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FM AMEMBASSY TEGUCIGALPA
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RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUMIAAA/USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
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RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TEGUCIGALPA 000169 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2020 
TAGS: ECON PGOV OVIP PREL HO
SUBJECT: ROHRABACHER CODEL 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) visited 
Honduras January 31-February 2 and called on Hondurans to 
"turn the page" on the political events of the summer. 
Congressman Rohrabacher commended the Honduran 
people for their commitment to democracy and said he would 
urge the U.S. government to re-instate revoked U.S. visas. 
Congressman Rohrabacher expressed concern that 
establishment of a "truth commission," as called for by the 
Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord, would have the effect of 
continuing to divide Hondurans.  Congressman Rohrabacher, 
who was accompanied by several American businessmen and 
investors, endorsed US investment and particularly lauded 
the benefits of the development of biofuel industry in 
Honduras. He  enthusiastically promoted a start-up biofuel 
company, SG Biofuels.   End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Congressman Dana Rohrabacher visited Honduras 
January 31-February 2, accompanied by President and 
Vice-President of SG Biofuels, Kirk Haney and Greg 
Simon-Miro; 
John Saunders and James Righeimer; and political consultant 
Mark Klugman.  The delegation met on February 1 with 
President 
Porfirio Lobo, who was accompanied by Secretary of State for 
Foreign Affairs Mario Canahuati; with President of Congress 
Juan Orlando Hernandez; and with Science Advisor to the 
President Ramon Espinoza.  The delegation met on February 2 
with President of the Supreme Court Jorge Alberto Rivera 
Aviles.  The Ambassador and the Embassy country team 
provided Congressman Rohrabacher with a briefing.  In 
addition to these official meetings, the delegation met 
independently and informally with several important actors 
in the Honduran political scene including: former President 
Ricardo Maduro; current Mayor of Tegucigalpa Ricardo 
Alvarez; businessmen Camilo Atala, Robert Vinelli and 
Richard Vinelli; and President of the Honduran Association 
of Small Renewal Energy Producers Elsia Paz. 
 
TURNING THE PAGE ON THE COUP D'ETAT 
 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Throughout his visit, Congressman Rohrabacher 
stressed his great admiration for the commitment of the 
Honduran people to democracy. He warned of the danger of 
allowing "caudillos" or strongmen, like Cuban President 
Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to 
assume control and praised the recently replaced Honduran 
de facto regime.  (Note:  Rohrabacher did not request a 
meeting with Roberto Micheletti.  End Note). 
 
¶4. (SBU)  In his conversation with President of Congress 
Juan Orlando Hernandez on February 1, Congressman 
Rohrabacher told Hernandez that he was an emissary of 
Honduras' friends in Congress, in particular member of 
Congress Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.  Congressman Rohrabacher told 
Hernandez he believes it is important to bring closure to 
the Honduran political crisis. Hernandez agreed that 
Honduras needs to put the crisis behind it, adding that the 
political amnesty decree passed by the congress on January 
26 will contribute to that. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Hernandez told Congressman Rohrabacher that it is 
difficult to understand why some foreign nations have not 
recognized the government of President Porfirio Lobo. 
Hernandez noted that the electoral process that led to the 
November 29 general election began long before the June 28 
coup d'etat and was organized by an autonomous body, the 
Supreme Electoral Tribunal.  Hernandez asked Congressman 
Rohrabacher for assistance with resumption of U.S. 
assistance.  Hernandez stated that some steps on 
re-engagement had already taken place, noting his meeting 
with the Ambassador earlier that day.  Hernandez told 
Congressman Rohrabacher that all political parties 
represented in congress are ready to take measures to 
attract foreign investment.  Hernandez said that he is 
committed to modernizing the congress and requested 
information about the workings of U.S. congressional 
committees. 
 
¶6. (C) Hernandez noted that he was scheduled to meet with 
an Israeli delegation on February 5 to discuss their 
concerns about Iranian contacts with Venezuelan President 
Chavez; Hernandez added that he knew the U.S. was also 
concerned about such contact. 
 
TEGUCIGALP 00000169  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) During Congressman Rohrabacher's meeting with the 
President of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court 
Justices on February 2, he congratulated the Supreme Court 
for its actions in removing President Jose Manuel "Mel" 
Zelaya from office.  He urged the Government of Honduras to 
eschew establishing a "truth commission," asserting that 
the "Supreme Court is the truth commission" and that any 
further investigation into the events of the summer would 
result in continued political division and animosity in the 
country.  He also explained that he would return to the US 
and urge the administration to reissue visas for those 
people whose visas were revoked or suspended in response to 
the coup. 
 
¶8. (SBU) The Supreme Court Justices each took the 
opportunity to thank Congressman Rohrabacher for his 
comments and defended the integrity of the legal process 
used to remove President Zelaya.  Justice Victor Manual 
Martinez Silva said that the Organization of American 
States (OAS) had expelled Honduras and the European Union 
(EU) had censured Honduras without even hearing their legal 
justifications and he urged that international financial 
sanctions be removed.  Justice Rosalinda Cruz Sequiera 
observed that various human rights reports, including the 
Committee on Inter-American Dialogue report, contained 
statements that were "completely false" in referring to the 
removal of former President Zelaya as a "coup d'etat".  She 
expressed the belief that history would bear out the 
correctness of their actions.  Vice-President of the 
Supreme Court-Jose Tomas Arita Valle emphasized that the 
actions taken by the court were not driven by political 
interests and were practically unanimous. 
 
SUPPORTING US INVESTMENT IN HONDURAN BIOFUEL 
 
 
¶9. (U)  Congressman Rohrabacher and members of his 
delegation  met on February 1 with Ramon Espinoza, an 
agricultural expert who serves as science advisor to 
President Lobo.  Mr. Espinoza was accompanied by Manlio 
Martinez, a development economist who works in Mr. 
Espinoza's office.  The economic counselor also attended 
the meeting. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  Congressman Rohrabacher introduced Kirk Haney 
and Greg Simon-Miro, representatives of the company SG 
Biofuels, which has been developing a highly productive 
strain of jatropha, a biofuel, in Guatemala.  Congressman 
Rohrabacher told Mr. Espinoza that experts from the 
University of California at San Diego had been working with 
the company to develop the strain.  Haney said that the 
company had planted 600 hectares of the seed, which is the 
top-producing jatropha strain to date, in Guatemala.  The 
challenge now is to bring the technology to the market. 
Haney told Espinoza that, when he first met with 
Congressman Rohrabacher about this topic two years ago, 
Congressman Rohrabacher had told him that the best way to 
do this would be to make the seed available to small 
farmers.  The company would give the farmers a contract to 
buy the seed at a pre-set price. 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  Espinoza said that he had worked on a biofuel 
project while in academia.  He stated that he has talked 
about biofuels to President Lobo and believes that the 
President wants to make this area a priority.  Espinoza 
noted that Brazil had benefited from its foresight in 
making this a priority starting in the 1980s.  Honduras, 
Espinoza said, is behind in this area and the challenge 
will be to select two or three key priorities.  He told 
Congressman Rohrabacher that he had opposed Honduras' 
emphasis on palm oil, since he does not think it is 
advisable to turn a food material into an energy source, 
given the distortions this causes to food prices.  He said 
that the jatropha project was an excellent opportunity. 
Haney said that his company was not looking for special 
favors from the Honduran government but wanted to make the 
government aware that the project was available. 
 
¶12.  (SBU)  Espinoza said that Honduras's development is 
hampered by the country's lack of technical skills.  He 
noted that Intel had just announced that its highest-end 
chip will be produced in Costa Rica, but that this type of 
manufacturing would not be possible in Honduras.  Congressman 
 
TEGUCIGALP 00000169  003 OF 003 
 
 
Rohrabacher recommended that Honduras develop its patent and 
copyright framework so that there will be an incentive to 
innovate. 
The Congressman said one way that Honduras could attract 
innovators would be to make income derived from patents and 
copyrights tax-free. 
 
¶13. (SBU)  In a productive meeting with Ambassador Llorens, 
the representatives from SG Biofuel presented their 
proposal for initiating jatropha planting operations in 
Honduras.  The Ambassador and Congressman Rohrabacher 
discussed the many ways that this serious initiative 
coincides with the Mission's Strategic Goals on renewable 
energy.  The Ambassador arranged break-out meetings for the 
SG representatives with the economic section, Millenium 
Challenge Corporation (MCC) and USAID to discuss further 
opportunities for collaboration. 
 
LLORENS 
LLORENS