Yes. First to the charter cities or so-called model cities, which have been proposed by figures outside of Honduras. They would create economic and political zones in which the Honduran constitution wouldn't apply, including things like labour law, and you name it: the legal system would not apply. Obviously this is a terrifying prospect that you would have these zones that would be controlled with outsiders, and according to the new law that was passed in January or late December, they would have the right to create treaties and all sorts of international rights. So it's a very alarming model to which there's been enormous opposition in Honduras, and all over the world as well.
Let me speak more directly to the U.S. Congress. The congressional opposition has been growing, but it certainly has been there ever since the coup, when then Senator Kerry and then Congressman Berman criticized Obama for not calling the coup a military coup, because that would have called for immediate cuts or suspensions in aid. In the House of Representatives 94 members of Congress signed a letter to Secretary Clinton last spring calling for an immediate cut-off of all police and military aid in Honduras because of the human rights issues.
In the Senate opposition has been growing and growing, led in particular by Senator Patrick Leahy, the highest ranking senator in the Senate. Last summer he placed a hold on over $50 million of police and military aid to Honduras, about $10 million of which is still suspended to the best of my knowledge.
There have also been many voices in the Senate and House calling for the application of the Leahy act, a 1998 law that says that if U.S.-funded security forces, an individual, or a unit commit gross violations of human rights, all money to them and their unit has to be immediately suspended until they're investigated.
Last summer all funds to the current national chief of police—Juan Carlos Bonilla, also know as El Tigre Bonilla, the man with the documented death squad activity allegations against him—and any units under his jurisdiction were suspended.That is still in place, although there are differences of opinion from the version we've gotten from the State Department as to the definition of “under his jurisdiction”.
I would just say that the Senate's interest is growing as it is in the House. We've had numerous letters from congressional members—in some cases 50 to 80 congressional members—about the killing of LGBT people in Honduras, about Afro-indigenous rights, and about the campesinos' human rights.