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Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...
3–16 or Battallón 316 (various names: ''Group of 14'' (1979–1981), ''Special Investigations Branch (DIES)'' (1982–1983), ''Intelligence Battalion 3–16'' (from 1982 or 1984 to 1986), ''Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Branch'' (since 1987)) was the name of a
Honduran army The Armed Forces of Honduras ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de Honduras), consists of the Honduran Army, Honduran Navy and Honduran Air Force. History Pre-1979 The Armed Forces of Honduras were created through article 44, subsection 4 of the First Consti ...
unit responsible for carrying out political
assassinations Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have a ...
and torture of suspected political opponents of the government during the 1980s. Battalion members received training and support from the United States
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
both in Honduras and at US military bases, Battalion 601 (including Juan Ciga Correa), who had collaborated with the Chilean
DINA Dina ( ar, دينا, he, דִּינָה, also spelled Dinah, Dena, Deena) is a female given name. Women * Dina bint Abdul-Hamid (1929–2019), Queen consort of Jordan, first wife of King Hussein * Princess Dina Mired of Jordan (born 1965), Princ ...
in assassinating General
Carlos Prats Carlos Prats González (; February 24, 1915 – September 30, 1974) was a Chilean Army officer and politician. He served as a minister in Salvador Allende's government while Commander-in-chief of the Chilean Army. Immediately after General August ...
and had trained, along with
Mohamed Alí Seineldín Mohamed Alí Seineldín (Arabic:محمد علي زين الدين) (November 12, 1933 – September 2, 2009) was an Argentine army colonel who participated in two failed uprisings against the democratically elected governments of both President Ra ...
, the
Argentine Anticommunist Alliance The Argentine Anticommunist Alliance ( es, Alianza Anticomunista Argentina, links=no, usually known as Triple A or AAA) was an Argentine Peronist political action group operated by a sector of the Federal Police and the Argentine Armed Forces, ...
. Equipo Nizkor
LA APARICION DE OSAMENTAS EN UNA ANTIGUA BASE MILITAR DE LA CIA EN HONDURAS REABRE LA PARTICIPACION ARGENTINO-NORTEAMERICANA EN ESE PAIS.
'' Margen''
At least 19 Battalion 3–16 members were graduates of the
School of the Americas The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of the Americas, is a United States Department of Defense school located at Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, renamed in the 2001 National Defens ...
. The Battalion 3–16 was also trained by
Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
's
Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
. The name indicated the unit's service to three military units and sixteen battalions of the Honduran army. The reorganisation of the unit under the name "Intelligence Battalion 3–16" is attributed to General
Gustavo Álvarez Martínez Gustavo Adolfo Álvarez Martínez (12 December 1937 - 25 January 1989) was a Honduran military officer. He was head of the armed forces of Honduras from January 1982 until his ouster on 31 March 1984 by fellow officers when he sought to expand hi ...
.


1980s

According to the human rights NGO COFADEH, Battalion 3–16 was created in 1979 with the name "Group of 14". In 1982, its name was changed to the "Special Investigations Branch (DIES)", commanded by "Señor Diez'' (Mr. Ten). Beginning in 1982, Battalion 3-16 agents detained hundreds of leftist activists, including students, teachers, unionists, and suspected guerrillas who were then disappeared. The members of the unit dressed in plain clothes and often disguised themselves with masks, wigs, false beards, and mustaches. Armed with
Uzi The Uzi (; he, עוזי, Ūzi; officially cased as UZI) is a family of Israeli open-bolt, blowback-operated submachine guns and machine pistols first designed by Major Uziel "Uzi" Gal in the late 1940s, shortly after the establishment of the ...
sub-machine guns or pistols, they surveilled their victims, abducted them, and then sped off in double-cab Toyota pickup trucks with tinted windows and stolen license plates. Many of the abductions occurred during the daytime and in full view of witnesses. The captured suspects were taken to the Battalion's secret prisons, where they were stripped naked, bound at the hands and feet, and blindfolded. The torture Battalion 3-16 used included electric shocks, submerging in water, and suffocation. In 1982, according to requests for US declassified documents by the National Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras, or in 1984 according to COFADEH, its name was changed to the "Intelligence Battalion 3–16". The reorganisation of the unit under the name "Intelligence Battalion 3–16" is attributed to General
Gustavo Álvarez Martínez Gustavo Adolfo Álvarez Martínez (12 December 1937 - 25 January 1989) was a Honduran military officer. He was head of the armed forces of Honduras from January 1982 until his ouster on 31 March 1984 by fellow officers when he sought to expand hi ...
. From 1987 until at least 2002, it was called the "Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Branch".


Links with Argentina

Gustavo Alvarez Martínez, at that time a colonel, studied at the Argentine Military College, graduating in 1961. By the end of 1981 (i.e. during the
Dirty War The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...
in Argentina during which up to 30,000 people were
disappeared An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person by a state or political organization, or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organiza ...
by Argentine security forces and death squadsPBS News Hour, 16 Oct 1997, et al
Argentina Death Toll
Twentieth Century Atlas
) more than 150 Argentine officers were in Honduras. This training operation took the code-name of
Operation Charly Operation Charly ( es, Operación Charly, links=no), was allegedly the code-name given to a program during the 1970s and 1980s undertaken by the junta in Argentina with the objective of providing military and counterinsurgency assistance to righ ...
and used training bases in
Lepaterique Lepaterique is a municipality in the Honduran department of Francisco Morazán. Military base A military base located in Lepaterique was used during the 1980s by the Contras and by the Argentine 601 Intelligence Battalion, which was involved ...
and
Quilalí Quilalí is a town and a municipality in the Nueva Segovia Department of Nicaragua. Community Background Situated in a high mountainous region of Nicaragua lies Quilalí, the remote, large municipal head in the department of Nueva Segovia. It ...
. Argentines provided expertise in physical torture. The
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
took over from the Argentinians after the 1982 Falklands War, although Argentine officers remained active in Honduras until 1984–1986. The
Argentine Navy The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...
's ESMA also sent instructors to Honduras, including Roberto Alfieri González who served in the National Guard of El Salvador as well as in Guatemala and Honduras.


Links with the United States

Battalion 3-16 worked closely with CIA operatives. Although during training sessions, the agency emphasized psychological torture, the CIA adviser referred to as "Mr. Mike" told 3-16 agent Florencio Caballero that electric shocks were "the most efficient way to get someone to talk when they resisted". Moreover, the unit's commander, General Alvarez, told interrogators that psychological torture was not effective and ordered them to use physical torture instead. A former prisoner of the 3-16, Ines Murillo, claimed in an interview that during her captivity she had often been tortured in the presence of the CIA adviser, "Mr. Mike", and that he at one time submitted questions to ask her. In June 1988, CIA deputy director for operations Richard Stolz, testified that a CIA official had visited the prison where Murillo was being held. She also accused '' New York Times'' reporter James LeMoyne of distortions and falsehoods in the reporting of her interview. She stated that his reporting had "caused great damage" and "could be used to justify the kidnapping, disappearance and assassination of hundreds of people." A whistleblower who deserted Battalion 316 asserted that Father James Carney, a liberation theologian priest, was executed by order of General Álvarez, and that "Álvarez Martínez gave the order for Carney’s execution in the presence of a CIA officer, known as 'Mister Mike.'" Ten years later, one senior State Department official was willing to concede in private the U.S. role in the disappearances. "The green light was kill a commie," said the official. "Everybody was winking and nodding." The US Ambassador to Honduras at the time, John Negroponte, met frequently with General Gustavo Alvarez Martínez. In summarising declassified US documents showing telegrams (cables) sent and received by Negroponte during his period as US Ambassador to Honduras, the
National Security Archive The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy. The N ...
states that "reporting on human rights atrocities" committed by Battalion 3–16 is "conspicuously absent from the cable traffic" and that "Negroponte's cables reflect no protest, or even discussion of these issues during his many meetings with General Alvarez, his deputies and Honduran President Robert Suazo. Nor do the released cables contain any reporting to Washington on the human rights abuses that were taking place."


1990s

In 2002, COFADEH stated that "Many retired or active 3–16 agents have been included as intelligence advisors in the National Prevention Police."


2000s

Seven former members of Battalion 3–16 ( Billy Joya, Alvaro Romero, Erick Sánchez, Onofre Oyuela Oyuela, Napoleón Nassar Herrera, Vicente Rafael Canales Nuñez, Salomón Escoto Salinas and René Maradianga Panchamé) occupied important positions in the administration of President
Manuel Zelaya José Manuel Zelaya Rosales (born 20 September 1952) Encyclopædia BritannicaManuel Zelaya/ref> is a Honduran politician who was President of Honduras from 27 January 2006 until 28 June 2009, and who since January 2022 serves as the first Fi ...
as of mid-2006, according to the human rights organisation CODEH. Following the 2009 coup d'état, in which Zelaya was detained and exiled by Honduran military units, Zelaya claimed that Battalion 3–16 was again operating, with a different name, and being led by Joya, who became a direct advisor to ''de facto'' President
Roberto Micheletti Roberto Micheletti Baín (born 13 August 1943) is a Honduran politician who served as the interim ''de facto'' president of Honduras from 28 June 2009 to 27 January 2010 as a result of the 2009 Honduran coup d'état. The Honduran military ou ...
. Zelaya stated (translation), "With a different name, attalion 3–16 isalready operating. The crimes being committed is torture to create fear among the population, and that's being directed by Mr. Joya." In addition, Nelson Willy Mejía Mejía was appointed by Micheletti as Director of Immigration, Napoleón Nassar Herrera (or ''Nazar'') is a spokesperson for dialogue for the Secretary of Security.


Freedom of Information requests

Using
freedom of information laws Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfa ...
, efforts were made by various people to obtain documentary records of the role of the United States with respect to Battalion 3–16. For example, on 3 December 1996, members of United States Congress, including
Tom Lantos Thomas Peter Lantos (born Tamás Péter Lantos; February 1, 1928 – February 11, 2008) was a Holocaust survivor and American politician who served as a U.S. representative from California from 1981 until his death in 2008. A member of the Democ ...
, Joseph P. Kennedy II,
Cynthia McKinney Cynthia Ann McKinney (born March 17, 1955) is an American politician, academic, and conspiracy theorist. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms in the United States House of Representatives. She was the first African American ...
, Richard J. Durbin,
John Conyers John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. The districts he represented always included part of western Detroit ...
and others, asked President Bill Clinton for "the expeditious and complete declassification of all U.S. documents pertaining to human rights violations in Honduras" and claimed that "The U.S. government ... helped to establish, train and equip Battalion 3–16, military unit which was responsible for the kidnapping, torture, disappearance and murder of at least 184 Honduran students, professors, journalists, human rights activists and others in the 1980s."


See also

* Death squad * The Torture Manuals * Torture * Honduras * John Negroponte *


References

{{reflist


External links


Former envoy to Honduras says he did what he could
Baltimore Sun, 15 December 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
When a wave of torture and murder staggered a small U.S. ally, truth was a casualty
Baltimore Sun, 11 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
Torturers' confessions
Baltimore Sun, 13 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
Glimpses of the 'disappeared'
Baltimore Sun, 11 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
A survivor tells her story
Baltimore Sun, 15 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
A carefully crafted deception
Baltimore Sun, 18 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.

by Dr. Leo Valladares Lanza and Susan C. Peacock Military of Honduras Military history of Honduras History of Honduras Political repression Central Intelligence Agency operations Human rights abuses Political and cultural purges Dirty wars 1979 establishments in Honduras