US embassy cable - 03TEGUCIGALPA2266

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 002266 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR INL/LP, WHA/CEN, AND WHA/PPC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, PGOV, KCRM, KJUS, PHUM, ECON, HO 
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT MADURO TALKS DRUGS IN COLOMBIA WHILE 
POLICE NAB ANOTHER 20 KILOS 
 
1. On September 16 President Maduro met with Colombian 
President Alvaro Uribe in Cartagena, Colombia to discuss 
better coordination between the two nations' counterdrug 
efforts.  Honduras is a major transshipment zone for illicit 
narcotics making their way north from Colombia to U.S. 
shores, although drug use is growing rapidly within Honduras. 
 This year, Honduras has experienced an alarming increase in 
illicit air-tracks, many of which originate from Colombia. 
 
2. According to Honduran press reports, President Uribe 
assured Maduro that recent interdiction efforts coordinated 
with the USG should have a significant impact on the amount 
of illicit air-tracks originating from Colombia.  (NOTE: 
Ostensibly, Uribe was referring to Colombia's new air bridge 
denial shoot-down policy.  END NOTE)  Uribe also indicated to 
Maduro that Colombia would increase counterdrug coordination 
with Honduras, but according to Minister of Defense Federico 
Breve, the details are yet to be worked out. (COMMENT:  We 
understand from GOH officials this exchange was the first 
discussion of such cooperation between the two governments. 
END COMMENT) 
 
3.  In the interim, two more drug traffickers were arrested 
September 20 near the Copan ruins in possession of eleven 
kilos of cocaine, which police discovered hidden in the gas 
tank of one of the suspect's vehicles.  Both suspects (Ilder 
Mejia and Wilmer Orlando Tabora) are Guatemalan citizens. 
Also confiscated were three cellular phones, a 45-caliber 
pistol, and some USD 1,940 in Honduran currency. 
 
4. Honduran Frontier Police also made their first drug 
seizure at the INL funded Container Freight Tracking System 
(CFTS) facility in Pavana which opened this April. A routine 
search of a passenger bus which originated from Costa Rica 
yielded nine kilos of cocaine, dispersed among three Honduran 
passengers. The INL Canine Unit alerted police to the 
presence of the drugs. 
PIERCE