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Prelude To Invasion: National Guard In Honduras

By Peggy Moore

Hunger is a fact of life in Honduras. Three out of four children in this country suffer some degree of malnutrition. Three out of a hundred have third-degree malnutrition—the skin and bones stage where the body literally feeds on itself and wastes away. After Haiti, Honduras is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. In the face of this extraordinary poverty the U.S. is pouring millions of our tax dollars into the militarization of Honduras; into what the Department of Defense calls "temporary" construction including eight C-130-capable airfields with two more under construction, bases, radar stations and fancy field hospitals.

Honduras is also burdened by the influx of tens of thousands of foreigners into the country; refugees from El Salvador and Guatemala, 12,000 to 15.000 contra troops, who, with the help of the U.S. are trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan government, 750-1,000 permanent U.S. troops stationed at Palmerola Air Force Base, and the constant shuttling of many thousands of U.S. military personnel through military maneuvers including 21,000 National Guardsmen since 1982.

Over the last 6 months there has been a growing awareness of the role that the National Guard is playing in the militarization of Honduras. Traditionally, the Guard is thought of as a state militia, called out in times of disasters and to intervene when needed in civil disturbances (for example when the Ohio Guard was called out at Kent State in 1971 and the Arizona Guard which will be used to forcibly relocate the Hopi and Navaho Indians from Big Mountain in July. However, it seems that since the Vietnam War the role of the National Guard has been radically changed. After 1973 when the draft was abolished, the Pentagon adopted the "Total Force Policy" which meant that the National Guard was to be integrated into regular defense strategy. It became necessary to professionalize the National Guard. This emphasis had escalated since Reagan took office. In 1976 the federal contribution to the National Guard was $2 billion. Two years ago women were purged from many Guard units so they would be "combat ready." The Guard has trained all over the world, but since 1982 most have been sent to Central America and the majority of those to Honduras. According to Representative Mike Burton of Oregon, himself a Vietnam vet, 90% of the U.S. presence in Honduras is National Guard.

There are a number of reasons the Guard is being used to construct a U.S. was base in Honduras. Michigan State Representative Perry Bullard who travelled with the Michigan Guard to see first-hand what the Guard was doing in Honduras reported"

"Sending the Guard to Honduras accomplishes several objectives for the Reagan administration. First, it creates a 'down home—we're in this together' aspect to our involvement on the borders of Nicaragua by having 'citizen soldiers' enter the arena. The reporters traveling with us invariably wrote about the trip from a human-interest level, with no detailed analysis of why we are there or of the level of the U.S. presence in the area. Second, the troops transport war material to the area, which is left for the Honduran army, and which finds its way to the Contra forces, bypassing U.S. expenditure limits. And, third, Guard expeditions prepare (literally pave the way) for a rapid deployment of U.S. forces in the event of an invasion of Nicaragua."

The Guard is also the perfect vehicle for a back-door-policy in Central America for the Reagan Administration. During peacetime the Guard is answerable only to the governor of its state so there is no need for Congress to approve deployment of the Guard in whatever number to Honduras.

The Administration is not authorized to engage in large-scale military construction in Honduras. In June, 1984, the General Accounting Office of Congress found that the Defense Department was funding "exercises" out of the military's "Operations and Maintenance" budget. No more than $200,000 is supposed to be spent on construction in an exercise, and any expenditure over $100,000 needs Congressional approval. To evade these provisions the Administration broke single exercises and projects into smaller units. Now they are also using money earmarked for Guard and Reserve training exercises. By using the National Guard and using descriptions like "goodwill missions" and "training exercises" the readying of a full-scale military infrastructure can continue without alarming U.S. citizens that we are moving closer to an overt U.S. war in the region.

A good example of breaking larger projects into smaller ones so that they can be funded from operations and maintenance funds and get around Congressional approval is the road building project that the Missouri Guard is coordinating with four other states in Northern Honduras. We are being told that this project consists of the construction of a 20-mile road from Jocon to Yoro. This is a "goodwill" mission to help poor Hondurans get to market and to school. What we are not told is that prior to this project (which began in January and will end in June) two other pieces of road had been put into place in separate projects: a piece of road from Olanchito to San Lorenzo followed by a piece from San Lorenzo to Jocon. Now we are building a piece from Jocon to Yoro. There is a military base at San Lorenzo and one at La Ceiba, northwest of Olanchito, and we are helping to construct an airfield and base currently at San Jose del Potrero just southwest of Yoro. It becomes apparent as we put all these pieces together that we are not building roads to help people get to market, but to connect military bases.

Some of the states involved in military construction projects and military construction projects and military maneuvers in Honduras since January are Missouri, North Dakota, Arizona, Alabama, and California building the road in Northern Honduras; Arkansas and Oregon have completed military maneuvers with the Honduran military maneuvers with the Honduran military near contra camps. Wisconsin, Iowa and Colorado are slated to go down this spring and summer. We are still gathering information on other states that have gone or that are going.

The National Guard is being used to set the stage for another Vietnam-style battle between the 'good guys" in the West and the "bad guys" in the East, another battleground where communism must be defeated at all costs. The Administration has revamped the old "domino theory." Unless we stop communism in Nicaragua, the rest of the Central American republics, including Mexico, will inevitably fall like dominoes to the Soviets. Honduras is where the U.S. is already taking a military stand against the supposed "inevitability." Militarization in Honduras means a focus on "low intensity warfare"—using phase one of Vietnam (the Special Forces and CIA) and phase three (air/electric) and reducing phase two (direct U.S. regular troops involvement) to a minimum. Thus, militarization includes for the Honduran military; more battalions, more helicopters and planes, more armed militia, Phoenix-style assassination programs, public safety organizations and military intelligence, population destabilization, and support for the contras.

Pledge, Human Rights and Solidarity groups around the country have made this a national issue. Maine and Massachusetts have said no to their Guards going, and some governors like Cuomo of New York and Babbit of Arizona have strongly qualified their permission to train their Guards in Central America. In the face of this grassroots resistance the Administration is preparing legislation that would limit the authority of governors to keep National Guard units in their states from being sent to Central America for training. We are having an impact! Let's keep up the resistance!

For more information on the National Guard involvement in Honduras, contact St. Louis Pledge of Resistance, 438 N Skinker, St. Louis, MO 63130, or call (314) 725-2393.

Peggy Moore
Pledge of Resistance, St. Louis