HONDURAS HAS SIGNED BUT NOT YET RATIFIED 2002

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001274 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR WHA/USOAS, WHA/CAR, AND WHA/CEN STATE FOR L/WHA, L/T, AND S/CT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PREL KTIA AORC HO OAS SUBJECT: HONDURAS HAS SIGNED BUT NOT YET RATIFIED 2002 INTER-AMERICAN CONVENTION AGAINST TERRORISM REF: A. STATE 118495 ¶B. STATE 112939 ¶C. TEGUCIGAPA 862 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. (U) The Government of Honduras has signed but not yet ratified both the 2002 Inter-American Convention Against Terrorism (ref A),as well as the 1971 Convention to Prevent and Punish the Acts of Terrorism Taking the Forms of Crimes Against Persons and Related Extortion that are of International Significance. USG officials, from the Secretary to the Ambassador to PolOff, have repeatedly urged SIPDIS senior GOH officials, including President Ricardo Maduro and Foreign Minister Guillermo Perez-Cadalso Arias, to ratify these two conventions, as well as five UN counterterrorism conventions/protocols that the GOH has yet to sign and/or ratify (refs B and C). ¶2. (SBU) Senior GOH officials have told EmbOffs that they will soon submit the two OAS conventions to the Congress for approval, but they have yet to do so. No GOH official has voiced any concern to EmbOffs that ratifying the two conventions would be problematic for Honduras. Neither the GOH nor Post believe that congressional approval would be difficult or controversial. Once Congress has approved the conventions and the congressional resolution has been published in La Gaceta (akin to the Federal Register),the GOH would then need to deposit its instruments of ratification with the OAS. Post notes that the Honduran Congress is currently on recess until early July. ¶3. (U) Post recommends that the U.S. delegation to the OAS Assembly in Santiago urge the Honduran delegation to move promptly to ratify the two OAS counterterrorism conventions without further delay. Pierce