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Cummins Will Distribute Engines and Generators in Honduras

Business Wire
Cummins, Inc. and Grupo Laeisz announced today a joint-venture partnership to distribute and service Cummins engines, generators, and parts in a region that includes Costa Rica, El Salvador and Honduras. The new joint venture, to be called Cummins Centroamerica, will be an 80/20 joint venture. The agreement was signed in Honduras by Bernardo Hirsch, President of Grupo Laeisz, and representatives of Cummins. Laeisz has been a Cummins distributor in Honduras for more than 40 years, with subsequent expansion into El Salvador and Costa Rica. The new joint venture will include both Cummins brands and products from Ingersoll Rand Air Solutions Group, which are considered complementary and non-competitive with Cummins lines. Laeisz will also continue to sell other brands that are non-competitive with Cummins or the joint venture under their existing business, though all facilities will bear the Cummins brand.

ATF International Will Investigate Prison Fire

PR Newswire
At the request of the Honduran government, the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today activated its International Response Team (IRT) to investigate the fire that swept through a national correctional facility in Comayagua, Honduras, killing more than 350 inmates. The ATF IRT provides technical and forensic assistance and oversight worldwide in arson and explosives investigations. At approximately 10:50 pm Tuesday a blaze swept through the prison which housed approximately 850 inmates. The Honduran government requested ATF's expertise through the Department of State to determine the cause of the fire. The ATF lead element of the team will arrive today and begin reconstructing the scene, identifying the origin of the fire, conducting interviews, and sifting through debris to obtain evidence related to the blaze.

UN Urges Honduras to Protect Defenders of Human Rights

The pervasive impunity and absence of effective investigations of human rights violations undermine the administration of justice and damage the public’s trust in authorities.

UN News Service
Human rights defenders in Honduras continue to suffer extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment as well as harassment and stigmatization, an independent United Nations expert says, calling on the Central American country’s Government to establish a protection programme for defenders. “Honduras faces serious challenges in combating violence and insecurity,” said UN Special Rapporteur Margaret Sekaggya yesterday at the end of her eight-day mission in the country, where she was monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation.

Guatemalan President Proposes Drug Legalization

Honduras Weekly
Guatemala's President Otto Perez Molina on Monday said that the war on drugs and all the money and technology received from the United States to conduct it has failed to reduce illegal drug trafficking in Central America and that he will submit a proposal for decriminalizing drugs at an upcoming meeting of the presidents of Central America. President Perez, a right-wing former army general who based his presidential campaign on adopting a "firm hand" against drug traffickers and other criminals, noted he wanted to provide an opportunity to debate the isuse before seeking a consensus among regional leaders. President Molina won support yesterday from the President of El Salvador, Mario Funes, who said he also favored legalization. “Imagine what it would mean,” said President Funes. “Producing drugs would no longer be a crime, trafficking drugs would no longer be a crime and consuming drugs would no longer be a crime, so we would be converting the region in a paradise for drug consumption. I personally don’t agree with it and I told President Otto Perez so.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Meets With OAS General Secretary

Secretary General Insulza stressed especially the Central American Security Strategy, which seeks to integrate, harmonize and concretize national efforts and facilitate coordination, exchange of information, and experiences to more effectively combat regional criminal activities.

By Brittny Mejia
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, met today with the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Honduras, Mireya Aguero Corrales, with whom he spoke about the recent positive developments in the Central American country, its priorities and the dynamics of international relations after nine months of being reinstated to the Organization. At the meeting, held at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, the Honduran Minister stressed that her country's return to inter-American system has been "harmonious and balanced," and thanked OAS efforts on this regard. She also explained her country’s priorities on issues such as integration, security, economic development, and the fight against organized crime.

Deputy Foreign Minister Meets With OAS General Secretary

Secretary General Insulza stressed especially the Central American Security Strategy, which seeks to integrate, harmonize and concretize national efforts and facilitate coordination, exchange of information, and experiences to more effectively combat regional criminal activities.

Deputy Foreign Minister Meets With OAS' Insulza

Secretary General Insulza stressed especially the Central American Security Strategy, which seeks to integrate, harmonize and concretize national efforts and facilitate coordination, exchange of information, and experiences to more effectively combat regional criminal activities.

OAS
The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, met today with the Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Honduras, Mireya Aguero Corrales, with whom he spoke about the recent positive developments in the Central American country, its priorities and the dynamics of international relations after nine months of being reinstated to the Organization. At the meeting, held at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC, the Honduran Minister stressed that her country's return to inter-American system has been "harmonious and balanced," and thanked OAS efforts on this regard. She also explained her country’s priorities on issues such as integration, security, economic development, and the fight against organized crime.

US Policy on Honduras: View of a Diplomat

Editor's Note: The following piece was originally published as a Letter to the Editor in yesterday's edition of The New York Times. It was written in response to an Op-Ed article written by Dana Frank titled "In Honduras, A Mess Made in the US".

By Jorge Hernández Alcerro
Ms. Frank’s insinuations about the Honduran government’s illegitimacy are offensive to the 56.6 percent of Hondurans who voted for President Porfirio Lobo in the last election. More than 4,600 international and domestic observers closely supervised the electoral process. The other four Honduran political parties recognized President Lobo’s election, have been integrated into the sitting national reconciliation and unity government, and are represented in Congress. Ms. Frank’s article points to the effects and not the underlying causes of violence in Honduras. It confuses common and organized criminality with human rights offenses. Honduras is a victim of what Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton described as America’s “insatiable demand for illegal drugs.” Without it, murder rates would drop dramatically.

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US Studying Return of Peace Corps to Honduras

Honduras Weekly
United States Ambassador to Honduras Lisa Kubiske yesterday said that the US State Department is undertaking a technical analysis of the security situation in Honduras to determine the feasibility of returning Peace Corps personnel to the country. Prompted by the shooting of Peace Corp worker Lauren Robert, 27, who was wounded in the leg during an attempted robbery on a bus in San Pedro Sula on December 3, 2011, the State Department decided less than three weeks later to pull all 158 Peace Corps volunteers from Honduras. Although the incident was a random crime (two other passengers were wounded along with Ms. Robert), the State Department took the precautionary move to suspend operations in order to study the conditions on the ground and re-evaluate the operating structure and safety guidelines for volunteers.

US-Honduran Air Forces Will Conduct Joint Training

When a crisis or contingency operation occurs in the future, we will be more prepared to respond together. For example, if a natural disaster occurs, our two air forces will already have an understanding of one another's strengths and capabilities as well as a deep camaraderie based on our respect for each other.

By Lesley Waters
United States and Honduran airmen participated in a January 25 ceremony kicking off the start of a mission designed to enhance military-to-military relations between the two nations. The US Airmen, representing 15 Air Force specialties, will work side-by-side with Honduran Air Force members in developing the seven core competencies of air base defense, air traffic control, aircraft maintenance, aircrew survival, communications, generator maintenance and safety. Approximately 20 members of the 571st Mobility Support Advisory Squadron, from Travis Air Force Base, California, and two members of the Inter-American Air Forces Academy, from Lackland AFB, Texas, arrived in Honduras on January 23 as part of month-long mission to build partner capacity. The mission is designed to promote regional stability by fostering key relationships and enhancing partner nation capabilities.