The Selling of the President

The paid commercial advertisement that follows ran in the Washington Times newspaper, Washington, D. C., on May 21, 1997. The entire presentation ran 16 pages with color, and cost somebody US$32,000.00, according to the Washington Times advertising rate card. Since the advertisement was written in English, and published in the United States, it clearly is not intended for Honduras readership. One might wonder just whom it is intended to impress.

I am reprinting it here because I think it is important for Hondurans to be aware of the public relations activities being conducted by El Presidente, Don Carlos Roberto Reina, in North America...................................L. D. B.

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FUENTE: HONDURAS:
Special International Report prepared by The Washington Times Advertising Department

CARLOS ROBERTO REINA APPROACHES END OF HIS PRESIDENCY:
MORAL REVOLUTION CHANGES THE FACE OF HONDURAS
By Ester Garcia

Over the years, President Carlos Roberto Reina has personally felt the suffering of the Honduran people. He has risen above the obstacles that were left behind and has taken along with him the dignity of his country to the international arena.

Reina has been praised as the most devoted Honduran President to rooting  out corruption and as the strongest defender of democracy and human rights. Indeed, during his three and a half years as President of  Honduras, he has earned the reputation of a decent man, a public man, who has spent a lifetime dedicated to an arduous and tremendously daring political task: the "moral revolution."

He speaks clearly and with precision, and knows Honduran issues like the back of his hand, as he efficiently enumerates his administration's goals, accomplishments and issues of concern.

"My new style, with a new ethic in government, is working in an excellent manner. It has provided Honduras with a new leadership, based upon prestige and honor, and a firm understanding of human values and social responsiveness," Reina said during an exclusive interview at the Presidential Palace in Tegucigalpa.

Reina's term in office has been highly turbulent. During his administration he has taken a strong hand against official corruption and in favor of civilian rule over the country's powerful military. Reforms which have sharply curtailed the power of the military and a series of court cases and investigations aimed at corruption, including the case against former President Rafael Callejas and other members of the former
government, have made him unpopular in certain circles. He has been the target of several military plots, bomb threats and at least two assassination attempts.

"I don't think that a good action [such as fighting against corruption] can make a government unpopular. The problem is the position the media takes when we try to incarcerate a person, especially if its a member of the former government, from the 'old style' of government," Reina replied. "On the other hand, I have no time to feel threatened because, when I was 18 years old, I spent time in prison and I saw very offensive attitudes from soldiers. That gave me a reign of persistence to any kind
of abuse."

[Photo: President Carlos Roberto Reina]

Reina has worked to bring the powerful military under civilian control, abolishing the "human roundups" which characterized military conscription, in favor of voluntary service, and proposing the creation of a civilian defense ministry to assume authority over the military. He also refused to approve a military budget increase.

When asked about his relations with the military, he scoffs at the idea of a plot against him, saying he has no reason to doubt the loyalty of the armed forces.

"I am proud to say that I have never shot once in order to have these reforms advance," he cautiously explained. "The army has understood perfectly well my position. It has been difficult, but they are convinced that within a democracy this is the best role for them to play. We have to change the idea that the military is a threat to the peace and the people."

In fact, the most significant changes implemented by the Reina Administration have very well served the purpose of strengthening the country's fledgling democratic institutions, a top priority for such an inspired defender of justice and human rights. In a landmark decision, the National Congress approved a constitutional amendment in 1996, transferring the national police force from military to civilian control.

[Photo: Aerial view of Tegucigalpa]

"The transfer of the police will have transcendent consequences, and the military has accepted it," Reina firmly responded. "However,  we need a civilian police with military discipline."

President Reina's "moral revolution," aimed at reducing governmental corruption and the impunity of the elites has also brought change. The independence and the effectiveness of the judicial branch has been strengthened, and the judicial climate has become more conducive to a "justice is blind" approach. The Supreme Court is showing more independence in its decisions and a new program to professionalize high
court magistrates has reduced the number of unqualified, politically-nominated judges and limited them to lower courts.

"Justice is the way to a very solid democratic system," Reina stated. "Our judicial system has been too heavy and too slow. Speedy justice is important in order for people to believe in the system," he mentioned while referring to recent efforts to bring the Honduran judicial system closer to that of the United States.

The U.S. [State] Department's 1996 Human Rights Report on Honduras, however, states that although the country's profile has improved overall and some progress has been made, efforts to provide universal justice "have not yet come to fruit." According to the report, the military, government and civilian elite continue to enjoy widespread impunity, 90 percent of prisoners in the national's dilapidated correctional facilities
have yet to receive a fair trial, and the courts continue to be weakened by inadequate funding and powerful special interests.

"We have greatly increased the budget and we are making all the legal changes necessary, so we can ensure proper functioning of our judiciary," Reina contended.

In addition, the decision to bring 10 military officers accused of the 1983 abduction and torture of six university students to trial in civil courts was a landmark step toward putting an end to military impunity.  Civilian judges subsequently charged 15 senior active and retired military officers with a number of serious crimes committed in 1982 to the shock of civilians and soldiers alike.

Reina recalls when the first indictments were announced, the armed forces considered it an offense to the institution. Later, he emphasizes, they understood that each officer had a personal responsibility to appear before the judge.

"Some of them won't turn up and have gone into hiding, but their day will come and they will be brought to justice," he said. "Others have immunity because they have been elected in Congress. Such immunity, however, is  treated improperly because it should never be used to protect criminals.

We are trying to waive their immunity in order to end the impunity in which they have lived. There is no 'de facto' situation here, you have to understand that 40 years is a very short time to completely change from a culture of impunity to a culture of applying the rules of democracy.'

President Reina's pursuit as a defender of human rights took him to the Presidency of the Inter American Court of Human Rights, where today the name of Honduras is in high standing. He acknowledges that there is room for improvement in Honduras regarding human rights, however, he says, "if you take any country in the world, there are always some cases of excess from the authorities vis-a-vis the common civilian."

In fact, Honduras was the first country to accept a very wide jurisdiction from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the first cases handled by the Court were three Honduran cases related to disappearances during the period of the Cold War. "I am pleased to have served in such a highly regarded institution. The Inter American Court doesn't condemn the country, it condemns the government that perpetrated the abuses in a very sad era of our history."

President Reina is not a man out of touch, as some critics may have suggested. Indeed, he has been a bastion and a dynamic player in consolidating democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in Honduras. At the end of his Presidency, Honduras is moving into its fifth election with a democratic feeling, and even a "democratic tradition," as U.S. Ambassador to Honduras James Creagan suggested.

If one analyzes with serenity and impartiality Reina's professional career, as President, a recognized diplomat and the "grandfather figure" of a whole new generation of Honduran politicians who religiously attended to his classroom for more than 20 years, one will identify in him a citizen who has listened to the nation's concerns with the tenacity and fortitude of a true patriot.

President Carlos Roberto Reina will visit Washington, D.C. to receive from
American University his fourth Honoris Causa Doctorate for his contributions to the struggle for human rights. The same way he welcomed us into his country, we welcome him to ours.

(Explanatory Note: The Washington Times, in which this paid commercial advertisement appeared, is a publication of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the Korean cleric, whose quasi-religious movement is usually identified as "The Moonies.")


Lorenzo Dee Belveal, Author
Copyright © 1997 Lorenzo Dee Belveal
All Rights Reserved

Guadalajara, Jalisco, MEXICO

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Last modified: March 11, 2004