US embassy cable - 04TEGUCIGALPA467

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 000467 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CEN, AND WHA/PPC 
STATE FOR INL, INL/LP, INR/B, AND INR/AN/IAA 
STATE PASS AID FOR LAC/CEN AND DCHA/DG/ROL 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, KJUS, KCRM, ECON, EFIN, PHUM, PINR, HO 
SUBJECT: ANTI-CORRUPTION UPDATE: MADURO INVITES TRANSPARENCY 
INTERNATIONAL TO REVIEW HONDURAN EFFORTS 
 
REF: 03 TEGUCIGALPA 2844 
 
     03 TEGUCIGALPA 2938 
 
1. (U) Summary:  In a February 25 private briefing with 
international donors, the Transparency International (TI) 
delegation, led by TI Vice Chair of the Board of Directors 
Rosa Ines Ospina from Colombia, acknowledged positive anti- 
corruption efforts by President Ricardo Maduro's 
administration and also outlined necessary additional steps 
that Honduras must take to fully address the deep-rooted 
nature of corruption in the country.  Ospina praised the 
pending constitutional amendment to revoke immunity for 
legislators and public officials as a path-breaking 
development, which would make Honduras the first country in 
the world to subject legislators directly to the jurisdiction 
of the judicial system.  Minister of the Presidency Luis 
Cosenza highlighted the government's position that its anti- 
corruption efforts were not in response to the TI visit but 
part of an ongoing national commitment to combat corruption. 
He pledged that the Government of Honduras (GOH) would 
correct the error it had made in not signing the UN Anti- 
Corruption Convention last December in Merida, Mexico.  End 
Summary 
 
2. (U) A Transparency International (TI) delegation lead by 
Rosa Ines Ospina, a TI Chapter head from Colombia, visited 
Honduras on February 24 and 25.  The Maduro administration 
invited TI to Honduras last fall to review the new anti- 
corruption measures the GOH has put into place.   Minister of 
the Presidency Luis Cosenza highlighted the government's 
position that its anti-corruption efforts were not in 
response to the TI visit but part of an ongoing national 
commitment to combat corruption.  He declared that the 
government viewed TI as an ally in that battle.  Cosenza 
added that the GOH hoped that TI would help identify other 
measures and processes that would make the GOH's anti- 
corruption programs more effective. 
 
3. (U) In a February 25 private briefing with international 
donors as well as in public comments, Ospina acknowledged 
positive anti-corruption efforts by President Ricardo 
Maduro's administration, and then outlined necessary 
additional steps that Honduras must take to fully address the 
deep-rooted nature of its corruption problem (ref A).  She 
added that the government's job in this area was not just to 
eliminate corruption but to create public confidence that 
corruption would not be permitted.  Ospina singled out the 
pending constitutional amendment to revoke immunity for 
legislators and public officials as a path-breaking 
development which would make Honduras the first country in 
the world to subject legislators directly to the jurisdiction 
of the judicial system.  She added that the criminal 
procedures code reform that instituted oral public trials was 
an important improvement as was the GOH's use of the UN 
Development Program to award government contracts, commenting 
that this was a positive development but that she hoped this 
would only be a temporary solution. 
 
4. (U) Ospina also said that the challenge of reversing 
corrupt practices was not only the responsibility of the 
central government.  She suggested that the Honduran 
congress, political parties, judicial system, media, private 
sector, and civil society had to be engaged in the effort. 
Ospina lauded the work of the National Anti-Corruption 
Commission, but urged the GOH to follow through on more 
specific projects, such as ensuring that the general public 
has greater access to government records.  Ospina warned the 
Honduran public of the danger drug trafficking represents to 
anti-corruption programs.  She said that it is a grave and 
difficult problem that destroys human lives.  Finally, she 
flagged TI's concern about the problem of impunity and its 
widespread perception, which needed to be better addressed by 
the judicial system. 
 
5. (U) In separate public comments, Ospina criticized the 
Honduran private sector for not being committed to the fight 
against corruption.  She charged that the Honduran private 
sector "is disposed to offer, disposed to pay, and willing to 
put its own particular interests above the common interest." 
She stressed that the private sector had a special 
responsibility to self-regulate its own practices and adopt 
ethical standards, which would prevent the acceptance of 
corrupt practices in private and public transactions. 
 
6. (SBU) Minister of the Presidency Cosenza, during his joint 
press conference with the TI representative, responded to 
Ospina's comment that Honduras had failed to sign the UN Anti- 
Corruption Convention last December in Merida, Mexico (ref 
B).  Cosenza explained that Honduras had made an involuntary 
omission in failing to sign.  He pledged that the GOH would 
soon correct the error it had made.  He privately told Ospina 
that the GOH, specifically Cosenza himself, had erred in 
circulating the UN Convention to the Supreme Court and 
Solicitor General for a full legal opinion on whether or not 
the GOH should ratify the convention rather than the more 
limited review as to whether or not the GOH could merely sign 
it.  (Comment:  According to MFA sources, the reason Honduras 
did not originally sign the convention was due to the belief 
that the convention contains wording to the effect that if 
one country cancels a person's visa because of corruption 
charges, allegations, etc., all signatory countries of the 
convention must also cancel their visas.  End Comment) 
 
7. (U) Comment: Ospina also explained that this visit by TI 
would not necessarily result in an improved ranking for 
Honduras in the next TI Index.  She said the Index is based 
on survey results from diverse business and government 
sources, not on the results of a TI visit.  Ospina also 
stated that there was not yet a TI chapter operating in 
Honduras because TI has not been able to identify an 
individual or group independent enough to fulfill the TI 
charter.  Ospina did, however, go out of her way to praise 
Cardinal Rodriguez's work on the National Anti-Corruption 
Commission as being a very valuable contribution to the anti- 
corruption effort. 
 
8. (U) Comment continued:  Interestingly, at least one 
newspaper account focused part of its coverage on hostile 
press questions about the damage TI had done to Honduras by 
placing it as the most corrupt country in Central America and 
among the worst in the Western Hemisphere.  After patiently 
explaining that the TI rankings were merely a reflection of 
evaluations provided by organizations and businesses 
operating in Honduras, Ospina became exasperated, according 
to one news account, and remarked that it appeared that she 
was having a conversation with the deaf.  This coverage 
reflects widespread confusion in Honduras about TI's role 
and, more troubling, denial in some Honduran quarters about 
the extent of the corruption problem.  End Comment. 
 
Palmer