Militarizing politics, police and society: Honduras today
The Honduran military today have a great amount of power and a growing role in the public sphere, a direct consequence of the June 28, 2009 coup. This is an alarming development, especially considering Honduras’ history of military coups and targeted atrocities committed by the armed forces, especially during the 1980s. According to Leticia Salomón, an expert in military affairs, Honduras now has "highly politicized security forces, and in the case of the military, the leadership has become a decision-making body, which is simply not right." Honduras today has all-encompassing, multipurpose armed forces that are used for:
Operation and protection of the electoral process: The Honduran Armed Forces are mandated by the Constitution to protect the balloting process during elections. This was done because in 1982, when the Constitution was approved, the country began a process of democratization and the state was weak. Since this is no longer the case, some in the legislature have moved to modify this rule. However, the military effectively made use of its veto power. After a meeting between the heads of the Armed Forces, the Defense Minister and the Supreme Electoral Court, it was ascertained that the reform was in reality meant to give members of the military the right to vote – not to reduce its role as the guarantor of elections.
Law enforcement activities: Honduras's increasing crime and violence rates have pushed the military into law enforcement activities, blurring the line separating military and non-military roles. This law-enforcement role had been carried out before the coup, and is even contemplated in the Constitution. The latter allows for military assistance to public security institutions to fight terrorism, arms trafficking and organized crime. Even before the coup, the military had expressed its desire to fight drug trafficking. Most recently, newly elected Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, with U.S. support, agreed with the heads of the Armed Forces to increase the fight against narcotrafficking in Honduras.
More worrisome are executive and congressional decrees issued in May and June of 2010, respectively, ordering the Army to assist police forces. The Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IACHR) raised alarm over the instructions established by the Executive decree: the military will provide police forces with military personnel and equipment to help them carry out their functions. The congressional decree goes even further by ordering the Army to assist the police in stopping the violence in the country. This is a clear indication that a militarization of policing is taking place in Honduras, reasserting the role of the military as a superior force relied upon to solve any type of problem.
Social order repression: The recent coup signaled how the Armed Forces are being used as a praetorian force that responds to the interest of a powerful political and economic sector of Honduras. As such, they are being used as a tool of social order, particularly to repress demonstrations and people opposed to the Micheletti regime and to the current Lobo government.
It is no surprise then that since the coup, accusations of human rights violations have emerged, which have been documented by national and international organizations. According to Honduran human rights groups, between 36 and 46 social activists were assassinated since the coup and the inauguration of Porfirio Lobo on January 27, 2010. The military is implicated in at least ten of these assassinations according to the Honduran Human Rights Committee (CODEH). The Micheletti regime militarized Honduran society and, in the IAHCR’s words, criminalized dissent “by creating a climate of insecurity and terror.”
Between June 28, 2009 and October 10, 2009 alone, the Honduran security forces were responsible for 3,033 detentions according to the Honduran Committee of Relatives of the Detained Disappeared (COFADEH). The IAHCR added:
“The materiel and tactics that the Army, the Police and the Cobra Command Strike Force deployed revealed a disproportionate use of force. This, combined with the conditions in which detainees were incarcerated, meant that thousands of persons endured inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment. In this context, the aggressive tactics used took a particularly heavy toll on women, who in many cases were victims of sexual violence. Other minority groups like the Garifuna, members of the gay community and foreign nationals were the target of discriminatory practices.”
More recently, the military have been deployed in rural areas to evict and capture peasants accused of illegally occupying lands. Army and police personnel have been active in the Guadalupe, Carney and Carbonales communities, commonly referred to as the Bajo Aguán, in order to prevent more illegal land takeovers. Despite an agreement between President Lobo and the peasant movement (MUCA), the Honduran government granted the military the ability to provide support and even replace the police in the region. In April, WOLA published a statement raising an alarm on the militarization of Bajo Aguán.
Another example of the participation of the military in social order tasks is the closure of a community radio station by a military contingent of 300 men in the community of Puerto Grande and other towns in the south of Honduras, where they were sent with the order to apprehend five leaders from the Movimiento de Recuperación y Titulación de Tierras de Zacate Grande.
Lack of civilian control and military subordination: The growing, multipurpose role of the military in Honduras demonstrates a lack of civilian control and military subordination to the democratically elected authorities. The Armed Forces have always had a strong presence in politics and Honduran presidents in general have had a hard time imposing their policies on the military. They end up negotiating with the armed forces in order to be able to govern without obstacles. There seems to be an unofficial “rite of passage” in which elected presidents need to pact with the military to be able to rule with their consent. According to Salomón, "the forms that this [takes] have ranged from paying for favors to salary hikes and other mechanisms to keep them happy."
Another aspect signaling the armed forces’ power is the lack of legal proceedings initiated against the military, in spite of numerous accusations of human rights violations. This is part of a larger problem of impunity in Honduras. Only one person has been convicted for human rights abuses so far and 12 have been indicted, even though IACHR and the UNHCHR have reported on dozens of clear cases of violations.
In addition, there are growing indicators of military presence in traditionally civilian sections of the Lobo government. Two high-ranking military leaders at the time of the coup now hold important positions in the administration: Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez manages Hondutel, the government-owned telecommunications company, and Gen. Venancio Cervantes is the head of Honduras’ Directorate of Migration. Both Vásquez and Cervantes are still actively serving generals in the Honduran Armed Forces. This means they are under a hierarchy of command, and are thus not independent to exercise their functions.
All of this points out the lack of civilian control, oversight and leadership over the military, and in contrast, the autonomy and power that the Armed Forces hold. This is aggravated by a lack of strong civilian institutions and civilian authorities with knowledge and expertise on military and defense issues. In a Latin American Security Network (RESDAL) publication from before the coup, Leticia Salomón already stressed that the Defense Secretariat had not exhibited strong civilian leadership over defense and military matters in Honduras. The legislature’s Defense Committee had a general unawareness of the issue and exercised barely any control over any defense issues. This has not changed since, but these mechanisms of civilian control are more urgently needed now.
U.S.-Honduran military relations: Immediately after the coup d’état, the United States suspended military relations with Honduras. Once Pepe Lobo was inaugurated on January 27, the Southern Command reinitiated military to military cooperation with the Central American country by delivering 25 trucks for the army and providing military education to Honduran soldiers.
The U.S. government should be sensitive to the role the Honduran Armed Forces is playing in Honduras since the coup, and do more to encourage stronger civilian control of the military, the demilitarization of Honduran society and a thorough investigation and prosecution of human rights violations that have occurred in the last year. Of all the urgent needs Honduras has right now, military aid is one of the least important. Instead, the United States should provide aid for social and economic needs, as well as assisting Honduras to develop civilian capacity and leadership over the military.