"Time to Make Decisions"

General Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, many Hondurans believe, wields more power than the country's President. Alvarez, 45, met with TIME to voice his views on the Central American crisis. Excerpts:

On the Sandinista threat. Nicaragua has said in an international forum that Honduras is threatening and hurting it. It is Nicaragua that is a base for a war of conquest in the Caribbean Basin. Nicaragua is supporting subversion in Honduras and uses our territory for the traffic in arms. We are also seeing a disproportionate growth in the Sandinista armed forces. In a period of three years, they have grown more than threefold [to 27,000]. I do not believe they are increasing their military just for parade purposes. When you think about the fact that the Nicaraguan economy is in as deplorable a situation as ours, you wonder where the money for the armed forces came from.

On U.S. support for Honduras. For the first time in many years a President has spoken very directly about our problem. This is a threat to the U.S. and its interests too. It is time to make decisions that have been delayed for so many years. The consequence of that delay has been the advance of Communism in the region. In Western Europe, nations with strong economies and the NATO military umbrella can negotiate with Communists. But it is very difficult to coexist with Communism in a Latin context. We are a fragile democracy. Can we exist with a Soviet base in the region? We would be facing a superpower, the Soviet Union, through its surrogates, Nicaragua and Cuba. If Nicaragua had a Nicaraguan type of Communism, this would be a different situation.

On the contras. I believe that in a short time there will be a general insurrection in Nicaragua. The situation should become clearer in the next few months. There will come a time when the opposition in Nicaragua will need sizable logistical support. It would be very sad if it does not receive that support. It would freeze the opposition and allow the regime to consolidate. The result would be brutal repression. Since President Reagan has said the U.S. is helping this effort, for the U.S. to allow 7,000 people to go in and then leave them out on a limb would be a disaster. It would be a repeat of the Bay of Pigs invasion and a total discredit to the U.S.

On human rights in Honduras. We have had terrorism in this country and applied reasonable and necessary force. It is the Communists who make the charges of human-rights violations. I cannot deny the possibility that one of my subordinates has violated a person's human rights or the law. What I can guarantee is that there were no orders supporting this. I am a Christian. I have five children. I love them. I cannot disregard human rights. I do condemn human-rights organizations that are partial. They exploit the good will of a lot of people for their own aims.

On his relations with President Suazo Cordova. This has been the hobbyhorse of enemies of Honduras who want to isolate the government. They would like to say the government is all a fac,ade. In Honduras, the President is the one who rules, and his orders are respected. The armed forces of Honduras have learned a lot in the past few years. We would be irresponsible and commit a crime against our country if we did not respect the duly elected representative of our people. The day the President of this republic gives me an order I do not like, I will leave my position. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.