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Honduras FOREIGN RELATIONS
The conduct of foreign policy in Honduras has
traditionally been
dominated by the presidency, with the minister of foreign
affairs
essentially executing that policy. After Honduras returned
to
civilian rule in 1982, however, the military continued to
exercise
power over aspects of foreign policy associated with
national
security. General Gustavo Álvarez reportedly directly
negotiated
the presence of the anti-Sandinista Contras in Honduras
with the
United States, as well as the establishment of a United
States
military presence at Palmerola Air Base and the training
of
Salvadoran troops at a Regional Center for Military
Training in
Honduras (Centro Regional de Entrenamiento Militar--CREM).
Military
influence over these aspects of foreign policy continued
through
the end of the decade, when regional hostilities subsided
and
reduced Honduras's geostrategic importance for United
States policy
toward the region.
In the second half of the 1980s, the Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs, under the dynamic leadership of Carlos López
Contreras,
reportedly became a professional and well-respected cadre
of
diplomats. Key positions in the ministry were reportedly
chosen on
the basis of competence rather than political affiliation.
With the
change in government in 1990, however, politicization once
again
became the norm, with preference given to PNH loyalists.
President
Callejas's active involvement in the regional integration
process
in Central America has tended to eclipse the prominence of
the role
of the minister of foreign affairs in the process of
formulating
foreign policy.
Data as of December 1993
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