<snip> In an article published in the Wall Street Journal titled, “U.S. Diplomat is at Center of Debate over Power of Iraq Envoy,” Carla Anne Robbins gives an accurate portrayal of Negroponte. Beginning in 1981 and concluding in 1985, Negroponte served as the U.S. ambassador to Honduras. During his tenure he was often referred to as “the proconsul,” a title given to a powerful administrator in a colonial empire. Robbins went on to further explain the title: “Negroponte’s influence, backed by huge amounts of U.S. aid, was so great that it was said he far outweighed the country’s president and that his only real rival was Honduras’ military chief.”
Negroponte was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve in Honduras. During his ambassadorship, he helped strengthen the right-wing military dictatorship ruling the country while concurrently overseeing a rise in U.S. military aid from $4 million dollars to $77.4 million. Such a dramatic rise in aid came as a direct result of the Sandinista revolution that took control in Nicaragua, a country in close proximity to Honduras. Washington believed the revolution represented such an imminent threat that they started a covert war against the entire country, including the Nicaraguan citizenry (civilian deaths alone have been estimated in the tens of thousands). Honduras, under “Proconsul” Negroponte, proved to be a great vantage point to train Contras to terrorize Nicaragua.
As ambassador, Negroponte supervised the building of El Aguacate air base, which served as a central location for the United States to train Nicaraguan Contras. This facility also served a dual role as a center for torture and secret detentions. In August 2001, excavations around the base unearthed 185 corpses, including two Americans. Records also show that a particularly brutal part of the Honduran armed forces, Battalion 316, which was trained by both the CIA and Argentine military, consistently kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed hundreds of people. <snip>
Nicaragua finally brought its case in front of the World Court in 1984, in response to America’s state-sponsored terrorism. The Court found in favor of Nicaragua and ordered the U.S. to cease its “unlawful use of force.” Washington responded by ignoring the Court decision and then vetoed two U.N. Security Council resolutions, which affirmed the Court’s decision and called on all countries to observe international law. <snip>
http://www.collegiatetimes.com/index.php?ID=5383
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
