Word: suazo
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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...
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...
...talks with the government's representatives continued, the guerrillas apparently dropped some of their demands, including a call for U.S. military advisers to leave the country. President Roberto Suazo Córdova, after visiting the scene, predicted a peaceful end to the standoff. So it was. At week's end, the guerrillas released their last 34 hostages and were flown out of the country to an undisclosed destination...
...obvious danger in Honduras' new antiguerrilla campaign is that Suazo Cordova and Alvarez will seek to suppress subversion too zealously while trampling on the citizenry. Some Hondurans are already alarmed at Decree 33, an antiterrorist law that Suazo Córdova has pushed through the National Assembly. A countervailing danger is that antiguerrilla efforts by the 14,000-member Honduran armed forces will prove ineffective, leading to an increase in guerrilla activities within the country. "Honduras is poor," notes one prominent diplomat in Tegucigalpa. "If [its leaders] want to play this game, they'd better be damn sure...