From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CIA activities in Honduras
CIA activities in Honduras
Main article: CIA activities in the Americas C.I.A. Thus it seems likely that the C.I.A. was aware that
killings were continuing.
Honduras 1984 Honduras 1995
In 1995, "The special prosecutor for human rights
Declassified documents, from the CIA Inspector General, brought charges in July against eight retired and two
begin with a heavily redacted 21 July 1984 cable to the active-duty members of the armed forces for their role
National Security Council, stating that Gen. Gustavo Al- in the kidnaping, torture, and attempted murder in 1982
varez Martinez, head of the Honduras military, ordered of six student activists.... They survived their captivity
the establishment of the 316th Military Intelligence Bat- in a clandestine prison because two of those abducted
talion (316 MI Bn).[1] were the daughters of a government official....With the
exception of one suspect, those under investigation were
Honduras 1987 connected with Battalion 3-16, a secret Honduran mili-
Florencio Caballero was a former Honduran Army tary unit whose members were instructed by and worked
sergeant and interrogator until 1984. He stated that he with CIA officials...Although Human Rights Watch/Amer-
had trained by the Central Intelligence Agency, which icas has pressed for several years for an accounting of
the New York Times confirmed with US and Honduran U.S. involvement, the Clinton administration did not take
officials . Much of his account was confirmed by three steps to begin to examine the complicity of the United
American and two Honduran officials and may be the States in Honduran abuses until 1995. In mid-June, CIA
fullest given of how army and police units were autho- Director John Deutch began an internal review of the
rized to organize death squads that seized, interrogated agency’s relationship with the Honduran military during
and killed suspected leftists. He said that while Argentine the 1980s. Deutch stated that the investigation, which he
and Chilean trainers taught the Honduran Army kidnap- characterized as an "independent review," would yield
ping and elimination techniques, the C.I.A. explicitly for- "new information" and "lessons about how not to do
bade the use of physical torture or assassination.[2] things while I’m director and in the future."
Caballero described the CIA role as ambiguous. "Ca- Deutch’s announcement came after the Baltimore
ballero said his superior officers ordered him and other Sun published a four-part series in June on U.S. support
members of army intelligence units to conceal their par- given to the 316 MI Bn. Sun staff correspondents Gary
ticipation in death squads from CIA advisers. He added Cohn and Ginger Thompson obtained formerly classified
that he was sent to Houston for six months in 1979 to be documents and interviewed three former 316 Bn mem-
trained by CIA instructors in interrogation techniques. bers to document the breadth and depth of the battal-
"They prepared me in interrogation to end the use of ion’s close relationship to the CIA. The Sun series fol-
physical torture in Honduras - they taught psychological lowed revelations in March that linked the CIA to serious
methods," Mr. Caballero said of his American training. human rights violations in Guatemala."[3]
"So when we had someone important, we hid him from He was removed from his post at the end of March
the Americans, interrogated him ourselves and then gave 1984. According to the cable, a Honduran human rights
him to a death squad to kill." group claimed the battalion was responsible for almost
"The C.I.A. had access to secret army jails and to writ- all disappearances. At first, the new military leadership
ten reports summarizing the interrogation of suspected was going to dissolve the battalion, but they later decided
leftists, according to Mr. Caballero and two American of- to replace senior officers and keep it intact.
ficials. The Americans also said the C.I.A. knew the Hon- The CIA Inspector General investigator posed ques-
duran Army was killing prisoners. The American officials tions including whether any CIA employee was present
said that at one point in 1983 the C.I.A. demanded the during torture or hostile interrogation, and what was
killings stop. In 1984, a C.I.A. agent was recalled from known about some disappearances and killings. It was al-
Honduras after a prisoner’s relative identified him as so questioned if an employee lied to the House Intelli-
having visited a secret jail, two American and one Hon- gence Committee.
duran official said. According to Mr. Caballero, the agent While the findings were heavily redacted, apparently
was a regular contact between the interrogators and the one employee knew that torture had gone on, but not
who was present. An individual was later identified, who
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia CIA activities in Honduras
denied participation. The Inspector General concluded clusive, evidence that Father Carney had starved. The IG
there was no CIA participation in torture. concluded the cause of his death is unknown.[1]
The IG did verify that a Honduran Hostage Rescue
Force had captured and executed one individual who had
been freed under an amnesty; it was unclear from the re-
References
port if he had rejoined an insurgency. Another case con- [1] ^ CIA Inspector General (August 27, 1997). "Report
cerned Father Carney, a priest who had renounced his of Investigation: Selected Issues Relating to CIA
American citizenship, and died under questionable cir- Activities in Honduras in the 1980s". George
cumstances while being pursued by the HRF. He had been Washington University National Security Archive.
reported to be "cadaverous" and may have died of star- http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/
vation, or may have been killed by the HRF. The IG con- NSAEBB27/index.html.
cluded no US personnel had been involved with this HRF [2] Lemoyne, James (May 2, 1987). "Honduras Army
operation. linked to death of 200 civilians". New York Times.
Further Congressional inquiries generated more re- http://query.nytimes.com/gst/
sponses. It became clear that the HRF definitely executed fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFDB173DF931A35756C0A961948260.
some guerillas, including the aide to the priest. The de- [3] Human Rights Watch. "Honduras: Human Rights
tails were redacted, but there was some, but not con- Developments". http://www.hrw.org/reports/
1996/WR96/Americas-08.htm.
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Categories:
• Politics of Honduras
• Honduras–United States relations
• CIA activities in the Americas
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