CISPES-LA DENOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF JOHN NEGROPONTE;
CALLS FOR VIGOROUS CAMPAIGN TO BLOCK CONFIRMATION
The appointment of career diplomat John Negroponte
by President Bush to be the the Director of National
Intelligence brings back sad and shocking memories to
those who were active in the Central America struggles
of the 1980's, while Negroponte was ambassador to
Honduras.
The appointment, on live television early Thursday
morning, stunned the solidarity and peace movements.
Negroponte was linked to human rights abuses in
Central America and has been dogged by credible
testimony that he ignored the use of torture during
the contra war against Nicaragua.
The appointment calls for Senate confirmation and
CISPES is suggesting phone calls to the U.S. Senate
calling for a no vote on confirmation. The
Congressional switchboard is 202-224-3121 and then a
request to speak to Sen. Boxer or Sen. Feinstein.
In addition to his work with the Nicaraguan Contra
army, Negroponte helped conceal from Congress the
murder, kidnapping and torture abuses of a
CIA-equipped and trained Honduran military unit,
Battalion 3-16. No mention of these human rights
abuses ever appeared in State Department Human Rights
reports from Honduras. The Baltimore Sun reported
that Efrain Diaz Arrivillaga, then a delegate in the
Honduran Congress and a voice of dissent, told the Sun
that he complained to Negroponte on numerous occasions
about the Honduran army's human rights abuses. Rick
Chidester, a junior embassy official under Negroponte,
reported to the Sun that he was forced to omit an
exhaustive gathering of human rights violations from
his 1982 State Department report.
Sister Laetitia Bordes went on a fact-finding
delegation to Honduras in May, 1982, to investigate
the whereabouts of 32 Salvadoran nuns and women of
faith who fled to Honduras in 1981 after Archbishop
Oscar Romero's assassination. Negroponte claimed the
embassy knew nothing, but in 1996, Negroponte's
predecessor Jack Binns reported that the women had
been captured, tortured and them crammed into
helicopters from which they were tossed to their
deaths.
=====
CISPES
Committee In Solidarity With The People of El Salvador
8124 West 3rd Street L.A. Ca. 90048
323-852-0721
Founded: 1980 - 23 Years of Solidarity
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