TEGUCIGALPA RESPONSE TO INVITATION TO ATTEND PSI

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002551 SIPDIS SENSITIVE OSD FOR DIRECTOR OF NONPROLIFERATION POLICY (DCOOPER) STATE FOR NP/RA (JKROFT) AND WHA/CEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KNNP PARM PREL HO SUBJECT: TEGUCIGALPA RESPONSE TO INVITATION TO ATTEND PSI EXERCISE REF: SECSTATE 232102 ¶1. (SBU) On October 29, Post delivered reftel non-paper to both MFA DG for Foreign Policy AMB Mario Fortin and MOD Federico Breve regarding the upcoming November 16-18 multilateral maritime exercise in the Caribbean designed to test U.S. and PSI partners' ability to detect, track and intercept the shipment of WMD, their delivery systems, and related materials. On November 4, Post was contacted by Commander of the Honduran Navy Jose Eduardo Espinal, who expressed interest in having the Honduran Armed Forces (HOAF) represented at the exercise. Post provided Commander Espinal with the contact information listed in reftel. ¶2. (SBU) While the HOAF has an interest in attending the exercise, GOH funding for the necessary travel may not be available. Post has no available funds to assist and MILGP was unsuccessful in exploring other funding options. The GOH has yet to formally respond to the invitation. Given the problematic funding issue, Post is not optimistic that the GOH will be able to attend the exercise. Palmer