Media Center

Press Release

OAS and Honduras to Establish Mission to Support Security Reform in Central American country

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras, Arturo Corrales, today signed an agreement for the establishment of a Mission to Support the Commission on Public Security Reform, known as "MAS-Honduras," whose goal is to address public security issues in the Central American country.

“This agreement allows the government of Honduras to help address the problem of public security, without ignoring evidence showing that there are acute problems and weaknesses in the institutions," said Secretary General Insulza after the signing of the agreement, which took place at OAS headquarters in Washington, DC

The OAS Secretary General recalled that in March the hemispheric organization presented a study on the Honduran system of public safety to the government in Tegucigalpa. "Now we are reaffirming our commitment on this issue with the committee that will be composed of known public personalities in Honduras and also by two international authorities."

The Mission to Support for the Commission on Public Security Reform will be made up of five members: three experts from Honduras, the OAS Secretary for Multidimensional Security, Ambassador Adam Blackwell, who is of Canadian origin, and retired Chilean Police General Aquiles Blu.

The head of the hemispheric organization explained that the agreement and the Mission of Support are part of the OAS policy to pay special attention to the security challenges that Central America is experiencing. In this regard, he specifically mentioned the adoption of the Hemispheric Plan of Action Against Transnational Organized Crime and the Plan of Action of the Declaration of San Salvador on Citizen Security.

For his part, the Honduran Foreign Minister said that "once again the OAS is there in situations where Honduras needs their help to solve problems that are beyond our capabilities." Minister Corrales said that this new mission, which has the support of the Honduran Congress, seeks to "formulate a restructuring of the operation of justice to give Honduras the necessary environment to live in harmony, to ensure the common good and so that society feels safe in the streets. “We are confident that with the experience of the OAS and under the leadership of Secretary General Insulza this task that begins today will succeed," said the Honduran Foreign Minister.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

The Video of the event is available here.

The Audio of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-183/12