VZCZCXYZ0005
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTG #1247/01 1982131
ZNY SSSSS ZZH (CCY DTG ADX:00E6E7BA MSI6833 614)
P 192131Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6422
INFO RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0153

S E C R E T TEGUCIGALPA 001247 
 
SIPDIS 
 
C O R R E C T E D C O P Y (DTG CHANGED FROM 7/17 TO 7/19) 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR D, WHA/CEN, CA/VO/L/C AND CA/VO/L/A 
NSC FOR DAN FISK 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/19/2017 
TAGS: CVIS PGOV PREL HO
SUBJECT: SELECTION OF NEW HONDURAN AMBASSADOR TO THE UN RAISES VISA ISSUES
 
REF: STATE 98124 
 
Classified By: AMB. CHARLES FORD. REASONS 1.4(B) AND (D). 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Jorge Arturo Reina, the current Minister of Government and Justice, was nominated by President Zelaya to represent Honduras as the ambassador to the United Nations. To assume his duties at the United Nations, Reina will need a G-1 visa to travel to the United States. To obtain that visa, he must first undergo a Security Advisory Opinion for an OO hit, and Advisory Opinion for an NCIII hit and apply for a waiver as he is currently ineligible for a visa under section 212(a)(3)(B) for past terrorist activities. Reina has a long history of involvement with Communist-inspired revolutionary groups and anti-American activities. Although he may have left his radical student days behind, his family is involved in the sale of passports and human smuggling of Chinese immigrants. Zelaya's naming of Reina to the United Nations, knowing Reina's history and that his previous visa was revoked, appears to be designed as a sign of his independence from the United States. Given the serious nature of Reina's past activities, any request for a waiver must be thoroughly reviewed. END SUMMARY.
 
¶2. (U) President Zelaya selected his current Minister of 
Government and Justice, Jorge Arturo Reina (Reina), as the 
new Honduran ambassador to the United Nations on July 18, 
replacing Ivan Romero Martinez. Zelaya picked Reina as his 
new U.N. Ambassador despite knowing, along with the rest of 
the Honduran public, that Reina's previous U.S. visa was 
revoked. Zelaya stated that this nomination was a "protest 
for Honduran sovereignty" and that Reina's previous visa 
problems should have no effect on Reina's ability to 
represent Honduras before the United Nations as the U.S. must 
issue a visa to each member's representative. Zelaya also 
stated that during his visit with Secretary Rice on July 10, 
he notified her of the impending nomination and that the 
Secretary did not raise any objections. With the appointment, 
it is expected that the GOH will apply for a waiver and an 
eventual G-1 visa on behalf of Reina to allow him to travel 
to the United Nations in New York City. 
 
---------------------- 
Reina's Visa Problem 
---------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Jorge Arturo Reina is currently ineligible for a visa 
under section 212(a)(3)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality 
Act based on his links and involvement with terrorist 
activities in the 1970s and 1980s. In addition, there is 
currently a "00" hit associated with his name which requires 
the submission of a Security Advisory Opinion for review by 
the Department and other interested agencies prior to ruling 
on the visa application. Finally, there also exists a NCIII 
hit from the Federal Bureau of Investigation indicating past 
criminal activity in the U.S. that would also have to be 
cleared through CA/VO/L/A. 
 
¶4. (C) In the mid-1990s, Reina obtained a waiver and 
eventually a B1/B2 visa with the restriction that he provide 
an itinerary for each trip to the U.S. While serving as a 
Minister without Portfolio and Advisor to his brother, 
ex-President Carlos Roberto Reina  (1994 - 1998), Reina 
obtained an A-1 visa with the same restriction and the 
original tourist visa was canceled.  He traveled numerous 
times to the United States but failed to comply with the 
restrictions prompting the Department to eventually revoke 
his visa. He later received two single-entry B1/B2 visas, for 
family medical reasons, to travel to the United States. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Links to Terrorist and Criminal Activities 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (S/NF) As a student in the 1950s, Reina was a Communist 
sympathizer and traveled to Moscow in 1957. Following 
deportation to Costa Rica in the early 1960s after the 
military coup in Honduras, Reina spent his months in exile 
trying to organize armed resistance to the Honduran 
government and unsuccessfully sought money and arms from 
Fidel Castro in Cuba. He was allowed to return to Honduras in 
1964 where he continued his organizational efforts and was 
involved in left-wing student activities. Reina's involvement 
included storing a cache of weapons on behalf of the Liberal 
Party who used those weapons in their instigation of strikes 
and public demonstrations to overthrow the military 
government. He was widely believed to be a Soviet and/or 
Cuban agent at that time. 
 
¶6. (S/NF) While a teacher and later Rector of the University 
of Honduras (UNAH), he was instrumental in organizing 
students and faculty to provide both moral and material 
support to the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. During this time he 
continued to speak out against the U.S.'s role in Central 
America and was linked to supplying unknown persons with hand 
grenades to be used against Standard Fruit Company. An 
admirer of the Cuban Revolution, Reina traveled 
surreptitiously to Cuba a number of times in the early 1980s 
to meet with other revolutionaries and was suspected of 
supplying arms to rebels in El Salvador during that country's 
civil war. Post also received information in 1980 that Reina 
was made aware of, and eventually approved, a plan by a 
terrorist organization to kidnap a U.S. official. 
 
¶7. (S/NF) Reina's involvement in criminal activities did not 
end with his entry into the Honduran government. The current 
Director of Immigration, German Espinal, a trusted ally in 
the fight against corruption, has linked Reina's son, Carlos 
Eduardo Reina, a local businessman, to the sale of passports 
and other identity documents to Chinese immigrants who 
presumably intend to travel to the United States. While Reina 
is not directly involved in this human smuggling operation, 
he is believed to receive money from those sales to use his 
position in the GOH to protect his son's illegal activities 
and shield him from investigation. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
This Nomination Just One More Provocation 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (C) Zelaya's nomination of Reina appears to be part of his 
ongoing efforts to press the USG on a range of issues to 
determine what if any consequences he will see from bad 
policy choices. Like a small boy poking a hornets' nest with 
a stick, Zelaya keeps jabbing at the USG to see what the 
reaction will be. His most recent "pokes" include his 
on-again/off-again visit to Cuba to meet with Castro and 
strengthen Honduran/Cuban relations; granting permission to 
the Cuban airline, Aerocarribean, to begin service to 
Honduras; his trip to Managua, Nicaragua to help celebrate 
the anniversary of the Sandinista Revolution with President 
Ortega; and his public desire for friendship with Hugo 
Chavez. Zelaya has yet to suffer any adverse consequences for 
his actions and he will continue to act in this manner to see 
how far he can go. 
 
¶9. (C) Another example of this tendency to test limits is his 
statement that Secretary Rice had no objection to Reina's 
nomination. This subject was not raised in his meeting with 
the Secretary, but rather with Deputy Secretary Negroponte on 
July 10 (see reftel). Zelaya informed the Deputy Secretary of 
the impending appointment but at no point did the Deputy 
Secretary state that the USG was in agreement or that it 
opposed the naming of Reina. Instead, Zelaya took the lack of 
response as approval. 
 
¶10. (C) COMMENT. Jorge Arturo Reina's past history with 
terrorist and criminal activities, and his ongoing acceptance 
of his family's involvement in human smuggling, raises 
serious issues that need to be considered prior to the 
granting of a waiver for a G-1 visa, especially with regard 
to the nature of any restrictions on the G-1 visa that would 
be appropriate. Post is concerned that the approval of the 
waiver and visa without serious consideration of conditions 
will only encourage Zelaya to continue testing the USG as to 
the outer limits of how far he can go in his relationship 
with the ALBA entities. END COMMENT. 
FORD