HONDURAS: December 2009 INL Monthly Report

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001329 FOR INL/LP KATHRYN MCLAIN AND MAYRA AHERN FOR WHA POSTS - PASS to NAOs and Merida Coordinators USAID for Donnie Harrington SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCRM KJUS EAID PREL HO SUBJECT: HONDURAS: December 2009 INL Monthly Report ¶1. Summary: Regional Corrections Advisor visited the correctional training facility in Xalapa, Mexico and attended the Third International Graduating Class in New Mexico Correction Department's Training Academy located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Frontier Police captured six members of a dangerous criminal gang posing as policemen. NAO personnel met with officials from the Canadian Embassy to discuss potential opportunities for Honduras anti-crime programming. The annual end use monitoring process continued in several police units. End summary. -------------- Prison Reforms -------------- ¶2. Regional Corrections Advisor (RCA) visited the correctional training facility in Xalapa, Mexico and met with the Central America Prison Coordinator and the Correctional Advisor of Mexico. One of the issues discussed was the possibility of using the training facility in Xalapa to train cadets from other Central American countries in the six-week correctional officer training and the one-week train-the-trainer instruction. Within the framework of the regional corrections project, the USG will continue with plans to assist Honduras in establishing a viable penitentiary training academy at Tamara through upgrading the training facility and conducting some of the specialized trainings. ¶3. RCA attended the Third International Graduating Class at the New Mexico Corrections Department's (NMCD) Training Academy in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Cadets from Guatemala and Mexico participated together for the first time in a six-week correctional officer training program. -------------- Border Control/Interdiction -------------- ¶4. The Frontier Police, part of the National Directorate of Special Services Investigation (DNSEI) captured six members of a criminal gang named "the Police Gang" ("La Banda de los Policias") on December 14 in the vicinity of the police checkpoint of Pavana on the Panamerican Highway in the department of Choluteca. The criminals are members of the 18th Street Gang, and were posing as police officers from the National Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DNIC) to carry out robberies, kidnappings and assassinations. These gang members are allegedly responsible for the murder of a DNIC investigative agent on December 13, 2009. At the time of the capture, the suspects were carrying -weapons, including the personal weapon assigned to the agent who was murdered; they were also carrying police identification vests and were in possession of two stolen vehicles. -------------- Gang Program -------------- ¶5. Post completed the recruitment and polygraphing of 13 candidates for the anti-gang component of the ICE Honduras Vetted Unit, a joint Narcotics Affairs Office (NAO)-DHS/ICE effort. Six agents were selected and approved by the National Police (HNP) to transfer into the Vetted Unit in January. Four agents will work on transnational gang cases, focusing efforts on the leadership of MS-13 and 18th Street. (Note: This unit represents a significant achievement towards NAO's Gang Program goal of standing up a vetted anti-gang unit. End note) ¶6. Post completed developing a list of encrypted radio communications equipment that will be provided to the DHS/ICE Vetted Unit. The equipment was selected to be compatible with equipment Post is also purchasing for DEA's Vetted Unit, for the express purpose of facilitating joint operations between the two agencies in Honduras. ¶7. Post delivered the final tranche of funds to the NGO umbrella foundation FOPRIDEH, which in turn supports three local NGOs (including YMCA) in working with youth at risk. FOPRIDEH has requested an extension through February for finalizing this project to address education setbacks associated with extended public school teacher strikes in opposition to the June 28 coup d'etat. Embassy employees have visited the project sites and determined project results to date have been tangibly positive. ¶8. NAO personnel made two site visits, one to the YMCA project and another to a successful Honduras Red Cross vocational education project, both in neighborhoods of Tegucigalpa, accompanying the President of the Honduran Red Cross Society. Red Cross has expressed interest in INL funds supporting their vocational program, which is aimed at youths at highest risk of gang involvement - jobless, no primary education and not currently enrolled in school. GOH funding for the Red Cross program was cancelled by the de facto regime. ¶9. NAO has received, reviewed and returned one new concept paper for supporting a campaign to reach at-risk youths. One is intended for Post's model precinct community of Chamelecon, a neighborhood in San Pedro Sula. The second proposal, which would focus on youth involvement in the increasingly-violent soccer fan clubs, known as "barras bravas," was presented by former ECA-sponsored Cultural Envoy and hip-hop artist George Martinez of the Global Block Foundation. To date, NAO has reviewed three pre-proposals for projects working with at-risk youth. Irish NGO GOAL also provided an updated concept paper. Poloff and Embassy Anti-gang Project Manager met with GOAL staff to provide feedback towards reaching a final version by January 1. ¶10. NAO assisted SOUTHCOM Military Information Support team (MIST) in employing Miskito language translators to review anti-trafficking posters and mass media materials for use in Gracias a Dios Department. NAO received a teaching guide in Miskito from Embassy Managua for DARE drug awareness and resistance programs that will be carried out in Gracias a Dios. -------------- Other Activities -------------- ¶11. Poloff and NAO personnel met with Tania Clements, Development Officer of the Canadian Embassy to discuss potential opportunities for Honduras anti-crime programming. Clements explained that the Government of Canada will implement an Anti-Crime Capacity Building Program (ACCBP) in three regions of interest: South America, Central America and the Caribbean. The ACCBP will consist of USD 10 million in 2009-2010 and USD 15 million per year thereafter. The program will coordinate law enforcement and criminal justice capacity assistance to target countries in the regions, complementary to the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade's Counter-Terrorism Capacity Building Program and the Global Peace and Security Fund. The ACCBP will provide assistance for projects in the following areas: Illicit Drugs, Corruption, Human Trafficking, Migrant Smuggling, Money Laundering, Security System Reform and Crime Prevention. 12 Training Specialist continued with the End Use Monitoring visits to different police units based in Tegucigalpa. During the visit to the Joint Information Center (Centro de Informacion Conjunto (CEINCO)),personnel assigned to this unit informed the Training Specialist that with the suspension of USG assistance since the June 28 coup, CEINCO is experiencing difficulties in the performance of its daily activities, given the lack of IT equipment. LLORENS