Student aids prosecution
Will Rice College freshman Alejandro Hernandez has been named the recipient of the Goliard Summer Travel Award. Hernandez plans to go to Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Md. and Honduras to investigate human rights violations committed by the Honduran Army in the 1980s.
Hernandez said that the trials of three Honduran military officers will be taking place this summer. The men were part of Battalion 316, the CIA-backed army unit responsible for the disappearance of opposition guerrillas.
According to Hernandez, the CIA began training and funding Honduran army officers in August 1980, the beginning of what has become known as the "dirty decade." The military group captured, interrogated, tortured and killed the leftist guerrillas who opposed them. "The U.S. was using Honduras as a base to fight communism in Latin America," Hernandez said.
According to Hernandez, both the United States and Honduras denied the existence of the death squads for years, but the Honduran government now has accepted responsibility for the disappearances. He said the upcoming trials will be conducted in a civilian, rather than military, court.
"That's a big step because it means that the civilian government in Honduras is now stronger than the military."
Hernandez said he plans to travel to Washington to interview Anne Manuel of Human Rights Watch/Americas, Jose Miguel of the Center for Justice and International Law and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who have been investigating the situation in Honduras. He will then interview reporters Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson of the Baltimore Sun , who have done an extensive report on the issue.
Hernandez will then spend a month in Honduras, where he will assist Honduran Human Rights Commissioner Leo Valladeres Lanza in addition to conducting his own research. Hernandez said he plans to report his progress on an Internet page, which can be viewed at http://www.us.net/cip/cdh/index.htm .
Hernandez, who is from Honduras, said he has become interested in the subject since coming to Rice, where he "had access to a lot of news sources."
"This opportunity happened at such a good time, with the trials starting this summer. I hope I can make a contribution to the efforts of the investigation," Hernandez said.
This item appeared in the News section of the April 26, 1996 issue.
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