"Terrorism" in Honduras according to State

On August 5th, the Country Reports on Terrorism 2009 were issued. Take a look at Chapter 2. Country Reports: Western Hemisphere Overview. Here's the section on Honduras:

The Honduran government continued to implement steps in accordance with its 2007 National Security Strategy, which included counterterrorism as an objective, and stressed regional and international cooperation. For example, in November, the Honduran Armed Forces (HOAF) and the Honduran National Police (HNP) took steps towards the creation of a Joint Interagency Task Force. This joint task force should improve inter-agency intelligence cooperation and should decrease illicit trafficking and minimize terrorist threats within the country.
Organized crime and illicit trafficking organizations and networks were strong and potentially ripe for exploitation by terrorists intent on entering and attacking the United States. While there was no conclusive evidence that terrorist groups worked with illicit trafficking organizations, the United States continued to assist the HOAF and HNP with their counterterrorism efforts in order to prevent terrorist groups from exploiting illicit trafficking networks. The Honduran military lacked sufficient resources, and the police and judiciary were spread thin, poorly trained, and susceptible to threats and corruption. In the first half of the year, before a coup d’etat took place, the United States continued to provide the HOAF and HNP with training, equipment, and base construction, which dramatically improved their ability to interdict illicit trafficking and protect the country against terrorist threats. In response to the June 28 coup, however, the U.S. government suspended all counterterrorism training pending restoration of the democratic, constitutional order.
There were no known instances of terrorist organizations using Honduras’s financial system to deposit or launder funds. Prior to the coup, Honduran cooperation with the United States on combating terrorist financing was strong. The Honduran Banking and Insurance Commission, instructed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, promptly sent freeze orders to the entire regulated financial sector every time the United States amended Executive Order lists. Financial entities, particularly the commercial banks, undertook the requested searches for accounts by terrorist entities. There were no amendments to the Executive Order lists after the coup that required notification of the Honduran government.
There was no indication of terrorist groups using illegal immigration networks. Over the past five years, however, smuggling rings have been detected moving people from East Africa (in particular Somalia in 2009), the Middle East, and Southwest Asia to Honduras or through its territory. Nationals of countries without Honduran visa requirements, especially Ecuador and Colombia, were involved in schemes to transit Honduras, often with the United States and Europe as their final destination. Foreign nationals have successfully obtained valid Honduran identity cards and passports under their own or false identities.

Funny how the MILITARY COUP only shows up half way through the second paragraph (with the military part omitted, as per State's utterly ridiculous official position), after the Honduran military and police (the same ones who by that the time had carried out roughly 4,000 documented human rights violations against Hondurans who resisted the dictatorship) are lauded for taking steps towards the creation of a Joint Interagency Task Force last November. And incidentally, they lie. Or at least seriously mislead. The Honduran military officers who were at the School of the Americas on June 28th, 2009 continued to receive their training weeks after the coup had been carried out.

It all makes you wonder how they define a terrorist. Lucky for us, they clarify that in the final paragraph of the section...

people from East Africa (in particular Somalia in 2009), the Middle East, and Southwest Asia

I mean, nobody's going to be surprised about the terrorist label, which is used both for anything faintly Muslim and for anyone resisting state violence (in an increasingly overlapping fashion with delincuente, the predominant term used for criminalizing poverty and dissent in Honduras). And guess who else is on that boat? Why, SOUTHCOM and FIU, of course! Along with its country studies, the alliance's other main focus has been Latin America and the Middle East. SOUTHCOM and its academic whitewashers with their over-representation in Washington coordinate with the State Department of course...and now more than ever, as I'll detail in my next post on inter-agency cooperation.

And meanwhile, with all Honduras's excessive U.S.military aid and training (my tax dollars, my "democracy"), drug dealers who don't happen to be within the military are still getting away with things like this. It's almost as if they're all in cahoots.

Fuente:  quotha.net/node/1310