Word: suazo
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...choice of Honduras was yet another sign of that country's growing role in the Reagan Administration's Central American strategy. Since 1982, the government of President Roberto Suazo Córdova, 56, has allowed American-backed anti-Sandinista rebels to use Honduras as a staging ground for raids into Nicaragua. The U.S. has built new concrete runways capable of landing C-130 military transport planes and has installed a radar station on Tiger Island in the Gulf of Fonseca, while 6,000 Honduran soldiers, roughly half the nation's army, are being taught American field tactics...
Much of the anxious talk in Tegucigalpa centers on one man: General Gustavo Alvarez Martínez, 45, the fervently anti-Communist commander in chief of the Honduran armed forces. When Roberto Suazo Córdova was sworn in last year as Honduras' first civilian President in a decade, Alvarez vowed that the army would be at the service of the state. But growing U.S. military involvement in Honduras may have weighted the delicate power balance in favor of Alvarez. Critics argue that Alvarez, who was scheduled to visit Washington this week, now plays such an important role...
Fearful that leftist radicals might try to exploit Honduras' domestic woes, Alvarez began to crack down on terrorists after the inauguration of Suazo in January 1982. The Argentine-trained Alvarez seemed to be adopting the same tactics the military junta in Buenos Aires used in its "dirty war" against leftist terrorists in the 1970s. According to human rights activists, 34 people have been murdered and an additional five have disappeared under mysterious circumstances. In April, paramilitary squads gunned down three trade-union leaders. Says Ramón Custodio López, a doctor who helped found the Honduran Commission...
From San Jose, Reagan flew to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. He never left the airport there. He and President Roberto Suazo Cordova spoke together in a conference room, walked to a hangar and read boilerplate speeches. Suazo Cordova, who presides over Central America's poorest country, wants $100 million in U.S. aid to retire 75% of the Honduran budget deficit. Honduras has a strong claim on American largesse: it has lately been a staging area for U.S.-backed anti-Sandinista forces. Reagan met Guatemala's Rios Montt (who had flown to Honduras earlier) for a brief talk. Then...
...operation has already had unfortunate side effects on Honduras' fragile democracy. After years of military rule, the Hondurans elected Roberto Suazo Cordova last January as their first civilian President since 1971. The troubles in neighboring countries have given Chief of the Armed Forces Gustavo Alvarez Martinez an excuse to extend his authority. He has won changes in the constitution that broaden his power, and is using the threat of a Sandinista invasion to bolster his military forces and consolidate his power within the country...