Brutal repression continues in Honduras

Bloody Sunday in Aguán

Versión original en español

José Recinos Aguilar, Joel Santamaría y Genaro Cuesta, all members of the San Esteban peasant cooperative were murdered [on Sunday, June 5th] while driving a Nissan vehicle a few meters from the settlement. There are still no details of how the attack occurred, according to a statement by FIAN-Honduras.

The report said the military, police, and security guards were guarding the place where the corpses lay preventing their fellow peasants from reaching them. The bodies will be transferred to La Ceiba for autopsies, according to reports by the district attorney’s office in Trujillo.

Almost simultaneously, peasants who had occupied San Isidro farm were evicted by Miguel Facussé’s security guards. They then entered the premises of the National Agrarian Institute (INA) in Sinaloa, in what is known as “golden house”, and opened fire on farmers who had taken refuge there since last winter. Peasant Doris Pérez Vásquez was hit in the abdomen and seriously injured, and had to be rushed to a hospital in the city of La Ceiba.

All those interviewed by FIAN Honduras about the violence in the Lower Aguán region agree that the repression has never been this bad, suffered presently by those who make up peasant organizations standing up for their rights. No one trusts the authorities and all are afraid for their lives.

Peasants are disappointed by the failure of the agreement between the Unified Peasant Movement of Aguán (MUCA) and the regime, and the oversight of promises made to the Authentic Peasant Reclamation Movement of Aguán (MARCA) and the Peasant Movement of Aguán (MCA) by the INA. The reasons for the agrarian conflict have been the same since April 13th, 2010, with the situation worsening now that there are more deaths, injuries and victims of other violations.

The feeling among peasants is that of total defenselessness. FIAN Honduras has reiterated that until the agrarian dispute is settled, violence will continue in the region and that the police, often along with the army, only serve to scare people and obtain preliminary information on the violence without making public their investigation results as required.