US embassy cable - 03TEGUCIGALPA1863

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001863 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CEN, WHA/PPC, IO, AND INR/B 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/07/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PINS, PINR, ECON, HO 
SUBJECT: REPLACING PEREZ-CADALSO: HONDURAS SEEKS NEW 
FOREIGN MINISTER 
 
REF: A. TEGUCIGALPA 1778 
 
     B. TEGUCIGALPA 1108 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Roger Pierce; 
Reasons 1.5 (B) and (D) 
 
1. (U) SUMMARY: Guillermo Perez-Cadalso Arias, former 
Minister of Foreign Affairs, is being sworn in this week as 
the president of the National Autonomous University of 
Honduras (UNAH).  In order to make himself eligible for the 
position, Perez-Cadalso officially resigned as Foreign 
Minister on July 22, and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs 
Anibal Quinonez is now serving as the acting Minister. 
However, it is far from clear whether Quinonez will remain at 
the helm of the Foreign Ministry on a permanent basis.  Rumor 
has it that others, such as Ramon Medina Luna, President 
Ricardo Maduro's National Security Advisor, and Oswaldo Ramos 
Soto, an influential member of the National Congress, are 
also in the running for the position. END SUMMARY 
 
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Perez-Cadalso 
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2. (U) Guillermo Perez-Cadalso, former Minister of Foreign 
Affairs, is being sworn in this week as the president of the 
National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH).  On July 
22, in order to make himself available for the position, 
Perez-Cadalso presented his resignation to President Ricardo 
Maduro, who had appointed him Minister of Foreign Affairs in 
January 2002.  Perez-Cadalso was not pressured into quitting, 
and has actually coveted the position of UNAH president for 
some time.  The presidency of the university carries with it 
more domestic prestige, and Perez-Cadalso is an academic at 
heart, having led the UNAH's Law Department during the 1980s. 
 
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Quinonez and Other Possible Replacements 
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3. (SBU) Anibal Quinonez is the Honduran Vice Minister for 
Foreign Affairs, and current acting head of the Ministry. 
Born January 7, 1950, he received a undergraduate degree in 
law from UNAH and a Master's degree in International 
Relations from the University of El Salvador in Argentina. 
Quinonez entered the Honduran Foreign Service in 1973, and 
served in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, France, and Israel. 
In 1981 he was named Ambassador to Uruguay and served 
simultaneously as Non-Resident Ambassador to Paraguay until 
1983.  During his time in Uruguay, U.S. EmbOffs in Montevideo 
described him as a friend and admirer of the U.S.  Quinonez 
was named Ambassador to Japan in 1985, and during his 
nine-year stay in Tokyo he also served as the Non-Resident 
Ambassador to South Korea, Philippines, Thailand, and 
Singapore.  From 1995 to 1998 Quinonez served as the 
Director-General of Foreign Policy, and was named to his 
current post in 2002.  He has been an excellent contact of 
the Embassy in this position.  Quinonez is married and has 
four children. 
 
4. (S) Other names rumored to PolOffs as being in the running 
for the Minister position are Ramon Medina Luna and Oswaldo 
Ramos Soto.  Medina Luna was also mentioned at the beginning 
of President Maduro's term as a possible Minister of Foreign 
Affairs before being named National Security Advisor.  He is 
an experienced professional with considerable expertise in 
economic development and regional trade.  (Medina Luna is 
married for a second time; his wife is Nicaragua.  He has 
grown children from a previous marriage).  Ramos Soto being 
considered as a possible successor to Perez-Cadalso is a bit 
more surprising.  In April 1988 he allegedly incited a crowd 
that later burned down the Embassy annex after U.S. 
authorities captured (with Honduran Government approval) a 
Honduran narcotrafficker.  Ramos Soto, then president of the 
UNAH, claims that he neither proposed nor approved of the 
action; he contends he merely told the students who became 
the nucleus of the mob that he believed the U.S. action was 
illegal.  More recently, Ramos Soto raised eyebrows this 
spring when he used his position as the head of the National 
Congress' Commission on Constitutional Issues to advocate 
giving the Congress, rather than the Supreme Court, the power 
to interpret the constitution (ref B). 
 
5. (C) COMMENT:  While Quinonez would be a good choice, and 
Medina Luna acceptable, it would be difficult to work with 
Ramos Soto, who is from the "dark side" of the National 
Party, and about whom there are allegations of significant 
corruption.  The Maduro Administration seems to be in no 
hurry to name a replacement to Perez-Cadalso 
(correspondingly, GOH attendance at UNGA is still in flux). 
Recently rocked by the defection of the Christian Democrats 
from the ruling coalition (ref A), grumbling within his own 
National Party, the resignation of Maduro confidant Cesar 
Batres, and the ominous departure of the First Lady on a trip 
to Spain (septel), attention within the Administration is 
focused primarily on damage control.  Post will continue to 
monitor progress on any permanent replacement and will report 
accordingly.  END COMMENT. 
Pierce