Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04TEGUCIGALPA467
2004-02-27 23:22:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Tegucigalpa
Cable title:  

ANTI-CORRUPTION UPDATE: MADURO INVITES TRANSPARENCY

Tags:  PGOV KJUS KCRM ECON EFIN PHUM PINR HO 
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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 000467 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CEN, AND WHA/PPC
STATE FOR INL, INL/LP, INR/B, AND INR/AN/IAA
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN AND DCHA/DG/ROL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KJUS KCRM ECON EFIN PHUM PINR HO
SUBJECT: ANTI-CORRUPTION UPDATE: MADURO INVITES TRANSPARENCY
INTERNATIONAL TO REVIEW HONDURAN EFFORTS

REF: 03 TEGUCIGALPA 2844

03 TEGUCIGALPA 2938

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 000467

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CEN, AND WHA/PPC
STATE FOR INL, INL/LP, INR/B, AND INR/AN/IAA
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN AND DCHA/DG/ROL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KJUS KCRM ECON EFIN PHUM PINR HO
SUBJECT: ANTI-CORRUPTION UPDATE: MADURO INVITES TRANSPARENCY
INTERNATIONAL TO REVIEW HONDURAN EFFORTS

REF: 03 TEGUCIGALPA 2844

03 TEGUCIGALPA 2938


1. (U) Summary: In a February 25 private briefing with
international donors, the Transparency International (TI)
delegation, led by TI Vice Chair of the Board of Directors
Rosa Ines Ospina from Colombia, acknowledged positive anti-
corruption efforts by President Ricardo Maduro's
administration and also outlined necessary additional steps
that Honduras must take to fully address the deep-rooted
nature of corruption in the country. Ospina praised the
pending constitutional amendment to revoke immunity for
legislators and public officials as a path-breaking
development, which would make Honduras the first country in
the world to subject legislators directly to the jurisdiction
of the judicial system. Minister of the Presidency Luis
Cosenza highlighted the government's position that its anti-
corruption efforts were not in response to the TI visit but
part of an ongoing national commitment to combat corruption.
He pledged that the Government of Honduras (GOH) would
correct the error it had made in not signing the UN Anti-
Corruption Convention last December in Merida, Mexico. End
Summary


2. (U) A Transparency International (TI) delegation lead by
Rosa Ines Ospina, a TI Chapter head from Colombia, visited
Honduras on February 24 and 25. The Maduro administration
invited TI to Honduras last fall to review the new anti-
corruption measures the GOH has put into place. Minister of
the Presidency Luis Cosenza highlighted the government's
position that its anti-corruption efforts were not in
response to the TI visit but part of an ongoing national
commitment to combat corruption. He declared that the
government viewed TI as an ally in that battle. Cosenza
added that the GOH hoped that TI would help identify other
measures and processes that would make the GOH's anti-
corruption programs more effective.



3. (U) In a February 25 private briefing with international
donors as well as in public comments, Ospina acknowledged
positive anti-corruption efforts by President Ricardo
Maduro's administration, and then outlined necessary
additional steps that Honduras must take to fully address the
deep-rooted nature of its corruption problem (ref A). She
added that the government's job in this area was not just to
eliminate corruption but to create public confidence that
corruption would not be permitted. Ospina singled out the
pending constitutional amendment to revoke immunity for
legislators and public officials as a path-breaking
development which would make Honduras the first country in
the world to subject legislators directly to the jurisdiction
of the judicial system. She added that the criminal
procedures code reform that instituted oral public trials was
an important improvement as was the GOH's use of the UN
Development Program to award government contracts, commenting
that this was a positive development but that she hoped this
would only be a temporary solution.


4. (U) Ospina also said that the challenge of reversing
corrupt practices was not only the responsibility of the
central government. She suggested that the Honduran
congress, political parties, judicial system, media, private
sector, and civil society had to be engaged in the effort.
Ospina lauded the work of the National Anti-Corruption
Commission, but urged the GOH to follow through on more
specific projects, such as ensuring that the general public
has greater access to government records. Ospina warned the
Honduran public of the danger drug trafficking represents to
anti-corruption programs. She said that it is a grave and
difficult problem that destroys human lives. Finally, she
flagged TI's concern about the problem of impunity and its
widespread perception, which needed to be better addressed by
the judicial system.


5. (U) In separate public comments, Ospina criticized the
Honduran private sector for not being committed to the fight
against corruption. She charged that the Honduran private
sector "is disposed to offer, disposed to pay, and willing to
put its own particular interests above the common interest."
She stressed that the private sector had a special
responsibility to self-regulate its own practices and adopt
ethical standards, which would prevent the acceptance of
corrupt practices in private and public transactions.


6. (SBU) Minister of the Presidency Cosenza, during his joint
press conference with the TI representative, responded to
Ospina's comment that Honduras had failed to sign the UN Anti-
Corruption Convention last December in Merida, Mexico (ref
B). Cosenza explained that Honduras had made an involuntary
omission in failing to sign. He pledged that the GOH would
soon correct the error it had made. He privately told Ospina
that the GOH, specifically Cosenza himself, had erred in
circulating the UN Convention to the Supreme Court and
Solicitor General for a full legal opinion on whether or not
the GOH should ratify the convention rather than the more
limited review as to whether or not the GOH could merely sign
it. (Comment: According to MFA sources, the reason Honduras
did not originally sign the convention was due to the belief
that the convention contains wording to the effect that if
one country cancels a person's visa because of corruption
charges, allegations, etc., all signatory countries of the
convention must also cancel their visas. End Comment)


7. (U) Comment: Ospina also explained that this visit by TI
would not necessarily result in an improved ranking for
Honduras in the next TI Index. She said the Index is based
on survey results from diverse business and government
sources, not on the results of a TI visit. Ospina also
stated that there was not yet a TI chapter operating in
Honduras because TI has not been able to identify an
individual or group independent enough to fulfill the TI
charter. Ospina did, however, go out of her way to praise
Cardinal Rodriguez's work on the National Anti-Corruption
Commission as being a very valuable contribution to the anti-
corruption effort.


8. (U) Comment continued: Interestingly, at least one
newspaper account focused part of its coverage on hostile
press questions about the damage TI had done to Honduras by
placing it as the most corrupt country in Central America and
among the worst in the Western Hemisphere. After patiently
explaining that the TI rankings were merely a reflection of
evaluations provided by organizations and businesses
operating in Honduras, Ospina became exasperated, according
to one news account, and remarked that it appeared that she
was having a conversation with the deaf. This coverage
reflects widespread confusion in Honduras about TI's role
and, more troubling, denial in some Honduran quarters about
the extent of the corruption problem. End Comment.

Palmer