Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02TEGUCIGALPA2600
2002-09-16 17:18:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Tegucigalpa
Cable title:  

HONDURAS TRIES AN END RUN TO NAME CONSUL IN

Tags:  CVIS PREL ASEC 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 002600 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

S/CPR for Eubanks, WHA/CEN for Trivelli and Lang, CA/VO
for Barry

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS PREL ASEC
SUBJECT: HONDURAS TRIES AN END RUN TO NAME CONSUL IN
MOBILE; POST RECOMMENDS DEPARTMENT SAY NO TO GOH NOMINEE


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 002600

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

S/CPR for Eubanks, WHA/CEN for Trivelli and Lang, CA/VO
for Barry

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS PREL ASEC
SUBJECT: HONDURAS TRIES AN END RUN TO NAME CONSUL IN
MOBILE; POST RECOMMENDS DEPARTMENT SAY NO TO GOH NOMINEE



1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Post was notified on August 1, that the
GOH was attempting to name U.S. legal permanent resident,
Elena Maria Diaz Marinakys de Szydel, as Consul General
of Honduras in Mobile, Alabama. In addition to the fact
that no Honduran Consulate currently exists in Mobile,
Post has derogatory information concerning Mrs. Szydel's
activities in Honduras during 2000 and 2001, when she was
the dependent spouse the Area Engineer for the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers (USACE). We believe that her conduct
during the time her husband was assigned to this Embassy
should make her unacceptable as a Consul General and
member of the Diplomatic Corps. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) The proposed appointment came to Post's attention
when a citizen and resident of Panama, Ana Isabel
Pascual, applied for a visa on August 1, to work as a
domestic employee for Elena Maria Diaz Marinakys in
Mobile Alabama. The same day, the Consular Section
received a call from Honduran Vice President, Alberto
Diaz Lobo. Mr. Diaz Lobo said his daughter, Elena Maria
Diaz Marinakys, had been appointed as the new Honduran
Consul General in Mobile, Alabama and wanted to take the
applicant to the U.S. as her domestic servant. When
informed that the Department of State had not given its
permission for Honduras to open a Consulate in Mobile,
Mr. Diaz said that there had been a Consul in Mobile for
years and his daughter was simply replacing the old
Consul.


3. (U) Mrs. Marinakys later called the Consul General to
ask for a special appointment for her maid because she
was traveling with three small children and needed
assistance. She further said that the applicant had been
working for her in the U.S. for the last year. An
examination of the applicant's passport indicated that
she had been granted a B-1 visa in Tegucigalpa, on June
11, 2001 annotated to read, " Personal or domestic
servant travel only with the family of Kevin and Elena
SZYDEL". Her most recent trip to the U.S. had been from
Feb. 19, 2002, until July 4, 2002.


4. (U) It became apparent that Elena Szydel and Elena
Maria Diaz Marinakys were one and the same. On August 6,
Ms. Marinakys again called the Consular Section to
inquire about the visa. She admitted that she was a
Legal Permanent Resident of the U.S., living in Mobile,
she was married to U.S. citizen, and all three of their
children were American citizens. She said the GOH was
going through the process of getting Mobile approved for
opening a Consulate and that she would then follow
through to get a diplomatic visa for the applicant.


5. (SBU) A group of USACE contractors, from Mobile,
Alabama, including the Szydel family, were expelled from
Honduras by the Ambassador in 2001. As USACE contractors
and direct employees of the Eterna Corporation, they
committed gross financial irregularities, tax
improprieties, customs violations, fraud,
misrepresentation, malfeasance and misfeasance. An
investigation of their activities was conducted by the
Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and the Inspector
General of the U.S. Army. The entire group of Eterna
contractors, and the Szydel family in particular, were
found to be deeply involved in questionable activities
during their stay in Honduras. Specifically, the Szydel
family defrauded the USG by engaging in a rental
reimbursement scheme. They lived in a house owned by
Mrs. Szydel's mother. They lived there rent-free.
However, they submitted vouchers and received
reimbursements for rental expenses. They shared the
reimbursements with Mrs. Szydel's sister, who represented
herself as owner of the property. They committed fraud
and abused their tax exempt status by importing a luxury
automobile, a 2000 Lexus, for their personal use, while
fraudulently describing it on shipping manifests as
construction equipment. They then imported a second
vehicle for personal use by taking it to Panama, removing
Mrs. Szydel's name, retitling it in her husband's name
and bringing it back into the country exempt from
taxation. They ordered handmade furniture from a
manufacturing firm owned by her father and charged it to
the USG as as part of their household expenses. All of
these activities were discovered during the U.S. Army
investigations. Mr. Szydel was reprimanded and punished
by the USACE. Mrs. Szydel refused to cooperate with U.S.
investigators and was not prosecuted under Honduran law.


6. (U) Based on the the specific activities of Mrs.
Szydel, and her active involvement in defrauding the U.S.
Government, we request the Protocol office to find Elena
Maria Diaz Marinakys de Szydel unacceptable to serve as a
Consul General of Honduras in Mobile. We also request
that she be found unacceptable as a member of the
Diplomatic Corps in the U.S.


PIERCE