AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 000116 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM HO SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS REF: A. TEGUCIGALPA 00106 ¶B. TEGUCIGALPA 00105 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Ambassador met on February 1 with President of Congress Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was accompanied by several members of the congress' executive board and other congressional leaders. The Ambassador told Hernandez that it is important for the members of Honduras' political class to come together to forge national unity and that democratic institutions must be strengthened. The Ambassador also told Hernandez that the U.S. supports creation of a Truth Commission as provided for in the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord. Hernandez told the Ambassador that the POLITICAL factions represented in congress are committed to working together. He expressed his commitment to modernize the institution. Hernandez said the congress should play a more active role regarding foreign assistance. Secretary of Congress Rigoberto Chang said the Honduran public has a negative image of the members of congress and this must be changed by ensuring greater transparency of congressional actions. He also called for U.S. assistance to modernize the congress. Vice President of Congress Marvin Ponce, who belongs to the leftist Democratic Union Party, said the anti-coup resistance movement felt betrayed by U.S. policy regarding Honduras. Ponce said free market policies had not yielded benefits in Honduras and suggested renegotiation of the United States-Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). He also inquired about U.S. immigration reform. The Ambassador told Ponce that President Obama has said he would support immigration reform. The Ambassador also said amending CAFTA would be difficult and suggested that Honduras look for ways to use CAFTA more effectively. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) The Ambassador, accompanied by PolCouns, met on February 1 with President of Congress Juan Orlando Hernandez (National Party - Lempira Department),who was accompanied by several members of the congress' executive board and other congressional leaders. The Ambassador told Hernandez that the Embassy will seek to have a closer relationship with the congress. The Ambassador said it is important for the members of Honduras' POLITICAL class to come together to forge national unity. The Ambassador also stated that democratic institutions must be strengthened. The Ambassador told Hernandez that the U.S. supports creation of a Truth Commission, which should not apportion blame, but determine the events before, during, and after the June 28 coup. The Ambassador also told Hernandez that the Truth Commission could make recommendations that could be passed to President Porfirio Lobo to ensure that such an event would never be repeated. ¶3. (SBU) Hernandez told the Ambassador that there is a great willingness to work together among the different POLITICAL party groups in the congress, highlighting that for the first time in Honduran history a congressional executive board had been unanimously elected (see reftel B). He stated that one of the congress' first acts had been passage of an amnesty decree (see reftel A). Hernandez said some members of congress believed approval of the decree should have been postponed until after the creation of the Truth Commission called for by the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord, but that the National Party felt it was important to quickly convey the message that would be sent by the decree's passage. (Note: The National Party is the party of President of the Republic Porfirio Lobo and enjoys a majority in congress with 71 out of 128 seats. End Note.) Hernandez pledged to modernize congress. Hernandez told the Ambassador that congress had not historically played a major role in foreign assistance programs, but that he believed it should. He said that evaluation of foreign assistance programs had been based on how much money was spent, but that he believed they should be measured by quantitative results. Hernandez gave the example of a Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) road project in the department that he represents in congress, Lempira, which he said had changed his constituents' perception of U.S. assistance to Honduras. ¶4. (SBU) Secretary of Congress Rigoberto Chang (National Party - Francisco Morazan Department) said that the average citizen has a negative image of the congress, perceiving that legislators' actions do not lead to results that benefit the TEGUCIGALP 00000116 002 OF 002 people. Chang said Hernandez and the executive board want all congressional actions to be transparent. Chang added that foreign donors, such as the U.S. and the international financial institutions, need to know how their funding is spent. Chang asked for U.S. assistance in modernizing congress, promising that we would see tangible results. ¶5. (SBU) Vice President of Congress Marvin Ponce (Democratic Union - Francisco Morazan Department) told the Ambassador that his party, the Democratic Union (UD) had been criticized for joining the Lobo government. (Note: The leftist UD opposed the coup, threatened not to participate in the November 29 general election if President Jose Manuel "Mel" Zelaya were not restored to office before election day, and only decided to participate in the election on November 21. End Note.) Ponce told the Ambassador that Honduran society is very polarized and that the anti-coup resistance movement felt betrayed by the U.S. Ponce told the Ambassador that the free market policies adopted by Honduras in the 1980's had not yielded positive results and called for a greater role for the government in agricultural policies. Ponce also suggested a renegotiation of CAFTA. Ponce said the Honduran people have great admiration for the American people and said bilateral ties should be strengthened not only at the government level, but also at the grass roots level. Ponce also asked the Ambassador about U.S. policy to address the status of Hondurans who are in the U.S. illegally. The Ambassador told Ponce that he congratulated the UD for its decision to participate in President Lobo's unity government for the good of Honduras. The Ambassador noted that President Obama has stated that he would support immigration reform. He told Ponce it would be difficult to amend CAFTA, adding that Honduras should see how it can more effectively use CAFTA. The Ambassador said it is important to demonstrate how free market policies benefit small farmers. LLORENS