HomeNewsBriefHonduras Police Chief Interview Reveals US Dilemma
BRIEF

Honduras Police Chief Interview Reveals US Dilemma

HONDURAS / 5 NOV 2013 BY MIRIAM WELLS EN

A revealing interview with Honduras' police chief has illustrated the bind the United States finds itself in when fighting the drug trade in collaboration with Latin American governments and institutions, where corruption is endemic.

Juan Carlos "El Tigre" Bonilla, who is accused of running death squads ten years ago, today runs a force accused of similar crimes, and is so feared within Honduras that "few dare speak his name above a whisper," reports the Associated Press.

However, in an eight-hour interview with the AP, Bonilla spoke repeatedly of his close relationship with the US diplomats working in the country. The US government is his "best ally and support," he said. The notion that US aid money only went to Honduran police units not under Bonilla's direct command, as claimed by US Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield last March, was dismissed by the police chief, who said there were no units beyond his supervision.

Off the record, a US aide to Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, who led efforts to attach human rights conditions to US aid, said diplomats had to talk to a lot of people they did not like: "As far as his saying the US is his biggest ally in counter drug operations, our ally is Honduras, not the chief of police."

InSight Crime Analysis

Perhaps most revealing in the AP piece is a comment from Arabeska Sanchez, founder of Honduras’ University Institute for Peace and Security who taught a younger Bonilla as a professor at the National Police Academy. When Honduran authorities were deciding who to appoint as police chief in 2012, Bonilla “was the only top police commander without known links to organized crime,” said Sanchez.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Police Reform

Indeed, the two police chiefs who predated him were both fired after being accused of overseeing murder within seven months of each other. Crime and corruption are rife within the force and attempts at reform have floundered. This is to be expected in a country where institutions are notoriously weak and the profits available from the drug trade so high.

The reality is that if the United States wants to conduct and assist counternarcotics efforts in Latin America it has no option but to work with at best partially compromised security institutions. It is, as the Bonilla case illustrates, often a choice among the least worst option. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BARRIO 18 / 9 FEB 2023

In El Salvador, crackdowns have led to rapid improvements in security. But there is real doubt about whether gangs are…

BELIZE / 2 JUN 2022

Since El Salvador's government began a campaign of mass arrests two months ago in a gang crackdown, fewer than 60…

EL SALVADOR / 30 DEC 2021

The United States, under the Biden administration, was supposed to help curb corruption, but for corrupt officials in Central America,…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…