Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights Uzra Zeya will lead a high-level interagency delegation to Honduras from January 9-12, 2023, to take part in the U.S.-Honduras Strategic and Human Rights Dialogues, to build on the countries’ shared bilateral agenda to support a prosperous, secure, thriving, and democratic Honduras.
The Strategic Dialogue will address governance; anti-corruption; economic prosperity; development; safe, orderly, and humane migration; and security. The Human Rights Dialogue will focus on human rights defender protections, gender-based violence, and labor rights. Following the dialogues, members of the U.S. delegation will meet with Honduran President Xiomara Castro.
Under Secretary Zeya will also meet with civil society groups and the business and diplomatic communities in Tegucigalpa and will travel to San Pedro Sula to meet with labor leaders in the Honduran textile industry on progress on labor rights and collective bargaining.
The U.S. delegation will also include General Laura Richardson, Commander of U.S. Southern Command, and USAID Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean Marcela Escobari. In addition, the delegation will include representatives from the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs; the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs; the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration; the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; the Coordinator for Global Anti-Corruption; the Office of the Secretary of Defense; and the National Security Council.
Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris and Honduran President Xiomara Castro jointly announced the launch of the U.S.-Honduras Strategic Dialogue at President Castro’s inauguration in January 2022. The first session of the dialogue took place in Washington, DC, in April 2022, solidifying the relationship between the two countries.