US embassy cable - 03TEGUCIGALPA1109

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001109 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT. FOR INL/LP, DRL/PHD, AND WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, PGOV, KCRM, KJUS, PHUM, ECON, HO 
SUBJECT: TROUBLE IN PARADISE:  HONDURAN BAY ISLAND OF 
GUANAJA A HOT-SPOT FOR NARCOTRAFFICKING 
 
 
1. (U)  SUMMARY: The Honduran Bay Islands of Roatan, Utila, 
and Guanaja are well known narcotrafficking transit points 
and home to countless other illicit activities.  Due to the 
large tourism industry on Roatan and Utila, the GOH has 
chosen to focus its limited counternarcotics resources 
primarily on these two islands.  Guanaja, however, has not 
received the much needed resources to combat its ever-growing 
narcotics problem.  The least developed of the Bay Islands, 
Guanaja's limited infrastructure and services have served to 
be a deterrent to tourism.  Additionally, unemployment is 
widespread, creating a safehaven on Guanaja for 
narcotraffickers and organized crime families.  Drug abuse 
among the 6,000 islanders has greatly increased and all 
indications suggest that this trend will continue. END SUMMARY 
 
2. (U)  The Honduran Bay Islands of Roatan, Utila, and 
Guanaja are well known narcotrafficking transit points and 
home to countless other illicit activities.  Roughly 85 
percent of Guanaja's adult population uses crack, cocaine, or 
marijuana according to a recent El Heraldo newspaper report. 
Casual drug use can be observed openly in public, and even 
children as young as 8 years old are known to be regular drug 
users.  The widespread usage of illegal substances may be due 
to the high unemployment rate on the island.  Tourism also 
remains depressed and the fishing industry is not at a 
sustainable level for many families to subsist on.  Thus, 
some people have found employment with the narcotraffickers 
and are often paid in the form of drugs rather than cash, 
creating a cycle of drug abuse. 
 
3. (U)  Honduras is not usually the ultimate destination for 
narcotrafficking transactions, but rather a transit point. 
Much of the product that transits through Guanaja originates 
in South America and is destined for the Cayman Islands and 
the United States.  The most common means of transportation 
in the area of Guanaja is maritime, although planes are also 
used.  Drug runners use 200 horsepower boats that easily 
surpass the 100 horsepower boats used by the Honduran police 
and Navy.  It is common for abandoned packages and boats to 
be found near Guanaja when the traffickers are alerted of the 
presence of authorities.  This in turn makes prosecution 
highly difficult and unlikely. 
 
4. (U)  The narcotraffickers are protected by the inhabitants 
of Guanaja through methods of terror and assault.  Also, the 
undersupported police authorities of the island do not have 
the manpower to patrol, capture, and prosecute known 
traffickers.  According to the Director of National Police, 
Coralia Rivera, the effectiveness of the police force is 
minimized because they need boats, planes, and helicopters to 
enforce narcotrafficking laws, and these resources are just 
not available. 
 
5. (SBU)  COMMENT:  In a recent letter to the Ambassador, the 
Mayor of Guanaja pleaded for some form of direct U.S. 
counternarcotics assistance to combat the presence of drug 
traffickers.  There are recent reports that a fed-up local 
population, acting in a vigilante-style campaign, attacked 
and destroyed the house of a well known drug trafficker. 
Until more resources become available to law enforcement 
agencies in Guanaja, the island will remain very vulnerable 
to the corruption of crime bosses and influential 
narcotraffickers.  Furthermore, much of its population will 
continue to support such activities both through the use of 
narcotics and the protection they provide to the traffickers. 
 This problem is not just that of a small island of 6,000 
inhabitants, but indicative of the larger problem Honduras 
faces as more and more of its territory is compromised by the 
drug trade.  Post believes that additional USG 
counternarcotics resources should be directed at areas like 
Guanaja in order to fight the larger war on drugs.  END 
COMMENT 
 
Palmer