US embassy cable - 02TEGUCIGALPA3429

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 003429 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. FOR INL/LP, WHA/PD AND WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, PREL, KCRM, KJUS, PHUM, HO 
SUBJECT: HERO OF THE WEEK -- INL PROGRAM SIGNLED OUT BY 
LOCAL NEWSPAPER 
 
REF: STATE 259957 
 
1.  Tegucigalpa's local El Heraldo newspaper singled out the 
December 18 signing of the INL face sheet amendment as a 
"hero" of the week.  The paper praised the U.S. as 
Wednesday's hero because the INL program donated 12.7 million 
lempiras (750K USD) to support the fight against drug 
trafficking in a signing ceremony with Vice President Armida 
de Lopez Contreras, who is also the head of the Honduran 
Government's National Commission to Fight Drug Trafficking. 
The newspaper chose the INL program donation for its regular 
daily feature in its December 19 edition and then re-ran the 
piece in its weekly summary in its Sunday, December 22 
edition as well. 
 
2.  The Mission's INL program officer and PAS office worked 
closely on the press release and PAS did an excellent job in 
spreading the good news.  PAS also posted the press release, 
photos from the ceremony, and the Ambassador's remarks on the 
Embassy web page.  Publicity from the event also caught the 
attention of other government ministers who were quick to 
approach the INL program officer for additional details on 
the distribution of the funds. 
 
3.  Post signed its face sheet amendment on December 18 in a 
signing ceremony with Vice President Armida de Lopez 
Contreras.  Funds will be sub-obligated expeditiously to 
various projects, as approved by INL in reftel. 
Palmer