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The Intelligence Battalion 3-16 or Battalion 316 was a unit of the Honduran Army in charge of carrying out assassinations, torture, and disappearances against alleged political opponents of the government during the 1980s. The unit had several names; its reorganization as "Intelligence Battalion 3-16" is attributed to General Gustavo Álvarez Martínez, a name that indicated the unit's service to 3 military units and 16 battalions of the Honduran army.
Its members received training and support from the US Central Intelligence Agency both in Honduras and at secret locations on US soil. At least 19 of its members graduated from the School of the Americas. He also received training from the Intelligence Battalion 601 of Argentina, and of Chile.
History
According to the NGO, COFADEH (Committee of Disappeared Relatives in Honduras), the battalion was created in 1979 with the name "Group of 14". In 1982, its name changed to the Special Investigation Directorate, commanded by Mr. Ten. Its name changed to "Intelligence Battalion 3-16" in 1982, according to requests for declassification of US documents made by the National Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras, and in 1984 according to COFADEH. Its organization as Battalion 3-16 is attributed to General Gustavo Martínez, with the support of the United States and Argentine advisers. And from 1987 to at least 2002, it was called ' 'Intelligence and Counterintelligence Branch.
Connections with Argentina
Ciga Correa, an agent of the Intelligence Battalion 601 of the Argentine Army was recognized as one of the trainers of the Group of Fourteen. Later, Colonel Gustavo Álvarez Martínez, graduated from the Colegio Militar de la Nación in 1961, was head of the Honduran intelligence services (FUSEP) at the time of the creation of Battalion 3-16, formed in the likeness of Battalion 601 , and with which Argentines collaborate indirectly. In late 1981 (during the Argentine Dirty War), after a strong investment in the Argentine base in Honduras, more than 150 Argentine officers to that country. The Argentine military had its staff operations center in a farm called "La Quinta", in addition to several training bases, including Lepaterique and Quilalí; all this as part of a series of training operations that received the code name of Operation Charly. The Argentines put at the disposal of Battalion 316 a death squad led by Colonel "El Chino" Lau, a specialist in murder and torture. With the crisis caused by the Malvinas War, the CIA took charge of all operations, although the Argentines continued to operate until 1984, and some until 1986. Also the Army Mechanics School (ESMA) sent collaborators and officers specialized in interrogations; among them, Roberto Alfieri González, who served in the national guard of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, the country where he was arrested for extortion and murder.
Connections with the United States
In early 1984, agents from Battalion 3-16, working closely with CIA agents, rounded up hundreds of leftist activists, including students, teachers, unionists, and suspected guerrillas. Unit members disguised themselves with clothes and sometimes with masks, wigs, and fake beards and mustaches. Armed with submachine guns Uzis, they watched over their victims, kidnapping them and taking them away in double cab paila cars with painted windows and stolen license plates, often in broad daylight, in the presence of several witnesses. Those captured were taken to secret prisons where they were stripped naked, their hands and feet bound and blindfolded, and where they were psychologically and physically tortured. His practices included electroshocks, immersion in water and suffocation.
The most notable case was that of Inés Murillo, who in 1983 and at the age of 24 was kidnapped and tortured for 78 days, and, according to what she recounts, frequently in the presence of the CIA adviser, the Mr. Mike, who had asked him questions. In his June 1988 testimony, Richard Stolz, then deputy director of operations, confirmed that the CIA had visited the prison where Murillo was being held. Stolz, along with former members of the battalion, also confirmed the training of members of the battalion, headed by a CIA agent known as Mr. Bill. An informant who defected from Battalion 3-16 also stated that Father James Carney was executed on the orders of General Álvarez , in the presence of CIA officer Mr. Mike. 10 years later, a seasoned State Department official privately admitted the role of the United States in the disappearances: "The green light was kill a communist," "all they winked and nodded," he said.
The United States ambassador at the time, John Negroponte, met on multiple occasions with General Gustavo Álvarez Martínez. In the summary of declassified US documents showing the telegrams sent and received by Negroponte, the National Security Archive states that ≪reporting of human rights atrocities≫ committed by Battalion 3-6 is ≪conspicuously absent from the cables traffic≫ and that ≪the Negroponte cables do not reflect no protest, or even discussion of these issues during his many meetings with General Álvarez, his deputies and the president of Honduras Roberto Suazo. The released cables also do not contain any report to Washington about the human rights abuses that were taking place.≫ Likewise, Negroponte affirms that there was no government policy of human rights violations and that he never looked to Battalion 3-16 involved in activities of death squads.
Efforts have been made through freedom of information laws to obtain documentation related to the role of the United States with respect to Battalion 3-16. On December 3, 1996, members of the United States Congress asked President Bill Clinton for the "complete and expeditious declassification of all documents pertaining to human rights violations in Honduras" and assured that "the United States government helped establish, train, and equip Battalion 3-16, a military unit that was responsible for the kidnapping, torture, and murder of at least 184 Honduran students, professors, journalists, and human rights activists, among others in the 1980s.”