Inspection of Embassy Tegucigalpa, Honduras (ISP-I-02-06)

A poor country in the process of transition, Honduras presents a complicated policy challenge to the United States in the form of diverse law enforcement threats to U.S. security. To combat them the embassy combines a wide range of institution building programs with joint U.S.-Honduran law enforcement operations. Efforts to promote a rule of law that will improve Honduras’ ability to deal with these law enforcement issues, consume more of the mission’s resources than any other single function, but these efforts are not clearly articulated in the MPP. Embassy Tegucigalpa is well led. Interagency cooperation, including the Southern Command’s air facility at Soto Cano, the largest in the region, is also good. Economic and consular affairs bear a large share of the embassy’s anticrime burden. However, the political section, with its traditional reporting, does not appear to be consistent with embassy priorities and operations. The public diplomacy consolidation was effected smoothly.