Honduras National Security
The fort of San Fernando de Omoa on the Caribbean
coast was built by the Spanish in the eighteenth century.
THE 1982 CONSTITUTION of Honduras gives the armed forces a
broad
mandate to defend the national territory, maintain
internal order,
and guarantee the principles of free elections and regular
presidential succession. This constitutional mandate
ensures that
the armed forces play a central role not only in national
defense
but also in politics. Although the government changed from
military
to civilian rule in 1982, the military remains a powerful
institution in Honduran society, formally and informally
providing
guidance to civilian political leaders.
Honduras's location on the borders of El Salvador and
Nicaragua,
which were the scenes of hard-fought civil strife during
the 1970s
and 1980s, has made Honduras geostrategically important to
the
United States. In the 1980s, Honduras became a buffer area
to help
contain leftist guerrilla activity in El Salvador as well
as a home
base for United States-supported
Contras (short for
contrarevolucionarios--see Glossary) seeking to
destabilize the
Sandinista(see Glossary)
government of Nicaragua. In addition,
the United States poured millions of dollars into the
country
during the 1980s and early 1990s in order to increase the
size and
strengthen the capabilities of the Honduran armed forces
and
massively expand Honduras's military infrastructure, which
also
supported a United States military presence. Between 1983
and 1993,
the United States, in conjunction with the Honduran armed
forces,
carried out almost continuous military maneuvers on
Honduran soil.
Honduras's geostrategic role in the
Central American (see Glossary)
crisis of the 1980s had a significant impact on the
military, reinforcing the historical processes that had strengthened
the institution and its key role in Honduran society.
The ending of the Cold War and the return of relative
peace to Nicaragua and El Salvador have brought new pressures to
bear on the Honduran armed forces. The armed forces have been forced
to adjust to steep cutbacks in military assistance from abroad and
reconcile themselves to the prospect of having to deactivate combat
units and personnel as part of the government's military reduction
effort. Additionally, they have had to face growing public demands
for justice and an end to the military's role in human rights
abuses. Although Honduran military leaders claim that a strong
army is needed to protect the national territory and maintain
internal order, in 1993 there were no perceivable external threats
to Honduras, and signs of internal threats to the government
were weak, sporadic, and isolated
(see
Smaller Political Parties and Movements
, ch. 4).
In mid-1993 Honduras had 22,500 armed forces personnel
organized into three services (army, air force, and navy) and the
national police force. Unlike their counterparts in many other
Latin American countries, the Honduran national police, called
the Public Security Force (Fuerza de Seguridad Pública--Fusep),
remain an integral part of the armed forces. The army, having 14,000
troops, is the largest service, followed by the police, with 5,500
personnel. Although the air force has only 1,800 members,
it wields much influence because of its historical importance and
battle success during the 1969 border war with El Salvador. The
navy, which had grown rapidly during the 1970s and 1980s in
response to an increased perception of threat to Honduran coastal
waters, remains relatively small, with 1,200 members, 600 of whom
are marine infantry.
Data as of December 1993
|