| Media Note Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC October 29, 2004 Honduras Completes Landmine ClearanceThe United States welcomes the recent declaration by the Government of Honduras that it is now “mine free.” This declaration reflects the dedication and effort of Honduran deminers who cleared 2,191 landmines, 214 pieces of unexploded ordnance, and 60,521 other remnants of war left from conflict during the 1980s scattered in nearly 1,479 square kilometers (571.05 square miles) on the borders with El Salvador and Nicaragua. As a result, the Government of Honduras estimates that more than 67,000 families will move into this area and farm it. Honduras now joins two of its neighbors, El Salvador and Costa Rica, whose mine action programs were also supported by the United States, as former mine affected countries that are enabling their people to again walk and cultivate their land in safety. The United States is proud to have been a partner in making this Honduran success possible. Since 1995, the United States has provided approximately $1 million to Honduras for mine clearance, mine survivors assistance, a mine detecting dog program, and operational and logistical support for demining training conducted by U.S. and multinational teams. The Department of State has also fostered a successful partnership between the Polus Center for Social and Economic Development, the Julia Burke Foundation, and Grapes for Humanity, to create a center in Choluteca to treat landmine survivors and others with conflict-related health problems. Additionally, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Leahy War Victims Fund has provided over $700,000 to the Pan American Health Organization to meet the physical, social and economic development needs of mine survivors and others injured by war in Honduras and two other Central American countries. As standard practice, the United States assists mine affected countries to become “mine safe,” a term that indicates that the most pressing humanitarian impacts of the landmines have been addressed, without asserting the impossible guarantee that each and every landmine has been removed. The Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement in the U.S. Department of State continues to provide humanitarian mine action assistance and support for small arms/light weapons mitigation to other countries in Central and South America as well as in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and South East Asia. To learn more, visit www.state.gov/t/pm/wra. 2004/1180
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