Written by David Starr   

Central America's Version of a Klu Klux Klan

There is, despite their respective historical differences, similarities with the USA's KKK and Central America's death squads based on racial, as well as, political and class motives. The genocidal-like murders of Mayan Indians in Guatemala under the Ronald Reagan-backed Rios Mont regime in the 1980s is a well-known example of racial, racist, motives. But, the three don't stand alone. Race, class and politics combine in varying ways to produce the same result: mass killings.

In recent years, reports have come out exposing a resurrection of death squads in Central America, not quite with cross-burnings, burning churches and lynchings, but, e.g., with mysterious, black vehicles roaming along streets and masked men jumping out of them to gun down an intended target, or targets; then quickly disappearing making it difficult or unlikely to identify the killers.

In his report, "The New Generation of Honduran Death Squads," published in CounterPunch (04/03/2013), Mark Weisbrot described such a scene caught on video on a street in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. After the 2009 military coup against President Manuel Zelaya and the "election" of conservative Pepe Lobo later in the year, the use of the term "death squad" has become more applicable.

Death Squads, Inc.

Weisbrot quotes from a report co-written by the Center for Constitutional Rights (New York) and the International Federation for Human Rights (Paris), submitted to the International Criminal Court revealing death squad activity: "The killings [in Tegucigalpa] are one horrific manifestation of the broader attack which is also characterized by death threats against activists, lawyers, journalists, trade unionists and campesinos, as well as killings, torture, sexual violence, arbitrary arrests and detentions."

In April 2012, however, death squad activity was also reported in a piece by Annie Bird entitled "The History and Resurgence of Death Squads in Central America" on the Upside Down World website. Guatemala was a particular focus where community activists, public workers, trade union leaders and indigenous peoples-in tenacious efforts to stop privatization schemes from a "consortium" of transnational corporations, military and police, and neoliberal, anti-communist and counterinsurgency strains of the right-have been intimidated, attacked, kidnapped and/or murdered by mysterious masked men.

Exposing Steele and a "Tigre"

Major news exposures have occurred in March and April 2013 of Director General of the Honduran National Police, Juan Carlos Bonilla (aka, el tigre) still being connected to death squads among its units, reported by Associated Press; and in a report by William Boardman entitled "Salvador-Style Death Squads in Iraq" for Global Research, revealing former U.S. Colonel James Steele as a company commander in Vietnam, and a trainer responsible for death squads committing atrocities in El Salvador during the 1980s and in Iraq in 2003.

Boardman mentions a British documentary produced by Guardian Films and BBC Arabic entitled “James Steele: America's Mystery Man in Iraq," which provides details of death squads, torture, secret prisons, and with the knowledge of U.S. General David Pretraeus and U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Steele worked closely with U.S. Special Forces operative Colonel James Coffman, where they "advised,"-ordered-Shia militias to find, imprison and torture Sunnis. A General, Muntadher al-Samari, formerly working with Steele and Coffman, said they knew everything, "...the torture, the most horrible torture," going on in detention centers. Steele's handi-work fueled the Shia-Sunni civil war, where 3,000 deaths a month occurred at its peak.

Aid/Abet-Freeze Aid, Aid/Abet-Freeze Aid

What have the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government been doing while death squads have been allowed to reemerge? In Iraq's case, the Bush Jr./Cheney regime didn't really lift a finger while Steele and Coffman did their "duty." Regarding Honduras, the U.S. State Department assured Congress that yearly aid, paid by U.S. taxpayers, was not going to police units commanded by Bonilla.

But, the assurances meant nothing when it was revealed that Bonilla is in command of ALL units. The U.S. Congress previously passed a law, named after Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, requiring aid going only to units not involved with Bonilla. The aid was thus illegal, given Bonilla's power.

Though Congress froze $30 million in aid, it now doesn't matter since it was restored with more assurances of "monitoring" Honduran operations. It's the same story: Aid/abet-freeze aid, aid/abet-freeze aid, etc.

In an unconvincing denial of U.S. aid going to Bonilla, AP quoted Honduran "Foreign Minister" Arturo Corrales-who also negotiates with the U.S. State Department about security programs: "The programs that Honduras is implementing with the United States are under the control of the ministers of security and defense." How are the programs truly under Honduran control if the U.S. is involved with its policies? And how long will it be until yet another assurance that Bonilla isn't involved with the aid?

Both questions can be answered as so: The current Honduran "government" is more political feces from another coup. It is not recognized by Latin American/Caribbean nations. U.S. President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton initially denounced the coup, but it was another case of only "talking the talk."

Coup to Recoup

U.S. presidents like George Bush Jr. (in his case, "president") and Barack Obama are not politically “programmed” to respect the civil rights of a population in a country like Honduras. It is often called the most violent country in the world, according to the AP report.

Honduras is that typical example of a "Third World," market satellite. The U.S. Congress may debate the legality of death squads, but the usual results are: covertly continuing aid nonetheless and half-ass measures to only freeze it, not legally eliminate it. Death squads become preferable as a force for no change, i.e., "change we can believe in," since they help protect a "free" market; but one that feeds on inequality, poverty and, in turn, rights violations.

In the case of death squads, diplomacy means the aiding of a "cross-burning"-like mentality.

© 2013 David Starr