Thursday, February 17, 2005

Former US ambassador to Honduras named new Director of National Intelligence

Intelligence Test


Former US ambassador to Honduras named new Director of National Intelligence

By billmon on Human Rights

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"I'm pleased to announce my decision to nominate Ambassador John Negroponte as Director of National Intelligence . . . John brings a unique set of skills to these challenges."

George W. Bush
Nomination Ceremony
February 17, 2005

Among his more recent assignments, Mr. Negroponte was Ambassador to Honduras (1981-85)."

U.S. Mission to the United Nations
Biography of John D. Negroponte
Date Unknown

The DNI [National Directorate of Investigation] maintained a secret unit - the Honduran Anti-Communist Liberation Army (ELACH), a rightist paramilitary organization which conducted operations against Honduran leftists. According to DELETED, during the period ELACH operated (1980-1984), ELACH's operations included surveillance, kidnappings, interrogation under duress, and execution of prisoners who were Honduran revolutionaries.

CIA Inspector General's Office
Selected Issues Relating to
CIA Activities in Honduras in the 1980s

August 27, 1997

Intelligence Battalion 3-16 was also created in the early 1980s with the help of the CIA. Together with the DNI, Battalion 3-16 is blamed for the repression, capture, interrogation and disappearance of about 180 people, generally popular movement leaders.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
Honduras
October 14, 1998

Battalion 3-16 counter-terrorist tactics included torture, rape, assassination against persons thought to be involved in support of Salvadoran guerrillas or the Honduran leftist movement. Information available to the United States Government in the 1980s indicated that named individuals were abducted and killed by Battalion 3-16 and the FUSEP Special Unit.

CIA Working Group Stipulations
Released by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
September 13, 2001

"We did a search of all the cables that were written during the time that I was Ambassador to Honduras, from 1981 to 1985, and we could not find any references to the 3-16th Battalion."

John Negroponte
Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
September 13, 2001

DELETED reported on November 5, 1983 that DELETED had killed Reyes Mata. DELETED review this report on November 21, 1983 and reminded DELETED of the two October 1983 reports DELETED that indicated that unnamed Honduran Army officers had executed prisoners.

The Ambassador [Negroponte] was particularly sensitive regarding this issue and was concerned that earlier CIA reporting on the same topic might create a human rights problem for Honduras. Based on the Ambassador's reported concerns, DELETED actively discouraged DELETED from following up the information reported by the DELETED source.

CIA Inspector General's Office
Selected Issues Relating to
CIA Activities in Honduras in the 1980s

August 27, 1997

"I think it is important to stress there was no effort on the part of myself or others serving the U.S. Government at the time to stifle reporting about human rights in Honduras, to cover up any credible evidence of human rights abuses which came to our attention, or to misrepresent the general picture with respect to the human rights situation in the country."

John Negroponte
Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
September 13, 2001

In September 1983, Ambassador Negroponte requested additional analytical assistance from the U.S. Government about the Olancho guerrilla movement, including U.S. participation in the debriefing of deserters and captives."

Stipulations From the CIA Inspector General's Office
Released by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
September 13, 2001

There were no exhumations of clandestine graves during the year; however, on January 23 the Public Ministry took samples for testing exposed bodies found in the department of Olancho. Human rights organizations believed that more uncovered graves do exist; however, they need to have sufficient evidence to identify the buried bodies in suspected graves to improve the likelihood of successful prosecution."

U.S. State Department
Country Report on Honduras
February 25, 2004

Barrera . . . recalled how he nearly suffocated people with rubber masks, how he attached wires to their genitals and shocked them with electricity, how he tore off a man's testicles with a rope. "We let them stay in their own excrement," he said, his gold front tooth reflecting the dim lamplight. "When they were very weak, we would take them to disappear."

Battalion 316 member Jose Barrera
Quoted in the Baltimore Sun
June 13, 1995

"I responded to the Economist, I also responded to the committee in 1989, in good faith and to this day, I did not believe that death squads were operating [in Honduras]."

John Negroponte
Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
September 13, 2001

A former commander of Battalion 316, General Luis Alonso Discua Elvir, might have made an informative witness at Negroponte's confirmation hearing, but although he has lived in Florida for several years, he is suddenly unavailable. He left the United States in February after his residence visa was canceled . . . When an American reporter asked about the notorious battalion, he demurred, saying he wanted no more "problems with the United States" because "your country is too powerful."

Stephen Kinzer
Our Man in Honduras
September 20, 2001

"I did a lot in the area of quiet diplomacy. I think that is acknowledged and I think that is demonstrable in the record."

John Negroponte
Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
September 13, 2001

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