US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA203

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEGUCIGALPA 000203 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR P, INL, L, WHA, WHA/PPC, AND WHA/CEN 
SOUTHCOM FOR GENERAL HILL 
JIATF-S FOR RADM SIROIS 
SECDEF FOR EFROTHINGHAM 
NSC FOR JBJOSTAD 
DOJ FOR MLWARREN AND DKOFFSKY 
ONDCP FOR BCRANE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/26/2014 
TAGS: SNAR, MOPS, PINS, PREL, MCAP, PINR, HO 
SUBJECT: MINISTER OF DEFENSE REVIEWING DECISION TO PROVIDE 
RULES OF ENGAGEMENT 
 
REF: A. TEGUCIGALPA 193 
 
     B. STATE 15961 
     C. TEGUCIGALPA 179 
     D. USDAO TEGUCIGALPA IIR 6 841 9971 04 (ALL NOTAL) 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Larry Palmer; 
Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C) On mid-afternoon of January 26 the Chief of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff of the Honduran Armed Forces informed USMILGP 
Commander that he would provide a written copy of the 
Honduran Air Force's rules of engagement for intercepting 
intruding civil aircraft violating Honduran airspace and for 
the use of live ammunition, including warning shots, against 
suspected narcotrafficking aircraft or other suspect aircraft 
flying in Honduran airspace.  He later called back to say 
that the requested documents had been referred to the 
Minister of Defense and MOD attorneys for a final review and 
decision on whether or not to release the information. 
Ambassador has a previously scheduled luncheon with the 
Minister of Defense for January 27 and will raise issue if 
documents are not received on January 26. 
 
2. (C) Once post receives documents in question, it will send 
a detailed cable January 27 specifying answers to questions 
raised in ref B and an informal Embassy translation of the 
rules of engagement. 
PALMER