The following information was obtained by the Research Directorate during a 22 July 1998 telephone interview with a cartographer at Honduras' National Geographic Institute in Tegucigalpa.

The cartographer stated that El Guantillo is a village located in the municipality of El Porvenir in the Department of Francisco Morazán, in the center of Honduras. The village has approximately 1,688 inhabitants and around 352 houses. The nearest major city is Tegucigalpa, Honduras' capital, located about 100 km south. According to the cartographer, there is no police station in El Guantillo. The nearest one is located in El Porvenir. There is no particular industry in El Guantillo. It is a village of peasants who work mainly as coffee pickers and in agriculture on lands owned by big landowners (terratenientes).

The cartographer did not have any information on which of the two national political parties is more powerful in El Guantillo. He stated that he was unaware of land-reform conflicts in or around El Guantillo but added that it is a place where such events could have taken place in the past or could happen today.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate 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.

Instituto Geografico Nacional, Tegucigalpa. 22 July 1998. Telephone interview with a cartographer.