HONDURAS - State Dept. lies about Schakowsky letter   http://quotha.net/node/2190 

In today's daily press briefing, Spokesperson Victoria Nuland outright lies about what the Schakowsky letter is calling for (suspension of military aid), which the reporter noted correctly. Nuland claims the letter calls for a suspension of all aid. Additionally, she furthers the falsehood that the State Department has been an advocate for human rights in Honduras, when it has consistently done everything in its power to provide impunity to perpetrators, including the Lobo administration, and blame victims of human rights abuses—a prime example of the latter being the statements of Jeremy Spector. This is consistent with State's strategy all along. It's less effective each time.

QUESTION: There are calls by some in Congress for the Administration to suspend military and security assistance to the Government of Honduras because of the killing - the suspicious killing of another journalist there. Can you speak to - is that an issue that you've raised with the Government of Honduras, and your - any guarantees about the respect for human rights there?

MS. NULAND: Yeah. Well, I think you know, Scott, that we have consistently and strongly spoken to the Government of Honduras about not only press human rights, but human rights standards in general. We have consistently called for prompt and credible investigations of these cases. We also have sent some of our prosecutorial and investigative advisors to Honduras to try to help them with some of these issues, so - and we will continue to speak out on these issues.

QUESTION: Is there any - at present, are you considering that congressional request to suspend aid? Or is that something that you've discussed with the Government of Honduras?

MS. NULAND: Well, I think the concerns that we have with this particular proposal is that it calls for a cutting of all aid to Honduras. And I think you know that Honduras is the murder capital of the world right now based on per capita incidents, particularly in Tegucigalpa. So the money that we give in assistance to Honduras is primarily focused on rule of law, crime, strengthening the police, counternarcotics programs, human rights programs, democracy programs. So I think we have a concern that this recommendation to cut it all off is a relatively blunt instrument, especially given the other concerns that we have in Honduras. So our preferred course of action is to continue to speak out strongly and to send advisors and other assistance to help them improve the system.