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DE RUEHTG #1283 3452117
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O 112117Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1306
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UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001283 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PGOV PHUM HO
SUBJECT: TFH01: DISARMAMENT DECREE CONTINUED AS CRIME 
INCREASES 
 
REF: A. TEGUCIGALPA 1268 
     ¶B. TEGUCIGALPA 1217 
     ¶C. TEGUCIGALPA 1114 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The de facto regime will keep in effect 
through January 2010 the disarmament decree it enacted on 
November 21.  Violent crime continues to rise in Honduras and 
its rate is the highest in Latin America.  Honduran police 
believe trans-national gangs have taken advantage of the 
country's political crisis to intensify its activities.  The 
Honduran national police has largely abandoned its fight 
against international crime and deployed most of its 
resources to Tegucigalpa in an effort to maintain order and 
repress the opposition.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In a follow-up to Ref B, the Embassy has confirmed 
that the disarmament decree enacted by the de facto regime on 
November 21, days before the November 29 general election, 
will remain in effect through January 2010 to counter the 
significant rise in violent crime that has taken place in 
¶2009.  Despite the decree, however, violence has continued, 
contrary to de facto regime claims to the press.  On December 
6 alone, over 20 people were killed in incidents of violence, 
a figure police contacts have called "unprecedented."  On 
December 8, gunmen on motorcycles assassinated Honduran 
Anti-Narcotics police director Aristides Gonzalez in a 
daytime attack in Tegucigalpa, only blocks away from the U.S. 
Embassy and the Security Ministry (Ref A).  And in a 
separate, unrelated incident, retired Colonel Osiris 
O'Connor, co-owner of a large security company and cousin of 
de facto regime leader Micheletti was murdered in a rural 
area of Colon Department.  Police analysts informed Embassy 
employee they do not believe O'Connor's murder was 
politically motivated, but expressed concern that it was the 
third killing of a private security company owner in a short 
time span.  They also noted the passenger in O'Connor's car 
at the time was the father of a local 18th Street Gang 
leader. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Overall, violent crime continues to increase.  UNDP 
is projecting the 2009 homicide rate will exceed 60 per 
100,000 population, up from a 2008 rate of 58 per 200,000, 
which was the highest in Latin America and one of the highest 
in the world.  Anti-gang police have told Embassy employees 
they believe the transnational gangs have taken advantage of 
the Honduran political crisis to wage a gang war over 
territorial control (Ref C).  The Honduran national police 
has largely abandoned its fight against international crime 
and deployed most of its resources to Tegucigalpa in an 
effort to maintain order and repress the opposition. Embassy 
employees have seen significant reductions in police staffing 
at border control posts and neighborhood police precincts, 
and the Director of the National Police Academy informed 
Embassy employee that the Academy was not conducting training 
of recruits during the crisis, all in order to redirect 
personnel to controlling demonstrations. 
LLORENS