View source for Social:Battalion 3-16 (Honduras)

{{Short description|Honduran army unit that carried out torture and assassinations of political opponents}}{{EngvarB|date=May 2014}}
'''Intelligence Battalion 3–16''' or '''Battallón 316''' (various names: ''Group of 14'' (1979–1981),<ref name="unhcr_cofadeh_battalion316" /> ''Special Investigations Branch (DIES)'' (1982–1983),<ref name="unhcr_cofadeh_battalion316" /> ''Intelligence Battalion 3–16'' (from 1982 or 1984 to 1986),<ref name="nsarchiv_hiddentruths_hn"/> ''Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Branch'' (since 1987)<ref name="unhcr_cofadeh_battalion316" />) was the name of a Honduran army unit responsible for carrying out political assassinations and [[Philosophy:Torture|torture]] of suspected political opponents of the government during the 1980s.

Battalion members received training and support from the United States Central Intelligence Agency both in Honduras and at US military bases,<ref name="baltimoresun_battalion316">{{cite news |first=Gary |last=Cohn |author2=Ginger Thompson |title=When a wave of torture and murder staggered a small U.S. ally, truth was a casualty |date=11 June 1995 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-negroponte1a,0,294534.story |accessdate=27 July 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522165946/http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-negroponte1a,0,294534.story |archivedate=22 May 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Social:Batallón de Inteligencia 601|Battalion 601]] (including Juan Ciga Correa), who had collaborated with the Chilean [[Social:Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional|DINA]] in assassinating General Carlos Prats and had trained, along with Mohamed Alí Seineldín, the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance.<ref name="Nizkor316">Equipo Nizkor, [http://www.margen.org/articu/nizkor1.html LA APARICION DE OSAMENTAS EN UNA ANTIGUA BASE MILITAR DE LA CIA EN HONDURAS REABRE LA PARTICIPACION ARGENTINO-NORTEAMERICANA EN ESE PAIS.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030031026/http://www.margen.org/articu/nizkor1.html |date=30 October 2013 }}, ''Margen'' {{in lang|es}}</ref> At least 19 Battalion 3–16 members were graduates of the School of the Americas.<ref name="derechos_316_soa">{{cite web |last=Imerman |first=Vicky |author2=Heather Dean |title=Notorious Honduran School of the Americas Graduates |publisher=Derechos Human Rights |year=2009 |url=http://www.derechos.org/soa/hond-not.html |accessdate=3 August 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081204195846/http://www.derechos.org/soa/hond-not.html |archivedate=4 December 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="republic_SOA_nonstop">{{cite web |url=http://republicbroadcasting.org/?p=3299 |title=U.S. continues to train Honduran soldiers |publisher=Republic Broadcasting Network |date=21 July 2009 |accessdate=3 August 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723181431/http://republicbroadcasting.org/?p=3299 |archivedate=23 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Battalion 3–16 was also trained by Pinochet's {{wipe|Chile}}.<ref name=Nizkor316/>

The name indicated the unit's service to three military units and twenty three battalions of the Honduran army.<ref name="unhcr_cofadeh_battalion316" /> The reorganisation of the unit under the name "Intelligence Battalion 3–16" is attributed to General Gustavo Álvarez Martínez.<ref name="nsarchiv_hiddentruths_hn" />

==1980s==
According to the human rights NGO COFADEH, Battalion 3–16 was created in 1979 with the name "Group of 14".<ref name="unhcr_cofadeh_battalion316">{{cite web |title=Honduras: Follow-up to HND38009.E of 4 Decembenigge 2001 on the Patriotic Revolutionary Front (Frente Patriótico Revolucionario, FPR); Follow-up to HND38010.E of 4 December 2001 on whether Battalion 3–16 continues to operate; whether a death squad known as Group 13–16 operated at any time between 1990 and 1992; whether Colonel Alvarez Martinez or General Regalado Hernandez commanded either of these groups (1990 – December 2001) |publisher=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees |date=12 June 2002 |url=http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=search&amp;docid=3df4be3b14&amp;skip=0&amp;query=cofadeh |accessdate=30 July 2009 |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5ii2q5zi4?url=http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=search&amp;docid=3df4be3b14&amp;skip=0&amp;query=cofadeh |archivedate=1 August 2009 |url-status=dead  }}</ref> In 1982, its name was changed to the "Special Investigations Branch (DIES)", commanded by "Señor Diez'' (Mr. Ten).<ref name="unhcr_cofadeh_battalion316" />

Beginning in 1982, Battalion 3-16 agents detained hundreds of leftist activists, including students, teachers, unionists, and suspected guerrillas who were then disappeared. The members of the unit dressed in plain clothes and often disguised themselves with masks, wigs, false beards, and mustaches. Armed with [[Engineering:Uzi|Uzi]] sub-machine guns or pistols, they surveilled their victims, abducted them, and then sped off in double-cab Toyota pickup trucks with tinted windows and stolen license plates. Many of the abductions occurred during the daytime and in full view of witnesses. The captured suspects were taken to the Battalion's secret prisons, where they were stripped naked, bound at the hands and feet, and blindfolded. The torture Battalion 3-16 used included electric shocks, submerging in water, and suffocation.<ref name="Watch/AmericasStaff1994"/>

In 1982, according to requests for US declassified documents by the National Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras,<ref name="nsarchiv_hiddentruths_hn" /> or in 1984 according to COFADEH,<ref name="unhcr_cofadeh_battalion316" /> its name was changed to the "Intelligence Battalion 3–16". The reorganisation of the unit under the name "Intelligence Battalion 3–16" is attributed to General Gustavo Álvarez Martínez.<ref name="nsarchiv_hiddentruths_hn" />

From 1987 until at least 2002, it was called the "Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Branch".<ref name="unhcr_cofadeh_battalion316" />

===Links with Argentina===
Gustavo Alvarez Martínez, at that time a colonel, studied at the Argentine Military College, graduating in 1961.<ref name=Nizkor316/> By the end of 1981 (i.e. during the [[Social:Dirty War|Dirty War]] in Argentina during which up to 30,000 people were [[Social:Forced disappearance|disappeared]] by Argentine security forces and [[Social:Death squad|death squad]]s<ref name="PBS_30k_dirtywar">PBS NewsHour, 16 Oct 1997, et al. [http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/warstat5.htm#Argentina Argentina Death Toll], Twentieth Century Atlas</ref>) more than 150 Argentine officers were in Honduras.<ref name=Nizkor316/> This training operation took the code-name of Operation Charly and used training bases in Lepaterique and Quilalí.<ref name=Nizkor316/> Argentines provided expertise in physical torture.<ref name="Watch/AmericasStaff1994"/>

The Central Intelligence Agency took over from the Argentinians after the 1982 Falklands War, although Argentine officers remained active in Honduras until 1984–1986.<ref name=Nizkor316/> The Argentine Navy's ESMA also sent instructors to Honduras, including Roberto Alfieri González who served in the National Guard of El Salvador as well as in Guatemala and Honduras.<ref name=Nizkor316/>

===Links with the United States===
Battalion 3-16 worked closely with CIA operatives. Although during training sessions, the agency emphasized psychological torture, the CIA adviser referred to as "Mr. Mike" told 3-16 agent Florencio Caballero that electric shocks were "the most efficient way to get someone to talk when they resisted". Moreover, the unit's commander, General Alvarez, told interrogators that psychological torture was not effective and ordered them to use physical torture instead.<ref name="Watch/AmericasStaff1994">{{cite book|author1=Human Rights Watch, Americas Staff|author2=Center for Justice and International Law Staff|title=Honduras: The Facts Speak for Themselves : the Preliminary Report of the National Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights in Honduras|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GDl-bUb-4KIC|year=1994|publisher=Human Rights Watch|isbn=978-1-56432-134-3}}</ref>

A former prisoner of the 3-16, Ines Murillo, claimed in an interview that during her captivity she had often been tortured in the presence of the CIA adviser, "Mr. Mike", and that he at one time submitted questions to ask her. In June 1988, CIA deputy director for operations Richard Stolz, testified that a CIA official had visited the prison where Murillo was being held.<ref>[http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-negroponte3a-story.html "A survivor tells her story"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116031428/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-negroponte3a-story.html |date=16 November 2018 }} ''The Baltimore Sun'', 15 June 1995</ref> She also accused ''{{wipe|New York Times}}'' reporter James LeMoyne of distortions and falsehoods in the reporting of her interview. She stated that his reporting had "caused great damage" and "could be used to justify the kidnapping, disappearance and assassination of hundreds of people."<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/18/magazine/letters-testifying-to-torture.html "LETTERS; TESTIFYING TO TORTURE"] Ines Murillo, ''The New York Times'', 18 September 1988</ref> A whistleblower who deserted Battalion 316 asserted that Father James Carney, a liberation theologian priest, was executed by order of General Álvarez, and that "Álvarez Martínez gave the order for Carney’s execution in the presence of a CIA officer, known as 'Mister Mike.'"<ref>[http://www.natcath.org/NCR_Online/archives/032103/032103h.htm "20-year search for priest may be over"] National Catholic Reporter, 21 March 2003</ref> Ten years later, one senior State Department official was willing to concede in private the U.S. role in the disappearances. "The green light was kill a commie," said the official. "Everybody was winking and nodding."<ref name="Watch/AmericasStaff1994"/>

The US Ambassador to Honduras at the time, John Negroponte, met frequently with General Gustavo Alvarez Martínez.<ref name="nsarchive_negroponte_chron">{{cite web |title=The Negroponte File – Negroponte's Chron File from Tenure in Honduras Posted |publisher=National Security Archive |date=12 April 2005 |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB151/index.htm |accessdate=2 August 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805023712/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB151/index.htm |archivedate=5 August 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> In summarising declassified US documents showing telegrams (cables) sent and received by Negroponte during his period as US Ambassador to Honduras, the National Security Archive states that "reporting on human rights atrocities" committed by Battalion 3–16 is "conspicuously absent from the cable traffic" and that "Negroponte's cables reflect no protest, or even discussion of these issues during his many meetings with General Alvarez, his deputies and Honduran President Robert Suazo. Nor do the released cables contain any reporting to Washington on the human rights abuses that were taking place."<ref name="nsarchive_negroponte_chron" />

==1990s==
In 2002, COFADEH stated that "Many retired or active 3–16 agents have been included as intelligence advisors in the National Prevention Police."<ref name="unhcr_cofadeh_battalion316" />

==2000s==
Seven former members of Battalion 3–16 (Billy Joya, Alvaro Romero, Erick Sánchez, Onofre Oyuela Oyuela, Napoleón Nassar Herrera, Vicente Rafael Canales Nuñez, Salomón Escoto Salinas and René Maradianga Panchamé) occupied important positions in the administration of President Manuel Zelaya as of mid-2006, according to the human rights organisation CODEH.<ref name="mesoamerica_200606">{{cite web |last=Holland |first=Clifton L. |title=Honduras – Human Rights Workers Denounce Battalion 3–16 Participation in Zelaya Government |publisher=Mesoamérica Institute for Central American Studies |date=June 2006 |url=http://www.mesoamericaonline.net/MES0_ARCHIVES/Countries/Hond/HOJUN06.pdf  |accessdate=3 August 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720160941/http://www.mesoamericaonline.net/MES0_ARCHIVES/Countries/Hond/HOJUN06.pdf |archivedate=20 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Following the 2009 coup d'état, in which Zelaya was detained and exiled by Honduran military units, Zelaya claimed that Battalion 3–16 was again operating, with a different name, and being led by Joya, who became a direct advisor to ''de facto'' President Roberto Micheletti. Zelaya stated (translation), "With a different name, [Battalion 3–16 is] already operating. The crimes being committed is torture to create fear among the population, and that's being directed by Mr. Joya."<ref name="DemocNow_Zelaya">{{cite web |last=Goodman |first=Amy |title=Zelaya Speaks |publisher=Z Communications |date=31 July 2009 |url=http://www.znetwork.org/znet/viewArticle/22175 |accessdate=1 August 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224112717/http://www.znetwork.org/znet/viewArticle/22175 |archivedate=24 December 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In addition, Nelson Willy Mejía Mejía was appointed by Micheletti as Director of Immigration, Napoleón Nassar Herrera (or ''Nazar'') is a spokesperson for dialogue for the Secretary of Security.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/nacionales/53767 |title=Zelaya sale de Ocotal |publisher=El Nuevo Diario (Nicaragua) |date=2 August 2009 |accessdate=3 August 2009 |archive-date=25 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225075225/http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/nacionales/53767 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=17208 |title=Reanudan venta de citas para emisión de pasaportes |date=7 July 2009 |accessdate=3 August 2009 |publisher=La Tribuna |language=es |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101118085225/http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=17208 |archivedate=18 November 2010  }}</ref><ref name="elnuevo_nazar">{{cite web |last=Leiva |first=Noe |title=No se avizora el fin de la crisis hondureña |publisher=El Nuevo Herald/AFP |date=2 August 2009 |url=http://www.elnuevoherald.com/ultimas-noticias/story/510138.html |accessdate=7 August 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805142325/http://www.elnuevoherald.com/ultimas-noticias/story/510138.html |archivedate=5 August 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="mines_nassar">{{cite web |last=Mejía |first=Lilian |author2=Mauricio Pérez |author3=Carlos Girón |title=Pobladores Exigen Nueva Ley De Minería: 71 Detenidos Y 12 Heridos En Batalla Campal |publisher=MAC: Mines and Communities |date=18 July 2009 |url=http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=2064 |accessdate=7 August 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090917130401/http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=2064 |archivedate=17 September 2009 |url-status=live |language=es}}</ref>

==Freedom of Information requests==
Using freedom of information laws, efforts were made by various people to obtain documentary records of the role of the United States with respect to Battalion 3–16. For example, on 3 December 1996, members of United States Congress, including Tom Lantos, Joseph P. Kennedy II, Cynthia McKinney, Richard J. Durbin, John Conyers and others, asked President Bill Clinton for "the expeditious and complete declassification of all U.S. documents pertaining to human rights violations in Honduras" and claimed that "The U.S. government ... helped to establish, train and equip Battalion 3–16, military unit which was responsible for the kidnapping, torture, disappearance and murder of at least 184 Honduran students, professors, journalists, human rights activists and others in the 1980s."<ref name="nsarchiv_hiddentruths_hn">{{cite web |last=Valladares Lanza |first=Leo |author2=Susan C. Peacock |title=IN Search of Hidden Truths -An Interim Report on Declassification by the National Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras |url=http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/latin_america/honduras/hidden_truths/hidden.htm |accessdate=2 August 2009 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805054103/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/latin_america/honduras/hidden_truths/hidden.htm |archivedate=5 August 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Social:Death squad|Death squad]]
*The Torture Manuals
*[[Philosophy:Torture|Torture]]	
*Honduras
*John Negroponte

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte5,0,2446240.story Former envoy to Honduras says he did what he could], Baltimore Sun, 15 December 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
*[http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte1a,0,1240201.story??track=sto-relcon When a wave of torture and murder staggered a small U.S. ally, truth was a casualty] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035142/http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte1a,0,1240201.story?%3Ftrack=sto-relcon |date=30 September 2007 }}, Baltimore Sun, 11 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
*[http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte2,0,2249629.story??track=sto-relcon Torturers' confessions] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930041546/http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte2,0,2249629.story?%3Ftrack=sto-relcon |date=30 September 2007 }}, Baltimore Sun, 13 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
*[http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte1b,0,1305738.story??track=sto-relcon Glimpses of the 'disappeared'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930041923/http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte1b,0,1305738.story?%3Ftrack=sto-relcon |date=30 September 2007 }}, Baltimore Sun, 11 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
*[http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte3a,0,1502347.story??track=sto-relcon A survivor tells her story] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930030730/http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte3a,0,1502347.story?%3Ftrack=sto-relcon |date=30 September 2007 }}, Baltimore Sun, 15 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
*[http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte4,0,2380703.story??track=sto-relcon A carefully crafted deception] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930033506/http://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-negroponte4,0,2380703.story?%3Ftrack=sto-relcon |date=30 September 2007 }}, Baltimore Sun, 18 June 1995, Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, accessed 14 April 2007.
*[http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/latin_america/honduras/hidden_truths/hidden.htm In Search of Hidden Truths, An Interim Report on Declassification by the National Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras] by Dr. Leo Valladares Lanza and Susan C. Peacock

[[Category:Political repression]]
[[Category:Human rights abuses]]

{{Sourceattribution|Battalion 3-16 (Honduras)}}