UPDATES FROM HONDURAS and URGENT ACTIONS

As the election period in Honduras heats up with even the most "official" polls showing the resistance movement's party (LIBRE) candidate Xiomara Castro Zelaya in the lead for President of Honduras,  the oligarchy and its military, security forces and politicians are escalating the fight on all fronts against the people. In this fight they are counting on the continued financial, political and military support from the United States which has recently reaffirmed its claim to authority in Central America - in the words of Secretary of State John Kerry "our backyard".  The U.S. continues to supply arms, training, equipment and support for both the Honduran National Police and military and therefore is supporting as well the "new" death squads made up of soldiers, police and private paramilitary security.

Campesinos March on May 1st 2013

War Against the Campesinos of Honduras - The brutal war against the small farmers by the big agribusiness palm companies such as Miguel Facusse's DINANT in the Aguan Valley and the sugar producers of CASHA and AZUNOSA in the Sula Valley continues creating a river of campesino blood and injustice. More than 100 campesinos have been murdered in the past three years. Agribusiness owners are backed up by the military, police and government political parties. Meanwhile the National Congress has continued to ignore the proposal from the campesino federations and organizations for a new integral agrarian reform for land and food rights.

         Today - URGENT - May 23, 2013 Paso Aguan, Panama, Aguan - there are reports coming in that police from the joint military-policy operation in the Aguan (Xantruch III) working with Facusse's paramilitary security are randomly firing into the campesino's homes in Panama in the Aguan. The campesinos were violently evicted from the Paso Aguan plantation on May 21st and have been the targets of intense harassment, violence and detentions for the past several months. On May 1st they were surrounded by Xatruch forces and then they and their supporters were attacked and beaten.
 For more information and declarations by the campesino organizations  and an
URGENT ACTION REQUEST: 
http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/p/march-6-2013-communique-from-campesinos.html

         May 17th Massacre of MOCSAM Campesinos in the Sula Valley - Friday, May 17th private paramiliatary guards from CASHA opened fire on campesinos peacefully occupying land in San Manuel Cortés. The lands were exprorpiated by the National Agrarian Institute for land reform last year but the campesinos have been continuously evicted and threatened. Four campesinos were shot, two died immediately. The police came to the scene but refused to take action against the guards. Then on Monday another MOCSAM member, Marilu Miranda Orellana was assassinated as she returned to her home. Yesterday the spokesman for MOCSAM was followed by a group of armed men as he returned to San Manuel from San Pedro Sula where supporters and activists have a vigil organized in front of the Cathedral. More than 600 campesinos continue their land recuperation and there are calls for support.

 For more information and links to the campaign for emergency food aid for the campesinos:
MOCSAM Massacre:
http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/p/declaration-campesino-movement-of-san.html

Defending Land and Culture - The Indigenous  Peoples' Movement Under Attack
           
             Today May 23, 2013 in San Antonio Chuchiutepeque, Santa Barbará the National Police and special forces, the Cobras, evicted a land recuperation by members of the Lenca indigenous people near the Ulúa River which is an area that would be affected by a major hydroelectric project. At least five people have been detained.
           This comes right after Lenca communities and activists in Intibuca at Rio Blanco were also attacked after almost 50 days of an action to maintain their lands and block construction of the Agua Zarca Hydroelectric Project. On the same day at 3:300 am the police raided homes of the residents of Campas, Lempira arresting the local Priest Candido Pineda and 22 of his parishioners also related to the same projects and the FNRP resistance.  COPINH in La Esperanza, Intíbuca is under constant harassment and threats because of its support for the communities and the anti-mining and anti-damn movements. The protests and struggles continue and there is a call for support.
For more information here is an action alert from COPINH from last week with contact numbers that can be used to express support for the communities in Santa Barbara and Intíbuca:
http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/p/urgent-action-request-from-copinh-lenca.html

        One Year Later - Impunity in the Killings of Indigenous Villagers in Ahuas, Moskitia
On May 11, 2012 four villagers including one pregnant woman and a 14 year old boy were shot to death and 3 others were wounded by a joint U.S. DEA, Honduran Military-Police action in the Moskitia  region of Honduras. Despite demands for a serious investigation and support for the survivors and families of the dead the U.S. has continued to stonewall. Below is the link to the article by Center for Economic Policy and Research (CEPR) with an anniversary of the crime update on Ahuas:
http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/p/some-hondurans-pay-ultimate-price-for.html

Organizations Condemn Military-Landowner Violence and Slander Against Campesinos

el comunique en español sigue abajo del ingles

Below is a new communique from the Aguan campesino organizations condemning the escalation of violence and the propaganda to justify violence against the campesinos of Aguan. In recent weeks there have been more assassinations and there have been attempts against spokespersons for the Campesinos Movement and Resistance in the Aguan.  The military recently released a video of armed groups in the Aguan implying that the campesinos are involved in such groups - however it was the campesino organizations that denounced these armed groups back in 2011. 

La Voz de los de Abajo condemns the statements issued by Colonel Germán Alfaro Esclante of the Honduran military in command in the Aguan. We condemn the  big landowners such as Miguel Facusse whose private paramilitary guards are implicated in most of the murders and violence in the region. We strongly condemn the fact that the U.S. Government continues to fund and support the militarization of Honduras despite the obvious consequences and death squad connections of the National Police and Honduran Military.

The Regional Agrarian Platform of the Aguan Valley communicates the following to the Honduran people and the international community:

1-  We condemn the systematic, dirty, and malicious campaign of the landowners in the Aguan, through the La Prensa newspaper and their spokesmen, including Colonel Germán Alfaro Escalante, head of the Xatruch III Operation, who was trained at the U.S. School of the Americas in 1984 to protect the interests of capital.

2-   This campaign seeks to prepare the conditions to continue the murders of the organized campesinos in the Bajo Aguan with impunity and to pressure the judicial system to rule in favor of the landowners in the case of the La Trinidad, La Despertar and San Isidro cooperatives, which belong to MARCA. They were given legally given to the campesinos on June 29, 2012 by the judicial authorities when a Francisco Morazan court issued a final judgement about the land.  So we are not land invaders.

3- We make clear that the farms La Confianza, La Aurora, La Lempira, La Concepción, Marañones, Isla I and Isla II, which add up to 3,962 hectares of land, were acquired by signed agreements between the government and MUCA on April 13, 2010.  The agreements are for 11,000 hectares, of which the government still owes 7,038 hectares to MUCA.  Similarly, MARCA signed agreements on May 24, 2011 for 1,600 hectares of land, of which only 667 hectares in the San Esteban farm have been handed over; the government still owes 933 hectares.

4- We reject the assertions, through fake videos and publications by the La Prensa newspaper, which seek to make us look like armed groups with high caliber weapons such as AK-47s, M-16s, and .223 guns. On April 26, 2011, we denounced armed groups under the command of paramilitary leaders, which clearly coincides with the photograph published in the La Prensa newspaper today (April 3, 2013).

5- We condemn the plan of Operation Xatruch, commanded by Col. Alfaro Escalante, which seeks to assassinate campesino leaders such as Juan Ramón Chinchilla, Yoni Rivas, Vitalino Álvarez, and Wilfredo Paz, the spokesperson for the Permanent Observatory of Human Rights in the Aguán in Tocoa, Colon. 

6- We make clear that the problems of land tenure in the Bajo Aguan were provoked by former President Rafael Leonardo Callejas, when he approved the fatal and unconstitutional Agricultural Modernization and Development Act, which contradicts articles 344 to 350 of the Constitution.

7- We call on national and international human rights organizations to be attentive for any situation which could occur in the coming days against the humanity of the campesino leaders.

We are not birds to live in the air, we are not fish to live in the water, we are campesinos who need to live on the land.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

April 3, 2013.

 English Translation by Greg McCain and Brigitte Gynther 

Español Original

Comunicado

La Plataforma Agraria Regional del Valle del Aguán comunican al pueblo Hondureño y a la comunidad internacional lo siguiente:

1-  Condenamos la campaña sistemática, sucia y  mal intencionada de los terrateniente del Aguán, a través de Diario la Prensa y sus voceros como el coronel Germán Alfaro Escalante jefe de la operación Xatruch III,  quien fue entrenado en la escuela de las Américas de los Estados Unidos en 1984, para proteger los intereses del capital.

2-   Esta campaña pretende preparar las condiciones para continuar impunemente los asesinatos de los campesinos organizados en el Bajo Aguan, así mismo presionar al sistema judicial para que falle a favor de los terratenientes en el caso de la cooperativa La Trinidad, La Despertar y La San Isidro que pertenecen a MARCA y que fueron entregadas legalmente el 29 de junio del 2012, por las autoridades judiciales a los campesinos,  mediante sentencia firme por un juzgado de Francisco Morazán, por lo tanto no somos invasores de tierra.

3- Aclaramos que las finca La Confianza, La Aurora, la Lempira, la Concepción, Marañones, Isla I y Isla II  las que suman 3,962 hectáreas de tierra y que  fueron adquiridas mediante los acuerdos firmados el 13 de abril del 2010 entre el Gobierno y MUCA, los que contemplan 11,000 hectáreas de las cuales el Gobierno aun adeuda 7, 038 hectáreas a MUCA, de igual manera el MARCA suscribió acuerdos el 24 de mayo del 2011, el que contiene la entrega de 1,600 hectáreas de las que solo se le entregaron 667  en la finca San Esteban y que aun el Gobierno adeuda 933 hectáreas.

4- Rechazamos las aseveraciones a través de falso videos y publicaciones de Diario la Prensa, donde pretenden hacernos aparecer como grupos armados con armas de grueso calibre como AK-47, M-16 y pistolas 2-23, sobre este particular, nosotros con fecha 26 de abril del 2011, denunciamos los grupos armados al mando de jefes paramilitares, y que coincide plenamente con la fotografía publicada en Diario la prensa el día de hoy.

5-  Condenamos el plan de la operación Xatruch,  comandada por Alfaro Escalante pretendiendo asesinar a dirigentes campesinos como a Juan Ramón Chinchilla, Yoni Rivas, Vitalino Álvarez y Wilfredo Paz quien es vocero del observatorio de derechos Humanos en Tocoa, Colón.

6- Aclaramos que la problemática por la tenencia de la tierra en el Bajo Aguán, fue provocada en 1992 por el ex presidente de Honduras Rafael Leonardo Callejas al aprobar la fatídica e inconstitucional Ley de Modernización y Desarrollo del Sector Agrícola, la cual es contradictoria a los artículos 344 al 350 de la Constitución de la Republica.

7- Llamamos a los organismos nacionales e internacionales defensores de derechos humanos  a que se mantengan vigilantes ante cualquier situación que pueda ocurrir en los próximos días en contra de la humanidad de dirigentes campesinos.

No Somos Pájaros para vivir en el Aire, No somos Peces para vivir en el Agua, somos campesinos y campesinas que necesitamos vivir en la tierra.

Dado en Tegucigalpa, Honduras a los 03 días del mes de abril del 2013.

Alert! Security Situation in Honduras - Message from Los Necios 

Note from Honduras Resists: In the past several weeks a number of events have occurred pointing to a deepening political crises in the country and serious conflicts among the security forces, military and political rulers. The head of the Honduran National Police Force, Juan Carlos Bonilla has been one of the figures at the center of the storm and now has issued threats against LIBRE and its activists. Below is a message from the Political Organization Los Necios. 

March 4, 2010

Chief Police Juan Carlos Bonilla, better known as “El Tigre Bonilla” gave on Thursday last week a press conference saying that sectors involved in LIBRE Party have started a dirty campaign against National Security, by denouncing his crimes. In the link below his declaration:

http://proceso.hn/2013/03/01/Nacionales/E.CEl.Tigre/65053.html

He said he has already identified the groups that are doing this, and it is known he is referring to the Political Organization Los Necios (OPLN). Los Necios have openly and publicly denounce his crimes through all web site resources, given all the criminal linkages and assassinations during this period. The Police has not done anything even though there are videos showing paramilitary personal killing with political purposes.  Also, Gilberto Ríos, General Secretary of Los Necios, who is also candidate for congress, sent “El Tigre Bonilla” a letter in response to these false accusations. You can read it in the link below.

http://losnecios.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=227:respuesta-al-comisionado-juan-carlos-bonilla&catid=4:editoriales-necios&Itemid=57

LIBRE Party on their side, also sent a communiqué rejecting the (amenazas) of the Tigre Bonilla:

http://www.hondurastierralibre.com/2013/03/hnonduras-comunicado-urgente-de-libre.html

As we all known Tigre Bonilla is recognized for being involved with the death squads in the 80s and for his servility to the private enterprises. The arrival of El Tigre has not reduced the violence rate, instead the decision to militarize to give security has just brought more repression and more corruption by the oligarchy .

Here I send you the links of the videos that the OPLN made in denounce for the situation of Security in Honduras

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDixsW0ji8w

Another one made for the anniversary of the fire in Comayagua´s Jail who killed about 300 men without investigation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZUYzqhfphg

Also another video that circulated in which as OPLN have no hand, this video shows Bonilla planning the death of President Zelaya

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLpabJf1y7I

We hope that the international community can help us denounce this false accusations and claim for the respect of human rights.

Two campesinos murdered today - Action Request

February 16, 2013 - Two campesinos were murdered in the past few hours today in the Aguan Valley in Honduras. There is an action request for Spanish speakers to call the Tocoa Police Station (011-504) 2444-3105, 3106, 3107. Tell the police that you are from an international human rights group aware of the assassinations and demand a full investigation of the murders. 

At 6:30 this evening Jose Trejo Cabrera, 55,  was assassinated in Tocoa in the neighborhood of San Isidro which is also the name of the cooperative to which he belonged. Jose was a member of the campesino organization MARCA and the brother of Antonio Trejo Cabrera, the lawyer representing MARCA against the most powerful land owner in Honduras, Miguel Facussé. Antonio was assassinated in Tegucigalpa on September 22, 2012. Before his death he publicly stated that if anything should happen to him, Miguel Facussé should be held responsible. 

Earlier in the afternoon today, Santos Jacobo Caregena, 45,  from the San Esteban cooperative of the organization MUCA, was shot to death while waiting for a bus at the entrance to the cooperative La Confianza and the road to Tocoa. Numerous members of MUCA and other campesino organizations have been murdered at that location. 

This violence occurs on the eve of an official visit by the United Nations' working group on the use of mercenaries and their impact on human rights and the the right of peoples to self-determination. 

In the Aguan Valley since the 2009 coup at least 90 people have been murdered, nearly all of the victims have been campesinos or their supporters and in a large number of the cases, witnesses have identified private paramilitary guards in the employ of the big landowners as the perpetrators. In many other cases, "unidentified gunmen" were witnessed committing the murders. 

ADDITIONAL ACTIONS FOR ENGLISH AND SPANISH SPEAKERS:

Send an email to President Porfirio Lobo Sosa at  diseloalpresident@presidencia.gob.hn and to Ana Pineda, Minister of Justice and Human Rights at contact@sjdh.gob.hn in English or Spanish, mention the names of the two men murdered today and demand an end to the violence against campesinos and their supports and an investigation of the murders that includes both the gunmen and those who hire them. 

Information from the Permanent Human Rights Observatory of Aguan; MUCA; G.McCain and other sources

Re-founding Honduras from below: an indigenous perspective from COPINH's Berta Cáceres

Members of re-foundational space prioritizing building of social movement bases

What prompted the Honduran military to break down the doors of the presidential palace on June 28th, 2009 and kidnap President Manuel Zelaya first to the U.S. military base Palmerola and then to exile in Costa Rica was not the right's fear of President Zelaya himself. What the Honduran oligarchy and U.S. State Department truly feared was that Zelaya had opened the doors of the presidential palace to a grassroots social movement with a radical vision for re-founding Honduras from below. The day of the coup Hondurans were to vote on an advisory referendum about convening a constitutional assembly as a first step in "re-founding" Honduras and taking away power from the oligarchy and the transnational corporations who currently run the country. Though the referendum was non-binding, subject to congressional approval and Zelaya's term would be long over before any such constitutional assembly, just the idea of the excluded segments of Honduran society (which, together are the great majority of Honduras) being consulted scared the oligarchy enough for them to carry out a violent military coup d'etat and subsequently unleash three years of brutal repression against the Honduran resistance that continue to the present day.

While many in the resistance are hopeful that their recently formed LIBRE ("Freedom and Re-foundation" in English) party will bring Zelaya's wife Xiomara into the presidency next November and re-open the possibility of a constitutional assembly, a common worry also circulates - will the oligarchy and their military let got at the polls of what they took by force with arms during the coup? 

There is ample reason to worry. Many instances of fraud in last week's primaries have already been exposed, particularly in manipulation of numbers during the transmission of results from polling stations to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (run entirely by coup supporters). Accusations of people being paid to vote have been particularly widespread within the National Party, where there was a hotly contested primary race between two right-wing candidates. Questions are also being raised about the inflation of numbers who supposedly voted for the Liberal party, which, as numerous election observers saw first hand, had an extremely weak showing almost everywhere since a large part of its former base is now in the resistance's LIBRE party. Additionally, there were reports throughout the country of voters being unable to get their ID cards from authorities to vote and several people from the two major parties were caught the day of the elections with large numbers of ID cards. Even more worrying, several dozen LIBRE candidates have already been killed and many more have received death threats. The already severe climate of repression and terror is widely expected to worsen as next year's elections get closer.

Despite this, many people in the resistance are throwing their all into the political process against all odds. There is no doubt that many people are excited to go to the polls next November and see people on the ballot with whom they have been shoulder-to-shoulder in the streets since the coup. In its first appearance on ballots the resistance drew about half a million people to vote in the primaries last week. This despite the fact that there was already unity on the presidential candidacy of Xiomara and that many public and private sector workers were threatened with losing their jobs if seen voting for LIBRE (in the Honduran primaries any observer can see which party you are voting for because voters for each party line up separately outside different rooms). 

But there are also others who are concerned about all the energy going into the electoral process. A group of some of the most marginalized groups in Honduras - indigenous, peasant, Afro-descendant, feminist, artist and other organizations -  form what they call the "re-foundational space" within the Honduran resistance. While opinions vary and some groups in the re-foundational space are still actively working on getting LIBRE elected or have bases that will turn out to vote for LIBRE in the elections, there is a common belief that the growth of the social movement must be the priority in order to build enough power from below to truly re-found Honduras. Those in the re-foundational space believe power must be built from below first and foremost. They are demonstrating their approach by strengthening struggles in their respective sectors and creating spaces to jointly articulate their struggles, including recent gatherings such as the "Summit of Black and Indigenous Women," the "Summit of Fighters," and others.

Berta Cáceres, of the Civil Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), is one strong voice within the re-foundational space. "We don't believe that democracy and power are just practiced when people go to vote," she explains. She speaks of "building a movement from below to take on patriarchy, racism and capitalism" that must be based on a vision that reflects the realities of Hondurans in all of their diversity - indigenous, Afro-Hondurans, LGBT, feminists, peasants, artists, etc.. In the above video-recorded interview, Berta speaks of the urgent need to continue building the social movements and forging "our projects of life, which are contrary to the project of death and domination."

Prominent groups within the re-foundational space like COPINH and the Fraternal Organization of Black Hondurans (OFRANEH) have gained tremendous respect within the resistance for the energy, vision and large bases they have contributed through the most intense moments of the resistance struggle. Together they made their way all the way to the Nicaraguan border to greet Zelaya when he tried to re-enter the country, facing intense repression and death threats along the way. Coming out of communities that have been in resistance for hundreds of years, they have a long-range view of the struggle that goes well beyond the November elections. 

At the end of the day, both those who are putting all of their energy into the LIBRE party and the 2013 elections and those who are prioritizing building the social movements are committed to the goal of a constitutional assembly as a first step to re-founding Honduras. All of them are dreaming of a Honduras that sets an example for Latin America and the world of what justice and equality can look like. While they may differ on how to get there, one thing is clear. When the military broke down the doors of the presidential palace they got Zelaya out of Honduras, but could never get the dream of re-founding their country out of the hearts of Hondurans.