TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) -- apparently used to torture and kill political prisoners, a top Honduran official said Thursday.
The cells -- along with dozens of possible grave sites -- were discovered this week at El Aguacate air base in eastern Honduras, which the United States built for Nicaraguan Contra rebels in the 1980s. Authorities had announced the discovery of the first grave site containing unidentified human remains earlier this month.
"In the middle of overgrown brush at El Aguacate, we found six sites with tombs and metal cells where we believe the army tortured, killed and buried its victims," Sandra Ponce, Honduras' attorney general for human rights, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the base.
The freestanding cells, which Ponce said are big enough to hold two or three people each, appear to further challenge claims by Honduran army officials that "nothing is hidden" at the base, 80 miles (130 kms) east of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
"We suspect there are more than 48 graves in the area, holding the remains of an undetermined number of people buried there in the 1980s by the military," Ponce said.
Reporters will not be given access to the site until forensic experts from the United States and Germany have examined it.
One of the apparent grave sites measures 500 yards (meters) in length, and may hold victims of executions by the Contras, a rebel force the United States created and trained to fight the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua from across the border in Honduras in the 1980s.
But Ponce said her investigation is limited for now to the 184 disappearances attributed to the Honduran army, which include 105 Honduran leftists, 39 Nicaraguans, 28 Salvadorans, five Costa Ricans, four Guatemalans, an American, an Ecuadorian and a Venezuelan.
"Starting next week, we'll dig there to look for more evidence," Ponce said. "In other areas of the base, it looks like dirt has been moved by the army, possibly to destroy evidence."
Among the graves could be the remains of American priest-turned-guerrilla James Francis Carney, who disappeared in 1982, Human Rights Commissioner Leo Valladares said. Authorities had announced the discovery of Carney's remains in May, but later said they had been mistaken.
Valladares has blamed the armed forces for operating a death squad trained by military personnel from the United States, Taiwan, Nicaragua and Argentina.
El Aguacate air base was built by U.S. forces in 1983 and staffed by the Contras and Honduran army troops.
In July, provincial military chief Col. Leonel Pavon denied reports of clandestine graves at the base, saying "nothing is hidden in El Aguacate .. and any authority can prove what I say."
The armed forces governed Honduras for almost 20 years after ousting three civilian presidents in 1957, 1963 and 1972. They abandoned power in 1982, although they still hold great influence in the country.
Last month, President Carlos Flores Facusse fired four top military officials in an attempt to quell a power struggle in the military, but emphatically denied media reports of an attempted coup.
Copyright 1999 The Associated Press