Tensions Rising in Central American

Thursday August 16, 2001 2:20 am

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - Simmering tensions involving three neighboring Central American nations are intensifying, with allegations of military spying and treason, and even warnings of armed clashes.

One day after Honduras expelled two El Salvadoran army officers as alleged spies, Nicaragua's army on Wednesday accused Honduras of beefing up its army for a sneak attack.

The countries have been locked in a triangular border dispute over how to divide the Pacific Ocean's shrimp-rich Gulf of Fonseca. Tensions were stoked in 1969 when the El Salvador invaded Honduras and some 6,000 people were killed in several days.

In southern Nicaragua, military spokesman Col. Ramon Armesto Soza held a news conference Wednesday to discuss what he said was evidence that Honduras was building up its military presence on the border between the two countries. He claimed that Honduras authorized $1 million of war materials. He provided no actual evidence.

``Honduras is preparing to carry out a surprise operation against Nicaragua,'' Soza said.

Honduras ``categorically'' denies the allegations, said Rafael Moreno, a spokesman for the Honduran armed forces. ``Honduras is not a warlike country.''

The accusation came a day after two Salvadorans accused of spying were expelled from Honduras. Two Hondurans were also arrested.

Honduran armed forces spokesman Col. Carlos Andino said the two Salvadorans purchased ``numerous documents, videos and photographs on affairs of national security'' from the two Hondurans, who now face charges of treason.

Honduran armed forces spokesman Col. Carlos Andino said the two Salvadorans purchased ``numerous documents, videos and photographs on affairs of national security'' from the two Hondurans, who now face charges of treason.

El Salvador Foreign Minister Eugenia Brizuela said Wednesday her country was asking Honduras ``to give us more explanation and the pertinent proof'' against the men. El Salvador's ministry has ``no sort of evidence that shows that these people have acted incorrectly,'' she said.

The region has a recent history of intense political tension.

Some 6,000 people died in just a few days of fighting in 1969 when Salvadoran troops invaded Honduras in what is known as the ``soccer war'' because it followed an apparently unrelated soccer game between the countries.

Relations between Honduras and Nicaragua plummeted in 1999 when Honduras ratified a sea boundary treaty with Colombia that ignored Nicaraguan claims to tens of thousands of square miles of the Caribbean

http://www.guardian.co.uk/breakingnews/International/0,3561,1110506,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 15, 2001

Answers

Another world hot spot that the media has ignored. South and central america seem to be coming apart at the seams.

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 15, 2001.

Agreed. And the accelerating economic decline will only increase pressures towards armed conflicts.

-- Andre Weltman (aweltman@state.pa.us), August 16, 2001.