FAREWELL TO ARMS: HONDURAS TO DESTROY 6000+ WEAPONS

S E C R E T TEGUCIGALPA 001389 SIPDIS STATE FOR INL/LP, WHA/PPC AND WHA/CEN, S/CT E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/24/2015 TAGS: ASEC HO PGOV PREL PTER SNAR SUBJECT: FAREWELL TO ARMS: HONDURAS TO DESTROY 6000+ WEAPONS Classified By: Political Counselor Francisco Palmieri; reasons 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: On June 13, 2005, Honduran Minister of Defense Federico Breve Travieso announced that the Honduran Armed Forces (HOAF) will destroy more than 6000 excess/obsolete weapons currently stored at the Army's Logistics Support Center (CALE). The weapons date as far back as World War II and most are in states of severe disrepair. As yet, no date has been set for their destruction, nor has a method of destruction been announced. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (S) Motivation to destroy these weapons is part of the aftermath of an April 2005 weapons seizure in Choloma. An ongoing attorney general's investigation of the seizure has revealed that some of the confiscated weapons were lost from the HOAF inventory. As part of new, stricter inventory controls, military commanders are required to conduct at least weekly inventory of all assigned weapons, and all military personnel are subject to severe punishments for the loss of a weapon. These stricter inventory procedures should help reestablish control over a system that had been neglected for a long time. Brigadier General Romeo Orlando Vasquez Velasquez, Chief of the Honduran Armed Forces' (HOAF) Joint Staff, supports the decision to destroy the 6000 weapons since they present a temptation for criminal elements and are of no use to the HOAF. ¶3. (S) COMMENT: HOAF must overcome disorganized storage conditions at CALE and the consequences of an extended lack of accountability for weapons inventories. This somewhat-belated decision, however, indicates that the HOAF is finally moving forward, slowly, to correct its inventory system. END COMMENT. Palmer