HONDURAS: GOH-Embassy Task Force Launched To Oversee Merida

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 000050 E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR PGOV PHUM KJUS EAID MOPS HO SUBJECT: HONDURAS: GOH-Embassy Task Force Launched To Oversee Merida Process ¶1. Summary: The Ambassador hosted the inaugural meeting of the Bilateral Merida Task Force at his residence on January 21. The meeting was an opportunity for the U.S. and Honduran inter-agency teams to meet, identify their roles and discuss both the context of the Merida effort and set common goals. Several GOH interlocutors commented that the meeting was the first time they had been able to talk together about their various security and crime prevention efforts, saying that they saw the task force as an opportunity to coordinate in way they had not done before. The group agreed to meet periodically as well as to create smaller working groups to focus on specific issues. End summary. ¶2. The GOH was represented by: -COL (R) Jorge Rodas, Minister of Security and Task Force Co-Chair -Aristides Mejia, Minister of Defense and VP-designate -Marlon Breve, Minister of Education -Ambassador Eduardo Rosales, Vice Minister for Integration and Foreign Affairs -Omar Cerna, Deputy Attorney General -GEN (R) Walter Lopes Reyes, Drug Czar -GEN (R) Mario Eduardo Perdomo, Vice Minister of Security -Ricardo Lara Watson, Vice Minister of Interior -Sandra Pineda, Vice Minister of Education -Nerza Paz, Vice Minister of Health -Xiomara Gomez, Internal Revenue Office (DEI) -Sergio Moreno, Internal Revenue Office (DEI) ¶3. Embassy participants included the Ambassador, DCM, officer directors or deputy directors from POL, ECON, DHS, DATT, MilGrp, ORA, PAS, DEA and USAID. ¶4. The Ambassador and Rodas opened with an explanation of the Merida Initiative and its goals, highlighting that the Merida effort would reach beyond the scope of the its individual programs to encompass all efforts toward tackling the shared threats of transnational organized crime, gang violence and illicit trafficking. The Ambassador emphasized that Merida was more than a sum of its parts in that it would force the two countries to work together on inter-governmental, inter-agency, and regional levels. He designated the DCM as U.S. chair of the task force. Rodas and Mejia laid out the efforts that the GOH has made toward tackling crime and security problems directly. They lauded the creation of the bilateral task force as the first opportunity to gather all relevant GOH ministries and offices together to coordinate efforts on security. Rosales then gave an overview of the history of regional efforts to address mutual security issues through the Central American Integration System (SICA) and SICA's subcommittee on security. He noted that the subcommittee had raised the issue to the level of the Central American Presidents, who met in October 2006 to discuss security in earnest. Rosales said that the subcommittee had created a regional security plan, which it presented to the USG at the U.S.-SICA dialogue meeting in San Salvador in October 2008. He then noted that his own efforts to gather all parts of the GOH to work together on security had not been successful due to a lack of a coordinating authority, so he too was pleased at the prospect of an interagency task force. ¶5. Specific issues discussed by the task force included document security; better cell phone subscription record-keeping; current gang prevention efforts; current crime rates; and the need for greater, more rapid information sharing on the border security and law enforcement working level between countries in the region -- and with Colombia in particular. Also significant was the focus on prevention and the emphasis the Minister of Education placed on the need for alternatives for Honduran youth. ¶6. The group agreed that they would meet periodically, with the DCM and Rodas coordinating. They also agreed to create smaller working groups to address specific issues, such as gang prevention, border controls, and interdiction efforts. The working groups would then report back to the full task force. President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya and the Ambassador would attend task force meetings periodically to receive updates on its progress and to provide strategic direction. ¶7. Comment: It was clear from the GOH comments that without such a task force, interagency coordination on the part of the GOH would not take place; creation of this task force will be their primary vehicle of coordination, and will allow us to follow through on many of the initiatives we undertake. From our perspective, we see this process as a force multiplier as it will bring together existing programs along with new resources from Merida in a better coordinated strategy to combat regional crime and gangs. In addition, the process will assure us of the maximum involvement possible of the GOH in Merida. End Comment. LLORENS