Billy Joya

Billy Fernando Joya Améndola (known as Billy Joya) is a former Honduran military officer who worked in the controversial Battalion 3-16,[1] national security adviser at Manuel Zelaya's government, a post in which he has continued.[2][3]

Military career

One of four children, Joya enrolled in military academy at 14, but was expelled "when a teacher caught him cheating on an exam."[4] He subsequently enlisted as a private and within two years had risen to become the youngest sergeant in the army. He joined the military police, and in 1981, along with a dozen other Hondurans, had 6 weeks' training in the US. He went on to become a member of Intelligence Battalion 3-16.[4]

Billy Joya was one of the at least 18 members of the death squad Intelligence Battalion 3-16 who trained at the School of the Americas in the United States.[5][6][7]

Joya fled legal proceedings in Honduras regarding allegations of torture and forced disappearances carried out by Battalion 3-16, and sought political asylum in Spain, which was rejected. In August 1998 a claim was filed against Joya in Spain requesting his detention, asserting universal jurisdiction under the Convention Against Torture.[8] "Joya voluntarily returned to Honduras in December 1998 after receiving promises of special treatment. He was jailed but freed in August 2000 after a judge said there was not enough evidence to continue his detention."[9]

In 1996 Joya told the victims of Battalion 3-16, "I ask pardon for having contributed to that history of pain and suffering that you experienced."[10]

Security adviser

As of mid-2006, Billy Joya was a national security advisor to Alvaro Romero, another former Battalion 3-16 member, who was a government minister (Secretary of Security) during the presidency of Manuel Zelaya.[11]

References
  1. Violadores de Derechos Humanos en la década de los 80`s - Billy Fernando Joya Améndola, Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras (COFADEH)
  2. Goodman, Amy (2009-07-31). "Zelaya Speaks". Z Communications. Archived from the original on 2009-08-01. Retrieved 2009-08-01.
  3. The Daily Telegraph, 5 July 2009, In Honduras coup, the truth is as strange as any 'banana republic' fiction
  4. The New York Times, 7 August 2009, A Cold War Ghost Reappears in Honduras
  5. Imerman, Vicky; Heather Dean (2009). "Notorious Honduran School of the Americas Graduates". Derechos Human Rights. Archived from the original on 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
  6. Valladares Lanza, Leo; Susan C. Peacock. "IN Search of Hidden Truths -An Interim Report on Declassification by the National Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras". Archived from the original on 2009-08-02. Retrieved 2009-08-02.
  7. Declassification Request to the U.S. Government by Honduran National Commissioner for Human Rights, 31 July 1995, see ref for "In Search of Hidden Truths"
  8. CL Sriram (2002), "Exercising Universal Jurisdiction: Contemporary Disparate Practice", The International Journal of Human Rights
  9. "The Quest for Justice: Efforts to Prosecute Honduran Human Rights Abusers". Archived from the original on 2007-11-21. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  10. Associated Press, 20 February 1996, "Former Honduran Officer Admits Kidnapping"
  11. Holland, Clifton L. (June 2006). "Honduras - Human Rights Workers Denounce Battalion 3-16 Participation in Zelaya Government" (PDF). Mesoamérica Institute for Central American Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-08-03. Retrieved 2009-08-03.
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