AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES FUTURE OF AMHON EXECUTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 000558

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR WHA/CEN, EB, AND INR/B
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV EAID PREL SOCI PHUM PINR HO
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DISCUSSES FUTURE OF AMHON EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR WITH HONDURAN MINISTER OF GOVERNMENT AND JUSTICE



1. (U) SUMMARY: Honduran Minister of Government and
Justice, Dr. Jorge Ramon Hernandez Alcerro, hosted a lunch
at his home for Ambassador Palmer on February 14. Hernandez
requested the meeting to discuss issues of bilateral
importance but dominating the discussion was the effort
underway to replace Guadalupe Lopez, Director of the
Honduran Municipal Association (AMHON). END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Minister of Government and Justice, Dr. Jorge Ramon
Hernandez Alcerro, hosted a lunch at his home for Ambassador
Palmer on February 14. Hernandez requested the meeting to
discuss issues of bilateral importance. Also attending the
lunch were Vice Minister of Government and Justice, Cesar
Gonzalez, Congressman Hugo Vasquez, and USAID Director.
Dominating the discussion was the recent turmoil in the
Honduran Municipal Association (AMHON) and the effort
underway to replace its Executive Director, Guadalupe Lopez.


3. (SBU) Over the past month, political pressure has been
mounting from the Nationalist Party to remove Lopez, a
former Liberal Party mayor, and replace him with an
Executive Director that would be more amenable to the
policies and programs being promoted by the Ministry of
Government and Justice. This has entailed active
solicitation by Maduro administration officials to
sympathetic AHMON board members to move forward with a
replacement. AMHON by-laws do provide for a mechanism to
remove the Executive Director with a two-thirds majority
vote of the Board of Directors (16 of the 24 the members).
However this has never been done before.


4. (U) The current AMHON board is configured as follows: 12
board members are Nationalist Party (NP) mayors, 11 are
Liberal Party (LP) mayors, and one is a Christian Democratic
Party mayor. The current president of the Board of
Directors, Oscar Orlando Burgos (NP),Mayor of Yoro, is
among the active partisan minority advocating the
Nationalist party line to remove the Executive Director.
The vice-president, Juan Carlos Elvir (LP),Mayor of Santa
Rosa de Copan, is leading the opposition within the board,
arguing for a competitive selection process to replace both
the Executive and Deputy Director of AMHON.


5. (U) Minister Hernandez noted that it was important for
the Ambassador to understand the Ministry's version of the
developments and made the point of reiterating the
ministry's non-intervention in this or any AMHON issue. The
Minister did mention, however, that since last year several
meetings have taken place with groups of mayors (most likely
Nationalist Party mayors) who have stated their discontent
with the Executive Director. Specific mayoral complaints
allegedly include fiscal irresponsibility, an accumulation
of power and influence by the Executive Director, lack of
transparency with the Board of Directors, and the supposed
promotion of Mayor Elvir (LP) of Santa Rosa de Copan as the
next AMHON president. Congressman Vasquez mentioned that
members of Congress have also participated in similar
meetings with mayors. He emphasized that they too were
careful in respecting the independence of AMHON and were not
involved in the particulars of recent decisions.


6. (U) Although Minister Hernandez did not demonstrate an
overt understanding of the procedures for selecting a new
executive director, the Ambassador suggested that it would
be important for the selection process to be an open and
transparent competition. The Mission Director noted that
through USAID-funded technical assistance,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers had already worked to develop terms
of reference for the position and had already assisted AMHON
in the contracting process for other positions. The
Ambassador added that it is common to undertake these hiring
processes with the aide of a professional search firm.
Minister Hernandez and other GOH representatives
emphatically agreed that it would be important for this
contracting process to be openly competed, to adhere to
transparent procedures and technical criteria, and to
include the participation of a professional search firm. In
relation to this, the Ambassador noted the importance of
appearances, suggesting that it is not only important for
one's conduct to be correct, but also to take care in
appearing to conduct oneself correctly.


7. (SBU) COMMENT: While Lopez has come under attack by
Nationalist Party members, Post has found him to be a person
of integrity representing the interests of all
municipalities in AHMON. If external political pressure is
successful, the independence of AHMON will be threatened,
potentially returning the organization to a de-facto
extension of the central government, as it was pre-1992.
The political independence of AHMON has been a goal of
Post's support of decentralization efforts. As such, USAID,
in conjunction with the international donor community, has
dedicated significant resources in an attempt to enable the
organization to provide an alternative voice to the federal
government at the municipal level. Post also notes that
Minister Hernandez's importance in the Maduro administration
appears to be growing, as is his desire to exert more
control over decentralization efforts. END COMMENT.

PALMER