José Bueso Rosa is a former Honduran military officer, and was chief-of-staff of the

Honduran Army The Armed Forces of Honduras ( es, Fuerzas Armadas de Honduras), consists of the Honduran Army, Honduran Navy and Honduran Air Force. History Pre-1979 The Armed Forces of Honduras were created through article 44, subsection 4 of the First Consti ...

until March 1984. In July 1986 he was sentenced to five years in prison by a US court for his part in planning an assassination attempt on Honduran President Roberto Suazo Córdova.

Career

Bueso Rosa was chief-of-staff of the

until March 1984, when he was ousted together with

Gustavo Álvarez Martínez Gustavo Adolfo Álvarez Martínez (12 December 1937 - 25 January 1989) was a Honduran military officer. He was head of the armed forces of Honduras from January 1982 until his ouster on 31 March 1984 by fellow officers when he sought to expand hi ...

, the Commander-in-Chief of the Honduran military. Bueso Rosa had played a significant role in the US support to the

Nicaraguan Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...

, and was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

for his efforts. After being ousted, Bueso Rosa was sent to Chile as a military attache. Bueso Rosa was detained in Chile for eight months while the US sought his extradition in connection with a 1984 plot to assassinate Honduran President Roberto Suazo Córdova; he surrendered voluntarily to the US in late 1985. In June 1986 he pleaded guilty in a US court to "two counts of traveling in furtherance of a conspiracy to plan an assassination", and was sentenced to five years. The plot was due to be financed by the sale of cocaine in the US, of an amount variously reported as worth $10 million and $40 million.

Kerry Committee The Kerry Committee (formally the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Narcotics, and International Operations of the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations) was a US Senate subcommittee during the 100th United States Congress that examined ...

Report
p76 In 1987, United States National Security Council documents were released indicating that Oliver North urged officials with the

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...

and Department of Justice to seek leniency for Bueso Rosa.

Francis J. McNeil Francis J. McNeil (born 1932) was an American ambassador to Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North ...

said "Justice and State turned off an ill-advised effort by some U.S. military officials to assert a United States Government interest in going light on General Bueso".

Career

References

See also