Ex-diplomat's daughter charged with murder in fatal stabbing
Ex-diplomat's daughter charged with murder in fatal stabbing
Updated 11:43 am CST, Saturday, February 15, 2020
ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) — A woman arrested on suspicion of fatally stabbing an acquaintance during an argument in a Maryland home has been identified by news reports as a daughter of a former U.S. ambassador.
Sophia Negroponte, 27, has been charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Yousuf Rasmussen, 24, of Bethesda, at a residence in Rockville late Thursday, according to Montgomery County police.
Negroponte is a daughter of former U.S. diplomat John Negroponte and one of five children that he and his wife adopted, according to the Washington Post.
. . .
In 2005, President George W. Bush appointed John Negroponte as the nation’s first intelligence director. He later served as deputy secretary of state. He also has been ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the United Nations and Iraq.
More:
https://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Ex-diplomat-s-daughter-charged-with-murder-in-15059021.php
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Gee, it would be so sad if this young woman's actions have brought any disrespect to her father, Ronald Reagan's Ambassador to Honduras (and overseer of death squad Battalion 3-16's atrocities) and George W. Bush's Ambassador to the U.N., etc. It just might break his heart.
From the Baltimore Sun:
When a wave of torture and murder staggered a small U.S. ally, truth was a casualty.
By BY GARY COHN AND GINGER THOMPSON
SUN STAFF |
JUN 11, 1995 | 3:00 AM
. . .
Specific examples of brutality by the Honduran military typically never appeared in the human rights reports, prepared by the embassy under the direct supervision of Ambassador Negroponte. Those reports to Congress were required under the Foreign Assistance Act, which in most circumstances prohibits the United States from providing military aid to nations whose governments engage in a consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights.
The reports from Honduras were carefully crafted to leave the impression that the Honduran military respected human rights.
More:
https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/bal-negroponte1a-story.html
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Wikipedia:
Intelligence Battalion 3–16 or Battallón 316 (various names: Group of 14 (1979–1981),[1] Special Investigations Branch (DIES) (1982–1983),[1] Intelligence Battalion 3–16 (from 1982 or 1984 to 1986),[1][2] Intelligence and Counter-Intelligence Branch (since 1987)[1]) was the name of a Honduran army unit responsible for carrying out political assassinations and torture of suspected political opponents of the government during the 1980s.
Battalion members received training and support from the United States Central Intelligence Agency both in Honduras and at US military bases,[3] Battalion 601 (including Ciga Correa), who had collaborated with the Chilean DINA in assassinating General Carlos Prats and had trained, along with Mohamed Alí Seineldín, the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance.[4] At least 19 Battalion 3–16 members were graduates of the School of the Americas.[5][6] The Battalion 3–16 was also trained by Pinochet's Chile.[4]
The name indicated the unit's service to three military units and sixteen battalions of the Honduran army.[1] The reorganisation of the unit under the name "Intelligence Battalion 3–16" is attributed to General Gustavo Álvarez Martínez.[2]
. . .
A former prisoner of the 3-16, Ines Murillo, claimed that during her captivity she had often been tortured in the presence of the CIA adviser, Mr. Mike, and that he at one time submitted questions to ask her. In his June 1988 testimony, Richard Stolz, then the CIA deputy director for operations, confirmed that a CIA official had visited the prison where Murillo was being held.[9] She also accused a prominent New York Times reporter of doing some dirty work of his own. In a letter to the Times, Ines Murillo responds to James LeMoyne's reporting of the interview with her, noting a series of distortions and falsehoods, which "have caused great damage to me and my family" and "could be used to justify the kidnapping, disappearance and assassination of hundreds of people."[10] A whistleblower who deserted Battalion 316 asserted that Father James Carney, a liberation theologian priest, was executed by order of General Álvarez, and that "Álvarez Martínez gave the order for Carney’s execution in the presence of a CIA officer, known as 'Mister Mike.'"[11] Ten years later, one senior State Department official was willing to concede in private the U.S. role in the disappearances. "The green light was kill a commie," said the official. "Everybody was winking and nodding."[8]
The US Ambassador to Honduras at the time, John Negroponte, met frequently with General Gustavo Alvarez Martínez.[12] In summarising declassified US documents showing telegrams (cables) sent and received by Negroponte during his period as US Ambassador to Honduras, the National Security Archive states that "reporting on human rights atrocities" committed by Battalion 3–16 is "conspicuously absent from the cable traffic" and that "Negroponte's cables reflect no protest, or even discussion of these issues during his many meetings with General Alvarez, his deputies and Honduran President Robert Suazo. Nor do the released cables contain any reporting to Washington on the human rights abuses that were taking place."[12]
More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battalion_3-16_(Honduras)
