The following information was provided by a director at the Honduran Association of Coffee Producers (AHPROCAFE) head office in Tegucigalpa during a 23 November 1995 telephone interview with the DIRB.

According to the director relations between the coffee producers of Honduras and the national government have improved substantially over the last two years. The director added that one of the most recent activities of AHPROCAFE, was the annual negotiations with governmental authorities of renewed prices, levels of production, quotas and taxes for coffee. The director told the DIRB that both parties' representatives were satisfied with the negotiations outcome.

The director, who has held the post at AHPROCAFE since 1989, also stated that no member of AHPROCAFE's leadership or staff, the director included, has been subject to mistreatment by members of the government or the armed forces of Honduras.

For general information on Honduras' union workers and AHPROCAFE, please consult the attached documents.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of sources consulted by the DIRB for this Response to Information Request.

Honduran Association of Coffee Producers (AHPROCAFE),Tegucigalpa. 23 November 1995. Telephone interview with a director.

Inter Press Service. 9 August 1994. "Commodities: Central America to Attempt a Unified Coffee Plan." (NEXIS)

Reuters. 30 June 1994. BC Cycle. "Honduras Coffee Output Expected to Rise-AHPROCAFE." (NEXIS)

Trade Unions of the World, 1992-93. 1989. 3rd ed. London: St. James Press, pp. 203-07.

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Central America Report [Guatemala City]. Weekly.

Central America Update [Toronto]. Monthly.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. U.S. Department of State. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.

Critique: Review of the Department of State's Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. New York: Lawyers Committee for Human Rights.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Reports. Daily.

HonduPress.

Human Rights Watch. Yearly. Human Rights Watch World Report. New York: Human Rights Watch.

Keesing's Record of World Events. Yearly. Edited by Roger East. London: Longman.

Latin America Update [Washington]. Monthly.

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Latin American Regional Reports: Central America and Caribbean Report [London].

Trade Unions Bulletin [London]. Amnesty International. Monthly.

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