Original letter in Spanish, and translation:

Washington Office on Latin America
1666 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 400
Washington, DC 20009
(202) 797-2171

February 25, 2010

Porfirio Lobo Sosa
President of the Republic of Honduras
Presidential Residence
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Your Excellency Mr. President:

With great interest we are following the process of the installation of the Truth Commission, which we view as extremely important for the process of reconciliation of Honduran society. We view your decision to nominate Eduardo Stein, who we have known for many years from his work on human rights with WOLA and as vice-president of Guatemala, as coordinator of the committee to be a very positive step. Founded in 1974, WOLA is a non-governmental organization based in Washington, DC that promotes human rights, democracy and sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean. WOLA closely follows policies and programs of the U.S. government and international organizations directed toward the region, and promotes alternatives through reports, education, and impact evaluation for U.S. government officials.

Recently we contacted Mr. Stein to offer him our support as an organization with experience in the area of human rights, Latin America, and their relation to the U.S. government. We also suggested the name of Professor Douglas Cassel as an international candidate to become part of the Commission, to which he responded that the choice of the members of the committee is made by yourself. As such, we would like to suggest that you consider the inclusion of Professor Cassel, a choice that would be to the great satisfaction of many members of the international community since he has extensive experience in the area and himself was part of the Truth Commission in El Salvador. He has been a professor in the faculty of law at Northwestern University and is currently a professor of law at the University of Notre Dame. Furthermore he is completely bilingual. We have spoken with him and know that he is willing to participate in the Commission despite his many responsibilities.

Mr. President, you may contact him directly at -------- or via email at ---------. For further information we have attached the CV of Professor Cassel.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Vicki Gass
WOLA

Francisco Machado
WOLA

Cc: Arturo Valenzuela, State Department
Hugo Lloren [sic], U.S. Embassy in Honduras