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John D. Negroponte
John Dimitri Negroponte (born July 21, 1939) (pronounced neg-row-pontee) is the current United States ambassador to Iraq and the nominee as the first U.S. Director of National Intelligence. A career diplomat who served in the United States Foreign Service from 1960 to 1997, Negroponte served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from September of 2001 until June 2004. As ambassador to Iraq, Negroponte oversees the largest American diplomatic facility in the world.
He is a controversial figure because of his involvement in covert funding of the Contras in Nicaragua (see Iran-Contra Affair) and his alleged covering up of human rights abuses carried out by CIA-trained operatives in Honduras in the 1980s.
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From 1981 to 1985 Negroponte was US ambassador to Honduras. During his tenure, he oversaw the growth of military aid to Honduras from $4 million to $77.4 million a year. At the time, Honduras was ruled by an elected but heavily militarily-influenced government. According to The New York Times, Negroponte was allegedly involved in "carrying out the covert strategy of the Reagan administration to crush the Sandinistas government in Nicaragua." Critics say that during his ambassadorship, human rights violations in Honduras became systematic.
Negroponte supervised the construction of the El Aguacate air base where Nicaraguan Contras were trained by the US, and which some critics say was used as a secret detention and torture center during the 1980s. Allegedly, in August 2001, excavations at the base discovered 185 corpses, including two Americans, who are thought to have been killed and buried at the site.
Records also suggest that a special intelligence unit (commonly referred to as a "death squad") of the Honduran armed forces, Battalion 3-16, possibly trained by the CIA and the Argentine military, may have kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of people, allegedly including US missionaries. Critics charge that Negroponte knew about these human rights violations and yet continued to collaborate with the Honduran military while lying to Congress.
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When President Bush announced Negroponte's appointment to the UN shortly after coming to office, it was met with scattered protest. Some critics asserted that the administration intentionally arranged the deportation from the United States of several former Honduran death squad members who could have provided damaging testimony against Negroponte in his Senate confirmation hearings.
One of the deportees was General Luis Alonso Discua, founder of Battalion 3-16. In the preceding month, Washington had revoked the visa of Discua who was Honduras' Deputy Ambassador to the UN. Subsequently, Discua asserted to a left-wing website his portrayal of US support of Battalion 3-16. [1]
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Also, Americablog discusses and links to a fact-filled 1995 story from the Baltimore Sun.
1 comment:
The story of Negroponte's adventures in Honduras are incredibly disturbing, but unfortunately all too common during the Reagan reign of terror. And it raises a lot of questions about Negroponte's fitness to serve as ambassador to anything, about the media's ability to spot a story that's staring them right in the face, and the public's short attention span.
It says a lot about what resides in the soul of the conservative movement. About their priorities then and now.
But what I think is most disturbing is the way the State Department can be abused by the interests of an administration whose agenda does not necessarily include keeping the public properly informed about what is done with their tax dollars and in their name.
Reading the Sun article left me less concerned about what Negroponte will be doing as the ambassedor to the UN as what yes-woman Condoleeza Rice will be doing at the state department.
Cliff Ward
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