LETTER TO WILLIAM H. WEBSTER FROM LEE H. HAMILTON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90M00005R001100080033-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 7, 2012
• Sequence Number: 33
• Publication Date: January 25, 1988
• Content Type: LETTER

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ER 88-0322X
OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
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SUSPENSE 3 FEB 88
STAT
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OFFICE OF CONGRESSIONAL AFFAIRS
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8. Executive Officer
9. FOIA Officer
10 Constituent Inquiries
Officer
11.
12.
SUSPENSE 7-
STAT
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STAT
3637 (10-81)
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DANTE B. FASCELL, FLORIDA, CHAIRMAN
"~
LEE%H. HAMILTON, INDIANA
GUS YATRON, PENNSYLVANIA
STEPHEN J. SOLARZ, NEW YORK
DON BONKER, WASHINGTON
GERRY E. STUDDS, MASSACHUSETTS
DAN MICA, FLORIDA
HOWARD WOLPE, MICHIGAN
GEO. W. CROCKETT, JR., MICHIGAN
SAM GEJDENSON, CONNECTICUT
MERVYN M. DYMALLY, CALIFORNIA
TOM LANTOS, CALIFORNIA
PETER H. KOSTMAYER, PENNSYLVANIA
ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, NEW JERSEY
LAWRENCE J. SMITH. FLORIDA
HOWARD L. BERMAN, CALIFORNIA
MEL LEVINE, CALIFORNIA
EDWARD F. FEIGHAN, OHIO
TED WEISS, NEW YORK
GARY L. ACKERMAN, NEW YORK
MORRIS K. UDALL,.ARIZONA
CHESTER G. ATKINS, MASSACHUSETTS
JAMES MCCLURE CLARKE. NORTH CAROLINA
JAIME B. FOSTER, PUERTO Rico
JAMES H. BILBRAY, NEVADA
WAYNE OWENS, UTAH
FOFO IF. SUNIA, AMERICAN SAMOA
JOHN J. BRADY, JR.
CHIEF OF STAFF
One hundredth Congress
Congress of the United ~tatez
Committee on foreign affairs
"Au,se of ` tepresentatlnes
iUashinOton, BC: 20515
WILLIAM S. BROOMFIELD, MICHIGAN
BENJAMIN A. GILMAN, NEW YORK
ROBERT J. LAGOMARSINO, CALIFORNIA
JIM LEACH, IOWA
TOBY ROTH, WISCONSIN
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, MAINE
HENRY J. HYDE, ILLINOIS
GERALD B.H. SOLOMON, NEW YORK
DOUG BEREUTER, NEBRASKA
ROBERT K. DORNAN, CALIFORNIA
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, NEW JERSEY
CONNIE MACK, FLORIDA
MICHAEL DEWINE, OHIO
DAN BURTON; INDIANA
JAN MEYERS, KANSAS
JOHN MILLER, WASHINGTON
DONALD E."BUZ" LUKENS, OHIO
BEN BLAZ, GUAM
STEVEN K. BERRY
MINORITY CHIEF OF STAFF
January 25, 1988
OCA F
The Honorable William H. Webster
Director
Central-Intelligence Agency
Washington, D.C. 20505,
I write concerning a current trial before the Inter-American Court
on Human Rights. A New York Times article of January 19, 1988 contains
several allegations about CIA connections to the activities of death
squads in Honduras. A copy of the article is attached.
I would like to know the accuracy of this article and specifically
would like answers to the following questions:
Is it accurate that a former Honduran Army sergeant, who has
testified.that he:was a member of an army death squad was
trained by the CIA as an interrogator?
-- Is it accurate that Mr. Caballero tried to hide his death
squad activities from the CIA, but that Amertican Embassy,
officials in Honduras and the CIA were well aware of his
activities?
-- Was Lt. Col.`Alexander Hernandez, until recently a leading
offici.al.in the Honduran police, a former commander`of army
death squads in Honduras?
-- Were American Embassy officials. in Honduras, includingT?the`
Chief of Station, aware of Lt. Coll He?rnandez's death squad
activities at the. time or at any`-time afterward?
-- Is it accurate that Lt. Col. Hernandez-formerly commanded
the 316th Battalion, an intelligence' unit established.by the
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The Honorable William H. Webster
January 25, 1988
Page Two
-- Did this unit conduct death squad activities?
-- Was the CIA aware of such death squad activities?
-- What was the role of the CIA in promotions which Lt. Col.
Hernandez received?
I appreciate your responses to the several. allegations stated or
possibly implied by the New York Times article. I also would welcome
any other comments you might wish to make on the subject of the CIA
and links to death squads in Honduras.
With best regards,
Lee H. Hamilton
Chairman
Subcommittee on Europe
and the Middle East
cc: Honorable Louis Stokes
Chairman, Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence
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In i-Iuman Rights Court, Honduras
Is First to Face Death Squad Trial.
By JAMES LeMOYNE
special to The New York Times
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, Jan. 18 - In
the first case ever tried by the Inter-
American Court on Human Rights in
which a Government has been put on
trial, Honduras is being accused here
of.maintaining army death squads that
caused, the ."disappearance" of civil-
ians suspected,of being leftists.
Honduras'.denies the charge, but two
key witnesses involved in the case have
been shot to death in 'Honduras in the
last two. weeks in what human rights
advocates assert is an effort by mem-
bers of the Honduran Army death
squads to silence their critics.
Rights, which is hearing the case here
and is expected to reach. a verdict
within the next two months, is a judi-.
cial arm of the Organization of Amer
ican States, which is the leading inter
American political organization of
which both the United States and Hon-
duras are members.
Honduras has promised to fully and
Continued on Page A6, Column 1.
Killings by Government death
squads in Honduras since 1980 are well
known to the Reagan Administration
and to the Central Intelligence Agency,
which trained Honduran soldiers who,
theq worked in the death squads, ac-
cording_to several American officials
and a' former member of 'a Honduran ;
death squad who said he was trained
by the C.I.A.
Despite that knowledge, the Reagan
Administration continues to contend
that Honduras has an' acceptable
human. rights record, continues- toaid
the Honduran police and army and. ap
pears to have done nothing to assist the.
trial under way. here nor denounce the
killings of witnesses in Honduras.
"I have never seen a case in which
the United States Government is so
deeply linked to the human rights
abuses of a Government-as in Hon-
duras,". Aryeh Neier, vice chairman of
the New York-based human; rights
group, Americas Watch, said in an in-
terview. .
"The killings of witnesses in this trial'
is a direct threat to. the integrity of the
Inter-American, system, 'which the
United States has not in any way de-.
fended."
The Inter American Court on Human
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one uras Is First. Country Tried .for eta qu
-Continued From Page Al
immediately comply with a' new Cen-
tral American peace.treaty that de-
mands that Governments in the region
respect and defend human rights.
The lead witness in the trial here, Mi-
guel Angel Pav6n, was. shot to death
with a friend four days ago in the town
San Pedro Sula, a center of recent
death squad killings inHondura's.
Mr. Pav6n was a,prominent figure in
Honduras who headed the regional of-
fice of the Honduran Human Rights-
Commission, the most outspoken
human-rights group in the country and
the target of regular. criticisms by
American and Honduran officials.
Two weeks:ago, unknown .assailants
also fatally shot Jose'fsafas Vilorio,.a
former Honduran Army sergeant who
is believed to have been a death squad
member and who-was to have testified
here today. The gunmen covered Mr.
Vilorio v4th a rebel banner after killing
him, a fdEt that Honduran officials say,
indicates leftist .rebel`s carried out the
murder
Critics of the Government say, -how=
ever, that the rebel baniierwas a crude
attempt by an -army 'death squad: to
shift the blame for-the killing. The Hots-
duran guerrillas 'have ,not carried olit:
such a killing before and ft seems unt
likely they ' would?,ihoot?a-witness in -A
trial that is so damaging to the Govern
ment and,. indirectly, politically benefi-
cial to them.
The court case here-focuses on the
disappearancesfn.Honduras.from 1981:
to 1982 of two Honduran :civilians,-Saul
Godinez and Vlanfred6 ::,Velasquez, :as
well as.two Costa;Ricans,.Yolanda Solis
and Francisco Fairen,Garbi The NMI-i
lies of the four disappeared civilians
contend that.army -death, squads -cap-
to red, and" killed: them, a charge the-
Hondu "ran Govethment denies.
But there appears to. be considerable
circumstantial evidence that the four
were.captured and killed by_the.Hondu-
ran military and the,weightof evidence
in the trial-here 'so`far:appears,to be-
strongly against the Government.
Soiled byTerrdrism".r
While "the case +formally' deals,only+
with the four missing persons Named in'
'.the trial, it is being treated by diplo-
mats and judges as of far greater sym
bolic significance. In effect, the trial is
the first. public-.effort by the Organiza-
tion of American States to condemn .the
activities of Governmeni death squads
throughout Latin America.
.. The four people in'the case here. ap-
pear to ' be among an estimated 140
,Despne ?sucn,,accusations ,Mr.:tier
nandez has regularly been: given top
jobs in the army -and was recently
promoted :to lieutenant -colonel by
Prsesident Jose Azcona .Hoyo of 'Hon-1
duras, who two days ago nCosta. Rica
promised to uphold `the new regional
peace treaty calling - 'or full respect of,,
human ri
hts _ i .:'s
g
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The case is'a way
to condemn the
disappearance of
civilians.,
and the American Embassy in Hon=
duras were well aware of the slayings
Despite that fact, the ReagatrAdmin.
l ,istration has annually. asserted that the,
Honduran `Government ,,is improving;
Its human rights-perform
. . ancp,Despite
recent killings in,the last year, Secre-1
tart' of 5tateGeor e P Shultz told Con-E
_ gressthatHondurashasan:acceptable
human fights record once again
civilians killed by army death squads thereby app ; g new police assist.,
in Honduras from-1980 to the present ance~itir'IIOTICtral;. ;`
Those 194 Civilians area small fraction 'j hat approval conies des ite the fact11, i
of the tens of tho
ho h
d
b
ha
usan
s w
ave
een t
t untiilrtecentlysa leading official. in?
captured,,'tortured - and killed without the induran ppoolio was an rtrty iff#~;
trial by the armies of Brazil, Argenti- cer Nell ?nowi} tome attieri n ",
itia,'Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia; bassy ash the..former Commander -of !
Peru, Colombia, - El Salvador sand army death;squads, according to, hree:
fauaterimala, among other offenders, in American officials.; and two;onduran
the. wave of 'terrorism that has soiled soldiers
Latin America in the last two decades. ?` t
00.
A former Honduran Army. sergeant, ;The armyoffieerIn uestiOn is Lieut:'
Florencio Caballero, testified in earlier Col. Alexa-tder Henn ndez,, who 3tas
denied theycha es-Aga titst hair. But
proceedings in the trial here that. be rg
was a member of?an army death squad merican~fftctas atitY lioiduran mill
He then detailed his involvement. in: in- tary.sources Gard lvlrr leritandez for
ter-ragating civilians captured by army merlycoiniganded tf ie gi6th Battallor ,l
death squads. He said the prisoners an intelligence umE:established by;the
C I.A that ran several death squads:; t
were all killed.
.. 4P~ .r t..
Cab
h
alle V said
e was it ailed by the CJ.A.,to be an interrogator and he
has "given convincing details to back
that assertion, which American' offs
cials 'concede is true. Mr..Caballero
said in an interview last yearthat?he;
tried to hide his death squad activities
from'-his C.I.A. advisers in Honduras,
but. American. officials , say.lthe. C.I.A.
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The Honorable Lee H. Hamilton
Chairman
Subcommittee on East Europe and the
Middle East
Committee on Foreign Affairs
House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
The Director has asked me to respond to your letter of 25
January 1988 regarding allegations about CIA connections to
death squads in Honduras.
As you are aware, the House Intelligence Committee
conducted an extensive investigation of CIA's alleged role in
these activities in 1985. The Committee focused on whether
there was any evidence of wrongdoing or knowledge of abuse of
human rights. We provided all available information to the
Committee at the time of their inquiry.
While I believe you can obtain the necessary information
relevant to your inquiry by contacting the House Intelligence
Committee directly, the Agency is willing to make available
knowledgable officials who can answer your questions directly.
Please let me know whether you wish to obtain such a briefing.
Sincerely,
John L. Helgerson
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