Country Snapshot

Population: 6,669,789 Size, comparable to U.S.: slightly larger than Tennessee Per Capita GDP, not adjusted for PPP (year): $925. (2002) Income, wealthiest 10% / poorest 10%: 61.0/.5 (1998) Population earning less than $2 a day: 44.4% Ranking, Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index: 106 out of 133 Defense Expenditure as a percentage of GDP: .6% (1999) Size of armed forces: 8,000 (2001) U.S. military personnel present: 420 (2003)

Joint Task Force Bravo and the Soto Cano airfield

A contingent of U.S. military personnel is present in Honduras as Joint Task Force Bravo (JTF-Bravo), a component of the U.S. Southern Command (Southcom). The unit is stationed on the east side of the Enrique Soto Cano airfield, a Honduran-owned facility built in 1982 near Comayagua. Soto Cano is also home to the Honduran Air Force Academy.

Founded in 1983, the joint task force originally supported U.S. efforts on behalf of Central American militaries and, according to its web page, to “deter Nicaraguan aggression” during the region's civil wars of the 1980s. At its 1980s peak, over 2,000 U.S. military personnel were stationed at Soto Cano.¹  Today, JTF-Bravo has about 500 troops present at any given time, nearly all of them there temporarily on short rotations.²

With the region at peace, Southcom describes JTF-Bravo's current mission as “to enhance cooperative regional security through forward presence and peacetime engagement operations.”³ Specific activities include exercises, humanitarian and civic assistance (HCA) projects, disaster relief, and support for counter-drug operations. JTF-Bravo, a Southcom document adds, also assists Central American armed forces in “restructuring their militaries to fit changing security requirements.”⁴

In late 1998 and early 1999, JTF Bravo played a central role in U.S. military efforts to help Central America recover from Hurricane Mitch. Personnel stationed at Soto Cano carried out numerous search and rescue operations in the storm’s immediate aftermath, while the base later served as a hub for U.S. military infrastructure-rebuilding projects.

The Honduran Constitution does not permit a permanent foreign presence in Honduras. A "handshake" agreement between the United States and Honduras allows JTF-Bravo to remain in Honduras on a "semi-permanent" basis. This agreement, an annex to the 1954 military assistance agreement between the United States and Honduras, can be abrogated with little notice.

Counternarcotics

The Honduran military and police are receiving increasing amounts of counternarcotics assistance through the Central America Regional Fund of the State Department’s International Narcotics Control (INC) program, emergency drawdowns of defense articles, and the Defense Department’s “Section 1004” counternarcotics assistance authority. According to the State Department’s International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), the main recipients of this assistance are the National Police, counternarcotics units of the Public Ministry and the armed forces, the Joint Intelligence Coordination Center, and the police’s Bay Islands Task Force.⁵

In September 1998 the United States issued a $2,050,000 counternarcotics drawdown allowing the transfer of patrol boats, field vehicles, drug detection dogs, and U.S. Customs training and supplies. A State Department document indicated that the drawdown was destined for “police and military elements” in Honduras.⁶

Other assistance

Honduras is Central America’s largest recipient of “regular” International Military Education and Training (IMET). Official U.S. documents often justify IMET for Honduras by citing such "Expanded IMET" goals as improved civil-military cooperation and respect for human rights.⁷ Expanded IMET, however, made up only 14 percent of the total IMET budget in Honduras in 1998, and 12 percent in 1997.⁸

In 1998, Honduras also led its Central American neighbors in attendance at two Spanish-language U.S. military schools, the Army’s School of the Americas and the Air Force’s Inter-American Air Forces Academy. At a third, the Navy’s Small Craft Instruction and Technical Training School, which was located in Panama in 1998, Honduras was second only to Panama among Central American countries contributing students.⁹

The Honduran police, a branch of the military until 1998, are to receive about $1 million in support in 2000 from the Justice Department’s International Criminal Investigations Training Assistance Program (ICITAP).¹⁰

Honduras is a very regular participant in Southcom’s regular multilateral military exercises, among them Fuerzas Aliadas Humanitarian and Fuerzas Aliadas Peacekeeping. According to the INCSR, a bilateral counternarcotics exercise, “Central Skies,” was to take place in April and July 1999.¹¹

The “New Horizons” series of Humanitarian Civic Assistance (HCA) military exercises has been quite active in Honduras. In 1998, Honduras was the hemisphere's largest recipient of HCA funding. New Horizons 98 built several schools, clinics, and infrastructure projects and provided health services in the remote southern department of Intibucá between January and June 1998. The exercises involved about 4,000 U.S. service members in a series of temporary deployments along with soldiers from the Honduran Army’s 10^th Infantry Battalion and 1^st Engineering Battalion, and carried a $12 million price tag.¹²

“New Horizons” returned to Honduras in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch. The exercise, present in several devastated areas throughout 1999, carried out numerous rebuilding projects and involved about 500 U.S. personnel in Honduras on a typical day, in addition to the 500 members of JTF-Bravo at the Soto Cano airfield.¹³

Recent Honduran arms purchases through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) programs include patrol craft, spare parts, vehicles, small arms and ammunition.¹⁴

Sources:

¹ Joint Task Force Bravo web page <http://www.ussouthcom.com/southcom/jtfbravo/Index.htm>.

² United States Southern Command, Profile of the U.S. Southern Command, October 1997, United States Southern Command Headquarters, April 1998 <http://www.ussouthcom.com/southcom/graphics/profile.htm>.

³ Profile of the U.S. Southern Command.

⁴ Profile of the U.S. Southern Command.

⁵ U.S. Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998, (Washington: Department of State: February 1999): <http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1998_narc_report/camex98_part2.html>.

⁶ United States, Department of State, "Memorandum of Justification for use of Section 506(a)(2) special authority to draw down articles, services, and military education and training," September 15, 1998.

⁷ United States, Department of State, Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 2000, (Washington: Department of State: March 1999): 901.

United States, Department of State, Office of Resources, Plans and Policy, Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 1999 (Washington: March 1998): 438.

⁸ United States, Defense Security Assistance Agency, "International Military Education and Training Program: Expanded-IMET Students Trained," memo in response to congressional inquiry, Washington, October 1997: 2-3.

United States, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, memo in response to congressional inquiry, Washington, March 5, 1999.

⁹ United States, Department of Defense, Department of State, Foreign Military Training and DoD Engagement Activities of Interest in Fiscal Years 1998 and 1999: A Report to Congress (Washington: March 1999).

¹⁰ Department of State, Congressional Presentation for Foreign Operations, Fiscal Year 2000 901.

¹¹ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1998.

¹² 1st Lt. Andre A. Gladden, “Logistics Convoy Sets Stage for New Horizons '98,” Iguana Online (Honduras: JTF Bravo, 1998) <http://www.ussouthcom.com/southcom/jtfbravo/Iguana%20On-Line/news4.htm>.

Pfc. Terrence L. Hayes, “Dedication Ceremonies Promote Goodwill to Honduran Government,” Iguana Online (Honduras: JTF Bravo, 1998) <http://www.ussouthcom.com/southcom/jtfbravo/Iguana%20On-Line/news8.htm>.

¹³ United States, Department of Defense, "DoD Involvement in Hurricane Mitch Relief Efforts," document obtained February 1999.

¹⁴ United States, Department of State, Department of Defense, Foreign Military Assistance Act Report To Congress, Fiscal Year 1996 (Washington: September 1997).

United States, Department of Defense, Defense Security Assistance Agency, Defense Articles (Including Excess) and Services (Including Training) Furnished Foreign Countries and International Organizations Under the Foreign Military Sales Provisions of The Arms Export Control Act, Chapter 2 (Washington: August 1998).

United States, Department of Defense, Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Defense Articles (Including Excess) and Services (Including Training) Furnished Foreign Countries and International Organizations Under the Foreign Military Sales Provisions of The Arms Export Control Act, Chapter 2 (Washington: July 1999).

United States, Department of State, Department of Defense, U.S. Arms Exports: Direct Commercial Sales Authorizations for Fiscal Year 97 (Washington: August 1998): 1.