HONDURAN DRUG CONNECTION PROBED

A Spanish-language TV network says the arrival of young dealers in
Canada threatens child welfare in Latin America.

The problem of young Hondurans coming to Vancouver to deal drugs has
become big news in Latin America as the government in Honduras comes
under increasing pressure to stop the exploitation of its children by
drug cartels.

Last Thursday night, Univision -- the largest Spanish-language TV
network in the Americas -- broadcast a special report on the problem.

The Miami-based network interviewed Honduran government officials and
child-welfare advocates in Central America for a segment on its late-night
news magazine Noticiero Univision: Ultima Hora.

Meanwhile, officials in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa have told
reporters they are doing what they can do stop the problem.

But in an article published in the newspaper El Heraldo, the
government said it is having difficulty responding to the issue
because Canadian authorities will not provide them with the
information they need.

Francisco Martinez, consular affairs chief of the Honduran foreign
relations ministry, was quoted as saying that Canadian authorities
have been unwilling to provide details about the Hondurans arrested in
Vancouver on drug charges, many of whom have claimed refugee status.

Immigration Canada usually does not provide information to foreign
governments about those who have made refugee claims in Canada,
because providing such information could put legitimate refugees or
their families at risk.

Casa Alianza -- the Latin American arm of the child-welfare group
Covenant House -- estimates that 200 Honduran children have been
brought north to deal drugs in Vancouver, most by Colombian drug cartels.

While Honduras says it is doing what it can to stop the problem, the
head of Casa Alianza has his doubts.

"Honduras, as a country, is basically turning its back on these
children," Bruce Harris, Casa Alianza's regional director for Latin
American programs, said in an interview from his offices in Costa Rica.

The involvement of Honduran children in Vancouver's drug trade has
been a matter of some debate.

In 1998, immigration authorities apprehended seven Honduran children
aged 11 to 15 who were being used as drug couriers -- including an
11-year-old boy sent to hospital after swallowing 28 rocks of crack
cocaine.

But incidents like that are rare and most dealers picked up by police
have been young adults. Immigration authorities say only a handful of
the hundreds of Honduran refugee claimants in Vancouver are minors.

But the involvement of Honduran teenagers and adults in the drug trade
is clear.

In a recent police crackdown in the Lower Mainland, 63 of 157 people
wanted by police for drug dealing were refugee claimants, most from
Honduras.

The number of Honduran refugee claims made in Vancouver has jumped
from 37 in 1996 to 257 last year.

Only a small minority of those claims are found to be legitimate by
the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Of the 337 Honduran refugee claims completed in Vancouver in 1999,
only 18 (five per cent) were accepted as refugees and 91 (27 per cent)
were rejected. Another 207 (61 per cent) failed to show up for their
hearings. Twenty-one claims were voluntarily withdrawn.