WASHINGTON – Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics Affairs and Law Enforcement William Brownfield, and USAID Assistant Administrator Mark Feierstein met on Friday with Honduran Secretary of Foreign Affairs Arturo Corrales to review bilateral cooperation in poverty reduction, protection of human rights, government transparency, strengthening of democratic institutions and the judicial sector, countering organized crime, and other issues of regional interest.

U.S. officials congratulated Secretary Corrales on the steps President Porfirio Lobo’s administration has taken in these areas and, in particular, on the important results it has achieved in the fight against drug trafficking.

Both governments reiterated our shared commitment to improving citizen security and expanding opportunity for the Honduran people through the promotion of human rights, transparency and accountability, civil society participation, socioeconomic development in rural and urban areas, counternarcotics cooperation, community-based violence prevention, assistance to the Honduran electoral system, and the strengthening of the judicial sector to overcome impunity, particularly in cases involving deaths of journalists, members of the LGBT community, and other high-profile cases.

Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights Maria Otero also underscored the importance of ongoing bilateral cooperation on these issues during her meeting this week with Foreign Secretary Corrales on July 25.