of the group. Mayor Santos Elvir is a member of the Liberal Party and still at large.
Thursday the Mayor of Sulaco, Yoro, was arrested on charges of homicide, murder, illicit association, and carrying illegal weapons. Mayor José Adalid Gonzalez Morales is alleged to be the leader of Los Banegas, a group operating in and around Sulaco, Yoro, consisting of 30-40 members. They are wanted for cattle theft, extortion, robbing buses and trucks, murder, and distribution of narcotics in Sulaco. The investigation into Gonzales Morales began three months ago when police arrested seven members of the group.
Los Banegas are alleged to have killed eight people in and around Sulaco. Gonzalez Morales is accused of killing peasant activist Secundino Orellana, who previously had been arrested and shot during peasant land protests.
In the 2013 elections, Gonzales Morales, a member of the National Party, received a verbal endorsement at a National Party rally by then Presidential Candidate Juan Orlando Hernandez, who called him "one of the best Mayors Honduras has ever had."
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