Billy Joya Explained
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." 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 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
- http://www.cofadeh.org/html/violadores%20ddhh/billy_joya.htm Violadores de Derechos Humanos en la década de los 80`s - Billy Fernando Joya Améndola
- Web site: Goodman . Amy . Zelaya Speaks . . 2009-07-31 . 2009-08-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131224112717/http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/22175 . 2013-12-24 . dead .
- The Daily Telegraph, 5 July 2009, In Honduras coup, the truth is as strange as any 'banana republic' fiction
- The New York Times, 7 August 2009, A Cold War Ghost Reappears in Honduras
- Web site: Imerman . Vicky . Heather Dean . Notorious Honduran School of the Americas Graduates . Derechos Human Rights . 2009 . 2009-08-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081204195846/http://www.derechos.org/soa/hond-not.html . 2008-12-04 . live .
- Web site: 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 . 2009-08-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090805054103/http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/latin_america/honduras/hidden_truths/hidden.htm . 2009-08-05 . live .
- 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"
- CL Sriram (2002), "Exercising Universal Jurisdiction: Contemporary Disparate Practice", The International Journal of Human Rights
- Web site: The Quest for Justice: Efforts to Prosecute Honduran Human Rights Abusers . 2009-07-28 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071121060049/http://www.mayispeakfreely.org/index.php?gSec=doc&doc_id=35 . 2007-11-21 . dead .
- Associated Press, 20 February 1996, "Former Honduran Officer Admits Kidnapping"
- Web site: Holland . Clifton L. . Honduras - Human Rights Workers Denounce Battalion 3-16 Participation in Zelaya Government . . June 2006 . 2009-08-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110720160941/http://www.mesoamericaonline.net/MES0_ARCHIVES/Countries/Hond/HOJUN06.pdf . 2011-07-20 . dead .
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