Honduras: Update to HND31685.E of 11 May 1999 on a lieutenant colonel of the Honduran Military Command in the Honduran Armed Forces and whether he, or other members of the army, were implicated in activities of black listing, torture and extrajudicial executions between 1992 and 1995
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 June 1999 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | HND32071.E |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Honduras: Update to HND31685.E of 11 May 1999 on a lieutenant colonel of the Honduran Military Command in the Honduran Armed Forces and whether he, or other members of the army, were implicated in activities of black listing, torture and extrajudicial executions between 1992 and 1995, 1 June 1999, HND32071.E, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6acd748.html [accessed 30 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
In a 14 January 1998 AP report, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras (CODEH) blames the deaths of over 700 people who have been killed in Honduras between 1990 and 1997 to possible police and military brutality. According to the report, Attorney General Edmundo Orellana had admitted that at least some of these killings were indeed carried out by police and soldiers. The report states that the Honduran Armed Forces had reactivated death squads and that these entities had been "targeting common criminals rather than political activists." Please consult HND30322.E of 29 October 1998 for additional information on the involvement of the Honduran military in death squad activity.
According to a 1998 CODEH report chronicling the situation of human rights in Honduras between January 1990 and June 1998, 180 extrajudicial, arbitrary and summary executions took place in the country during the Callejas and Reina administrations (1990 to 1997) (see also CAR 18 Sept. 1998). The report states that, based on media reports, most of the victims of extrajudicial executions were allegedly delinquents (supuestos delincuentes) and that of the 180 executions, 157 of them were committed during the Reina administration (1994 to 1997). Based on CODEH's violence and crime figures, 3 political murders and 581 incidents of torture were recorded between 1990 and 1998 (CAR 18 Sept. 1998).
Citing the CODEH report, an IPS article states that "the extrajudicial executions were committed by police which still fell under army jurisdiction at the time" (2 Sept. 1998). CODEH president Ramón Custodio stated during the release of the report that "the country's chief accomplishment in terms of cleaning up its human rights record was the elimination of the systematic practice of torture by security forces...torture can now be considered to occur occasionally, but not as an expression of an institutional policy" (ibid.).
In a 15 June 1999 telephone interview with the Research Directorate, a public relations and communications representative at CODEH in Tegucigalpa stated that three military officials of the Public Security Force (Fuerza de Seguridad Pública, FUSEP) were currently being investigated for allegedly committing car theft and extrajudicial executions of suspected delinquents between 1992 and 1997. The colonels are Andrés Wilfredo Urtecho Jeamborde, David Abraham Mendoza and Arnoldo Cabrera Padilla (ibid.; see also La Prensa 18 May 1998). Please note that FUSEP was previously under the jurisdiction of the Honduran Armed Forces (see HND23848.E of 14 May 1996).
La Prensa stated that a former official of FUSEP's regional command 2 in San Pedro Sula had accused these military officials of having participated in bank robberies, car and cattle theft, and extrajudicial executions of delinquents in a radio broadcast on Radio América (18 May 1998). The 2 September 1998 IPS report states that Colonel David Mendoza was "one of the main perpetrators of extrajudicial executions...[and that he] is currently a fugitive from justice. Two warrants for his arrest have been issued on charges of involvement in several crimes, including car theft."
The representative at CODEH did not recognize the name of the lieutenant colonel in question (15 June 1999). Furthermore, two academics specializing in military matters in Honduras were not familiar with the name of this lieutenant colonel (14 May 1999; 15 June 1999).
This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.
References
The Associated Press (AP). 14 January 1998. Freddy Cuevas. "Rights Group Says Death Squads Revived in Honduras to Target Criminals." (NEXIS)
Central America Report [Guatemala City]. 18 September 1998. "Report Reveals Continued Rights Violations During the 1990s." (NEXIS)
Comite Para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras (CODEH), Tegucigalpa. 15 June 1999. Telephone interview with a public relations and communications representative.
_____. 1998. Informe Sobre la Situación de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras Enero 1990-Junio de 1998. [Internet]
Expert on Latin America, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 15 June 1999. Telephone interview.
Inter Press Service (IPS). 2 September 1998. Thelma Mejía. "Rights-Honduras: Torture Disappears, but not Summary Executions." (NEXIS)
La Prensa [San Pedro Sula]. 18 May 1998. "Ex agente denuncia: Altos oficiales de la policía implicados en bandas asaltabancos y robacarros." [Internet]
Professor of Political Science, Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. 14 May 1999. Correspondence sent to the Research Directorate.
