A Moment in Honduras: Celebrations and Threats

A Moment in Honduras: Celebrations and Threats
Report from Honduras
August 17, 2019
V. Cervantes

San Juan Pueblo August 13

As the bus entered the small town of San Juan Pueblo (SJP) on August 15th we passed a police station where an unusual crowd (more than 20) of police were hanging around.  Later, walking with a friend who lives in SJP near the highway that runs from Progreso to La Ceiba,  we saw a military style truck full of police headed in the direction of the police station.  Only a couple of days earlier on August 13th, police had opened fire on protesters blocking the highway with burning tires - the emblematic sign of protest in Honduras. Four men were injured, one very seriously with a chest wound- a few days later it was being reported among the population that one man had died. This was the second very recent violent attack against protesters in SJP, one of the centers of resistance and protest in the province of Atlantida in northern Honduras.

Campesinas from the CNTC June 10th Movement
after receiving titles to their cooperative land

One of the wounded men is part of the families of the campesino group "10 de Junio" a women's land recuperation affiliated to the campesino organization the "National Center for Rural Workers (CNTC). I was there because La Voz de los de Abajo was invited to participate in a celebration of the women winning legal title to their land after 18 YEARS of fighting for their rights to the land. La Voz has accompanied the women for more than 16 years. Many of the women had been single mothers when they recuperated the land that was originally owned by the National University of Honduras but had been left abandoned and fallow for years before the recuperation. Over the years the women had been violently evicted, insulted publicly, their crops destroyed, and their lives threatened  now they had finally won legal ownership of the land and were determined to celebrate.

Secretary General of the CNTC with 

The women organized a celebration and even though the officials from government agency the National Agrarian Institute (INA)  (responsible for distributing the titles) rewrote the celebration agenda to put themselves and the government more into the spotlight, everyone who gathered on August 16th recognized the enormous achievement of the women.  Narcisa, one of the campesinas showed me her corn field and explained that she had done an experiment, planting part of the field with corn and a bean plant that is thought to fertilize soil and another part with only the corn. The field planted with the bean and corn was much more productive and she talked about how much she loves agriculture and what having a legal title to the land after so many years means for the women. Many of the women were joined by their grandchildren and children in receiving the titles and for photos.  There was music, lots of food and the most important speeches of the day came from the campesinas themselves who recounted the difficult 18 years, the importance of their being organized, and dennounced the criminalization and violence against the campesino movement for so many years.

On the same day, August 16th there was more to celebrate as a second political prisoner, Raul Alvarez was released from pre-trial detention in the maximum security military run prison, La Tolva. Raul and Edwin Espinal were imprisoned after participating in a militant protest in January 2018 against the installation of the fraudulent and violent dictatorship of Juan Orlando Hernandez. After 18 months of imprisonment they were released and will be preparing for their trials outside prison.

Free! Political Prisoners Edwin Espinal and Raul Alvarez
with Karen and Janet Spring - August 16, 2019

The night of August 15th my friend from the CNTC June 10th Movement and I walked around her neighborhood  where there have been many protest  road blocks and where the police have blanketed the area with tear gas and beaten and shot at protesters. It was a pretty quiet night and people were outside relaxing, but the stress of the weeks of repression and protest were showing. At around 9 pm we heard and saw fireworks being shot into the sky a ways from the neighborhood by the time we got home we could hear the sound of tear gas bombs being launched. A neighbor asked my friend if she had any vinegar in case the police tear gassed the neighborhood again and began to tear up and  become frantic. She had witnessed the police beating a man right outside her house the night of the shootings and I realized she was showing signs of traumatic stress. That night the sounds of possible conflicts died out early and the town seemed quiet, but after the campesinas' celebration, the night of the 16th, there were more protests and repression, but I was already on the road to Tegucigalpa.

Edwin and Raul still face trial (scheduled to begin in about a month). There are still 2 more political prisoners in pre-trial detention, Gustavo Caceres and Rommel Herrera.  and there are more than a hundred people facing trials for protest activity. There are also more activists at risk from  from the nearly daily protests and repressions. and from the anti-mining and defense of the territories struggles around the country such as Reitoca, Guapinol, Rio Blanco, and Vallecito,  with the government and National Party supporters threatening organizations such as MADJ, COPINH and OFRANEH. On August 17th a delegation of the Assembly of Women in Struggle was threatened in Rio Blanco and the road blocked by pro-government hired thugs. On August 18th MADJ was the subject of a threatening tweet calling on the government to arrest their leaders and  activists (a list of their names was included) because of the many protests in San Juan Pueblo.

Honduran resistance organizations and leaders are calling for unity against the dictatorship and for a plan to unite the social movements into a force that can make deeper change in the country once JOH is gone.
More to come...

Report from Emergency HR Delegation on Criminalization and Political Prisoners

March 26 - April 2, 2019La Voz de los de Abajo with Alliance for Global Justice and CODEPINK, all members of the Honduras Solidarity Network sent an emergency human right delegation to Honduras focused on following up on criminalization and violence since the November 2017 electoral fraud crisis began. 

We visited political prisoners, Edwin Espinal and Raúl Álvarez, indigenous and campesino communities criminalized and attacked for their struggle, human rights organizations, families and supporters of murdered and criminalized journalists. 

LINK TO REPORT IN ENGLISH- El informe en español estará publicado pronto.

Support for political prisoners  and against criminalization of
protest at a vigil in front of the US Embassy

Nacaome REDEHSUR human rights defenders with delegation after a vigil
for assassinated journalist Gabriel Hernandez

Two of the three political prisoners being held pre-trial in prisons
Edwin and Raúl 

Report from Honduras April 2018 Delegation

In April 2018, La Voz de los de Abajo and Alliance for Global Justice, both members of the Honduras Solidarity Network, led a delegation to Honduras concerned about the political prisoners and ongoing human rights crisis.

Here is the link to the final report from the delegation.

Meeting with political prisoner
foto by Dunia Perez

Delegation Report from November Election Crisis in Honduras

Report from La Voz de los de Abajo, CODEPINK and Marin Task Force on the Americas Human Rights Observation Delegation during Honduran Elections 2017

Delegation Report: Honduran Elections 2017

Tegucigalpa protest 

Singer Karla Lara in Tegucigalpa 

Police and Military Tegucigalpa 

Photos by Chris Jeske

Delegation Report: Honduran Elections 2017

April 17th - International Day of Campesino Struggle From Honduras to Chicago - Fighting for land, food and justice.

On April 17th campesino and all kinds of rural as well as urban land and water rights groups participate  in the International Day of Farmer and Peasant Struggle.  The April 17th date was chosen by the international organization Via Campesina in 1996 to commemorate the massacre of 19 Brazilian peasants organized in the MST (Movement of Landless Workers) in Eldorado dos Carajas , Brazil at the same time as the Via Campesina’s international assembly. This year once again there were activities around the globe including both Honduras and Chicago. A representative from La Voz de los de Abajo attended some of the events in Chicago. 
Article by V. Cervantes

Campesinos in Honduras  - Agrarian Reform Now and Stop Criminalizing Campesinos!

April 17,Tegucigalpa - foto L. Rivera, OnNoticias

In Honduras the campesino organizations that belong to Via Campesina, including the CNTC (National Center for Rural Workers), held a march and a one day occupation of the plaza at the Honduran Congress on April 17th. They are demanding agrarian reform and an end to the criminalization of the campesino movement.  For Honduran campesino and indigenous communities the fight for land, food, and water continues to be framed by violence, evictions, and displacement of their communities. Since the military coup of June 2009 more than 200 campesinos and campesinas have been murdered because of their participation in land struggles.  6,000 campesinos and campesinas have some type of criminal charges against them and are on probation, awaiting trials or in jail related to their activism. The protest condemned the fact that a week earlier, near the northern town of Las Lomitas, 5 members of an organized campesino community that has been on the land for 10 years were arrested and were still in jail as of April 17th. Campesino leaders are emphatic in their analysis that the only solution to violence in the countryside and the repression against the campesinos, as well as a way forward out of poverty in the countryside and food dependency, is an integral, equitable land reform that puts land and meaningful agrarian assistance in the hands of the campesinos. Three years ago the campesino movement in Honduras wrote a real land reform law and got it introduced into the Congress but it was then tabled and has disappeared from sight.   

Also on April 17th, Honduran government authorities accompanied by police arrived for “an inspection” of the embattled CNTC campesino community “9th de Julio” in the province of La Paz. This inspection was supposed to be a surprise and the authorities expected to find only a small number of campesinos on the land at that time. However, the CNTC discovered the inspection plan and the community was accompanied by a large number of other campesinos and supporters in La Paz. CNTC leaders stated that the inspection was part of ongoing intimidation and part of the strategy to displace the campesinos. Fabricio Velásquez, one of the leaders of the community was  interviewed by  Defensores En Linea and stated that the authorities were visibly startled to find so many campesinos and, although the campesinos did nothing to deter the inspection, the officials and police only stayed perhaps 15 minutes. The “9th of July” community is emblematic of the organized campesino struggle in Honduras — they have been evicted more than 26 times in 7 years, 3 times in just the past 12 months. Each time their houses and crops are destroyed, but they return to rebuild and replant, despite the fact that all of the leaders have  criminal charges made against them. La Voz de los de Abajo has visited “9 de Julio”  a number of times and there are several articles in Honduras Resists with more information about CNTC land recuperations. 

April 17th In Chicago: Farmers, Environmental Justice and International Solidarity 

April 17, Chicago, foto Family Farm Defenders

In Chicago, Via Campesina supporters and food sovereignty activists from Family Farm Defenders, Friends of the MST, and Food and Water Watch also held actions and educational forums on April 17th. There were actions at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange during the day to protest that institution's price setting that is driving small dairy farmers out of existence and another action at the offices of TIAA Financial Services against land grabbing pension fund speculation that hurts both small farmers and pensioners.

In the evening a representative from La Voz de los de Abajo attended the educational forums. Joel Greeno (Family Farm Defenders), Jessica Fujian (Food and Water Watch) and Amy Mall (Family Farm Defenders) spoke on food sovereignty and environmental justice, and Jeff Frank of the Friends of the Brazilian MST reported on the International Land Reform Conference held in Brazil in 2016.  He also gave an update on the wave of repression and criminalization of the MST since the 2016 coup against President Dilma Rousseff. Two MST members have been arrested, the MST school was attacked by the police and fighting for land reform is being treated as a criminal conspiracy. 

The speakers drew many connections between the farmers and peasant struggles in South America and Central America with the struggles in the United States including supporting the Native people’s fight to defend water and territories in the US and the No DAPL movement, and the struggles of urban and rural communities for environmental justice and healthy food.

They were familiar with the campesino and indigenous movements in Honduras through groups like Grassroots International and Agricultural Missions that along with La Voz de los de Abajo are members of the Honduras Solidarity Network, and they invited La Voz to given an update on the situation for the campesinos in Honduras and the campaign for support for justice for Berta Caceres, indigenous leader assassinated in 2016.

March 1, Tegucigalpa
foto V. Cervantes

This is one more example of the importance and the possibilities of building more mutual solidarity to confront the attacks on the peoples' movements in the world today. 

For More Information

www.viacampesina.org

www.defensoresenlinea.com

www.mstbrazil.org

www.foodandwaterwatch.org

www.familyfarmdefenders.org

www.foodandwaterwatch.org

Declaration - Declaración La Voz de los de Abajo March/Marzo 2017

English follows the Spanish

Declaración de La Voz de los de Abajo ChicagoTierra y Territorios: Campesinos y Pueblos Indígenas en Honduras siguen bajo ataque

     Del 26 de febrero al 11 de marzo de 2017, La Voz de los de Abajo organización con sede en Chicago, coordinó una delegación a Honduras de miembros y dirigentes de organizaciones de derechos humanos, de justicia ambiental, de jóvenes y estudiantes, religiosas, sindicales y solidarias, para la conmemoración del aniversario del asesinato de Berta Cáceres Flores.Nuestra delegación se reunió con defensores hondureños de derechos humanos y con organizaciones y comunidades que defienden los derechos a la tierra y a los territorios, entre ellas COPINH, la CNTC y OFRANEH.     El propósito de esta declaración es destacar y denunciar ejemplos específicos de violaciones a los derechos humanos y las amenazas, violencia y acciones contra las organizaciones mencionadas y contra los defensores hondureños que los acompañan. También reafirmamos enfáticamente nuestra oposición al financiamiento por el gobierno de Estados Unidos que contribuye a la militarización y al clima de inseguridad y violencia en el país. Destacamos también que la investigación sobre el asesinato de Berta debe incluir la investigación de posibles vínculos con el ejército estadounidense de algunos de los acusados de su muerte. Los testimonios que recibimos durante esta delegación confirman los informes de otras organizaciones internacionales de derechos humanos de que existe una colusión preocupante entre las élites locales y nacionales, los proyectos hídricos y mineros, el crimen organizado y el aparato estatal.

COPINH y la comunidad de Río Blanco, Intibucá     Un año después del asesinato de Berta Cáceres, su familia y su organización continúan exigiendo una investigación seria, independiente del gobierno hondureño, sobre quién ordenó, planificó y llevó a cabo el asesinato. Los líderes y miembros del COPINH (Consejo Cívico de los Pueblos Indígenas de Honduras) informan que continúan recibiendo amenazas de daño físico, atentados contra sus vidas y amenazas de criminalización contra la organización. Visitamos la comunidad de Río Blanco donde se encuentra el proyecto hidroeléctrico DESA. Los miembros de la comunidad relataron sus experiencias de ser atacados físicamente, amenazados y acosados por empleados de DESA y por fuerzas policiales y militares debido a su oposición al proyecto DESA Agua Zarca. Expresaron su temor de nuevos ataques. Nuestro grupo también asistió a una conferencia de prensa en Tegucigalpa el 1 de marzo de 2017 para Suyapa Martínez del Centro de Estudios de la Mujer en Honduras (CEM-H). La Sra. Martínez es una defensora de derechos humanos acusada de difamación por la empresa constructora DESA en relación con el asesinato de Berta Cáceres. Cabe señalar que es ampliamente difundido, declarado públicamente e publicado en Honduras que algunos representantes del DESA en sus más altos niveles amenazaron directamente a Berta y deben ser investigados. Algunos empleados de DESA de nivel inferior están entre los arrestados en el caso de Berta. Aunque un juez rechazó recientemente los cargos de difamación, el caso de la señora Martinez es considerado como un ejemplo más de intentos de intimidar y silenciar a los defensores de derechos humanos, abogados y periodistas. También se considera parte de un intento descarado de silenciar el llamado a una investigación independiente del asesinato de Berta Caceres.

La CNTC y la comunidad "9 de Julio" en La Paz.     Nuestro grupo visitó la comunidad de la CNTC (Centro Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo) en Tutule llamada "9 de Julio". Esta comunidad ha sido desalojada 26 veces, al menos 3 veces con violencia, incluyendo la más reciente el 13 de enero de 2017. Los miembros de La Voz también visitaron la comunidad después de un desalojo violento previo en mayo de 2016. Estos desalojos se caracterizaron por asaltos masivos con gases lacrimógenos y con policías y unidades militares disparando munición real a los campesinos. El 13 de enero, Víctor Vázquez, presidente del Consejo Indígena de Simpinula, La Paz, y líder de la organización Lenca MILPAH en La Paz, recibió un disparo en la rodilla mientras observaba y grababa video del desalojo. Al mismo tiempo, un miembro del grupo campesino sufrió una seria lesión en la mano por un proyectil de gas lacrimógeno disparado directamente contra los campesinos y una mujer de la comunidad sufrió un aborto involuntario. 
     En el desalojo en mayo de 2016, dos miembros de la comunidad CNTC sufrieron heridas de bala. Este reciente desalojo ocurrió antes de que se recibiera una decisión judicial por un recurso presentado a principios de enero por el Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos (COFADEH) y otros representantes legales de los campesinos. La tierra estaba abandonada y en barbecho hasta que el grupo campesino, formado por familias jóvenes sin tierra, comenzara a trabajarla. Ellos construyeron un sistema de agua, sembraron cultivos de hortalizas para desarrollar la producción agrícola sostenible y construyeron pequeñas casas con jardines de flores. Fue entonces cuando una de las élites locales, Carlos Arriaga, empezó a reclamar la tierra. Arriaga es un pariente del alcalde de la ciudad de Tutule, Will Guevara, quien ha estado presente en varios desalojos.      Tras el desalojo del 13 de enero, Arriaga apareció en la televisión nacional denunciando a las familias campesinas y pidiendo al gobierno hondureño que lo ayudara a deshacerse de ellas. Han habido algunas negociaciones con Arriaga pero él ha insistido en que los campesinos tendrían que comprarle la tierra a precios exorbitantes por acre para reembolsarle por "mejoras". Sin embargo, la tierra es "ejidal" o tierra pública elegible para la distribución a los sin tierra. Los campesinos han hecho mejoras significativas en la tierra, ademas de que han tenido que reconstruir sus casas y replantar cultivos en numerosas ocasiones. Este caso es emblemático de la situación del campo para los campesinos, sobre todo en las regiones indígenas del país donde los miembros de la élite económica y política están vinculados al poder político y están interesados en los ingresos que pueden recibir de los mega-proyectos mineros y hidroeléctricos.        Organizaciones campesinas como la CNTC piden que se ponga fin a la criminalización de los campesinos (hay miles en el sistema de justicia penal por "delitos de tierra") y hay necesidad de una nueva reforma agraria integral para resolver la urgente necesidad de miles de campesinos pobres y sin tierra  para para cultivar. Sin tal reforma y un fin a la represión hay poca esperanza de lograr una seguridad en términos de alimentación o de la integridad física de los que viven en el campo.

OFRANEH y la comunidad de Barra Vieja     La comunidad Garífuna de Barra Vieja, cerca de Tela, Atlántida, ha existido por más de 100 años como una de las 48 comunidades garífunas localizadas en la costa norte de Honduras. La comunidad mantiene su lengua materna y su cultura económica y social. A partir de 2007 las elites económicas y políticas comenzaron a tratar de desplazar a la comunidad de 127 personas para desarrollar proyectos de mega-turismo en las playas prístinas del área de Tela. Líderes de la comunidad dijeron a nuestra delegación que a partir de 2013 estos intentos se hicieron más agresivos ya que el exclusivo Indura Beach Resort y Golf Club (ahora conectado a la cadena Hilton) fue construido en tierra que también formaba parte de Barra Vieja y otras comunidades cercanas. Vimos la estación de guardia con guardias armados y una cerca que corre hasta el borde del agua y evita que los aldeanos puedan acceder a la playa o las palmeras (manaca) que necesitan para renovar sus casas. Los y las estudiantes jóvenes de Barra Vieja no pueden caminar la distancia más corta a lo largo de la playa para llegar a su escuela en la aldea siguiente y tienen que conseguir el transporte o caminar una distancia larga y desprotegida para llegar a la escuela.       En 2014 se emitieron órdenes de desalojo contra la comunidad. La policía intentó desalojar a la comunidad en abril de 2014 sin éxito y en septiembre de 2014 un gran contingente de policías y militares fuertemente armados entró en la comunidad obligando a los residentes a salir de su casa. Varios residentes ancianos murieron en los días después del desalojo, mientras muchos residentes volvieron otra vez para recuperar sus hogares y la tierra. OFRANEH expuso el hecho de que la propia orden de desalojo no cumplía con los requisitos legales y también que es un hecho que el artículo 169 de la Organización Internacional del Trabajo, que protege los derechos de las comunidades indígenas, se aplica a los garífunas de Honduras. Los cargos de robo de tierras contra los líderes y residentes de Barra VIeja fueron anulados en la corte, pero los funcionarios y promotores no han renunciado a los esfuerzos legales y extrajudiciales para desplazar a la comunidad; Muchos de los aldeanos han abandonado temporalmente sus hogares debido a las constantes amenazas y acoso. 

      Consideramos que estos tres casos son indicativos de las crisis de derechos humanos en curso en Honduras que se apoyan en la impunidad y la intimidación. Hay otros casos serios que no podemos tratar hoy en esta declaración.  Hemos visto la declaración del vicepresidente estadounidense Pence después de la visita del presidente Hernández a Estados Unidos el 23 de marzo de 2017. Nuestra experiencia y la experiencia de las personas y organizaciones hondureñas que conocemos, contradicen la afirmación del Sr. Pence de que ha habido "importantes avances que ha hecho Honduras en los últimos dos años" en el fortalecimiento de la seguridad ciudadana, y en contra de la corrupción, y seguiremos trabajando para detener la ayuda militar y de seguridad de Estados Unidos que compra balas y gases lacrimógenos para su uso en contra el pueblo hondureño.

La Voz de los de Abajo Chicago27 de marzo de 2017
Chicago, Il EUA

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Declaration by La Voz de los de Abajo Chicago
Land and Territories: Campesino and Indigenous Peoples in Honduras Are Still Under Attack

     From February 26 - March 11, 2017,  the Chicago based organization La Voz de los de Abajo coordinated a delegation to Honduras of Chicago student/youth,community environmental justice, religious, human rights, union and solidarity organizations for the one year commemoration of the assassination of Berta Caceres Flores.      Our delegation met with Honduran human rights defenders and with organizations and communities defending land and territory rights including COPINH, the CNTC and OFRANEH. 

     The purpose of this statement is to highlight and denounce specific examples of violations of human rights and the threats, violence and actions against the organizations mentioned and the Honduran human rights defenders who accompany them. We also emphatically reaffirm our opposition to U.S. government funding which contributes to militarization and the climate of insecurity and violence in the country. We wish to emphasize as well that the investigation into Berta’s murder must include the investigation of possible ties to the US military of some of those accused of her death. The testimony we received during this delegation affirms the reports of other international human rights organizations that there is a disturbing collusion of forces between local and national elites, water and mining projects, organized crime and the state apparatus. 

COPINH and the community of Rio Blanco, Intibucá     One year after Berta Caceres’ murder, her family and organization continue to demand a serious investigation independent from the Honduran government into who ordered, planned and carried out the assassination. COPINH (Indigenous Peoples Civic Council of Honduras) leaders and members report that they continue to receive threats of physical harm, attempts against their lives, and threats of criminalization against the organization. We visited the Rio Blanco community where the DESA hydroelectric project is located. Community members related their experiences of being physically attacked, threatened and harassed by DESA employees, police and military forces because of their opposition to the DESA Agua Zarca project. They expressed their fears of further attacks. 
     Our group also attended a press conference in Tegucigalpa on March 1, 2017 for Suyapa Martinez of the Center for Women’s Studies in Honduras (CEM-H). Ms. Martinez is a human rights defender accused of defamation by the DESA construction company related to the murder of Berta Caceres.  It should be noted that it is widely held, stated publicly and printed in Honduras that DESA representatives at its highest levels directly threatened Berta and should be investigated. Some lower level DESA employees are among those arrested in Berta’s case. Although a judge recently rejected the charges, Ms. Martinez’s case is considered to be one more example of attempts to intimidate and silence human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists. It is also considered to be part of a blatant attempt to silence the call for an independent investigation of Berta Caceres’ murder. 

The CNTC and the “9 de Julio” community in La Paz.     Our group visited the CNTC (National Center for Farm Workers) community in Tutule called “9 de Julio”. This community has been evicted 26 times, at least 3 times with violence including most recently on January 13, 2017.  Members of La Voz also visited the community after previous violent eviction in May, 2016. These evictions were characterized by massive tear gas assaults and police and military units firing live ammunition at the campesinos. 
     On January 13, Victor Vazquez the President of the Indigenous Council of Simpinula, La Paz and leader of the Lenca organization MILPAH in La Paz was shot in the knee as he observed and video taped the eviction. At the same time a member of the campesino group suffered a serious hand injury from a tear gas projectile fired directly at the campesinos, and a woman from the community suffered a miscarriage. 
     In the eviction in May 2016 two members of the CNTC community suffered gunshot wounds. This recent eviction occurred before any  court decision was received for an appeal submitted in early January by the Committee of the Families of the Disappeared Detainees (COFADEH) and other legal representatives of the campesinos.  The land was abandoned and fallow before the campesino group, made up of young families with no land, began working. They built  a water system, planted vegetable crops to develop sustainable agriculture production and built small homes with flower gardens. That is when one of the local elite, Carlos Arriaga, began pressing a claim to the land. Arriaga is a relative of the mayor of the town of Tutule, Will Guevara, who has been present at several evictions. After the January 13th eviction, Arriaga appeared on national television denouncing the campesino families and calling on the Honduran government to help him get rid of them. There have been some negotiations with Arriaga but he has insisted that the campesinos would have to buy the land from him at exorbitant prices per acre to reimburse him for “improvements”.  However, the land is ‘ejidal” or public land eligible for distribution to the landless.  The campesinos have made significant improvements to the land, as well as having had to rebuild their homes and replant crops numerous times. 
     This case is emblematic of the situation in the countryside for the campesinos, especially in the indigenous regions of the country where members of the economic and political elite are is tied to political power and economic gain from mining and hydroelectric mega-projects. 
     Campesino organizations such as the CNTC call for a stop to the criminalization of the campesinos (there are thousands in the criminal justice system for “land crimes”) and for the passing of a new, integral agrarian reform to resolve the urgent need of thousands of landless and poor small farmers for land to cultivate. Without such a reform and end to the repression there is little hope for food and physical security in the countryside. 

OFRANEH and the community of Barra Vieja       The Garifuna community of Barra Vieja near Tela, Atlantida has existed for more than 100 years as one of some 48 Garifuna communities located on the northern coast of Honduras.  The community maintains its native language and economic and social culture.  Beginning in 2007 the economic and political elites began trying to displace the 127 person community in order to develop mega-tourism projects on the pristine beaches of the Tela area. Community leaders told our delegation that beginning in 2013 these attempts became more aggressive as the exclusive Indura Beach Resort and Golf Club (now connected to Hilton) was built on land that was also part of Barra Vieja and other nearby communities. We saw the guard station with armed guards and a fence that runs all the way to the water’s edge and keeps the villagers from being able to access the beach or the palms (manaca) that they need to refurbish their homes. School children from Barra Vieja cannot walk the shorter distance along the beach to their school in the next village but have to get transportation or walk a long, unprotected distance to get to school.  
     In 2014 eviction orders were issued against the community. Police tried to evict the community in April of 2014 without success and in September 2014 a large contingent of heavily armed police and military entered the community forcing the residents out of their home. Several elderly residents died in the days after the eviction, while many residents returned again to recuperate their homes and land. OFRANEH exposed the fact that the eviction order itself did not meet the legal requirements and the fact that the International Labor Organization Article 169 protecting the rights of indigenous communities applies to the Garifuna in Honduras.  Charges of land theft against Barra Vieja leaders and residents were overturned in court, but the officials and developers have not given up either legal and extra-judicial efforts to displace the community; many of the villagers have temporarily left their homes due to the constant threats and harassment. 


     We believe that these three cases are indicative of the ongoing human rights crises in Honduras that rests on impunity and intimidation. There are other serious cases that we are unable to develop in this declaration today. We have seen the statement by the US Vice President Pence after the March 23, 2017 visit by President Hernandez to the US. Our experience and the experience of the Honduran individuals and organizations we know contradicts Mr. Pence’s assertion that there has been “important progress that Honduras has made over the past two years” in strengthening citizen security and fighting corruption, and we will continue to work to stop US military and security aid that buys bullets and tear gas to be used against the Honduran people. 

La Voz de los de Abajo
March 27, 2017
Chicago, Il USA

“Made in the U.S.A”: Take Action for Honduran Campesinos

From February 28 - March 8, 2017, a La Voz de los de Abajo delegation was in Honduras for the commemoration of Berta Caceres' murder a year ago. We also visited campesino communities. This is an article by a delegation participant from our Chicago partners in solidarity with Honduras, CRLN. 

“Made in the U.S.A”: CNTC Land Recuperation Efforts Hurt by U.S. “Security” Aid

Reflections by Sharon Hunter-Smith, Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America

Tegucigalpa and La Paz, Honduras; March 6, 2017

Our group from Chicago stood staring at the rough wooden table, which held 2-dozen or so spent tear gas canisters plus a couple of bullet shells, collected by the 9th of July community from the area immediately surrounding the place where we stood. The largest one, designed to be fired from a rifle, was stamped “Made in U.S.A.” The connection between U.S. military and police aid to Honduras and the violent persecution of impoverished Honduran farmers was crystal clear in the objects before us.

The original rural community of 28 families has been tear gassed and evicted from their simple hand-built dwellings and cultivated land 26 times by the Honduran military or police. In the last surprise eviction on January 13, 2017, the police followed the fleeing people, even women and children, across the valley, shooting all the way. One man was shot in the leg and a pregnant woman miscarried after running away, panicked, from the “security” forces. They also tore down and burned houses, stole or burned possessions and tools left in and around the houses, and cut down some of the fruit trees and crops. Since then, the women and children, have moved to a nearby community while the men have re-occupied the land.

“Thanks be to God that we continue to live on this land,” said one man. After each violent eviction, the community’s commitment is to return and resettle on the land within 24 hours of being pushed off, rebuilding houses and restoring crops as they are able. The bravery and endurance that this strategy demands is fed by their hope of land ownership. They experience other threats in the form of arrest warrants against them and death threats from the national or military police. “Every time we receive a group of international people who are in solidarity with us, it gives us the strength to keep going on with our struggle,” said another.

The irony is that if this were a pioneer story under a different government, these people would be heroes. This community of formerly landless people, organized by the Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC--National Center of Rural Workers), settled this abandoned and desert-like land in 2010. They dug trenches and bought plastic pipes to carry water for irrigation and drinking water from a spring 3 kilometers away. They planted fruit trees and other crops to feed their families. A dry hillside turned green and provided a way to make a living. The CNTC which was founded in 1985 currently works with 203 other communities, like 9th of July, who are reclaiming land and putting it to good use in 14 of the 18 Honduran departments (what in the U.S. would be called states).

The National Agrarian Reform Law of 1962 provided that idle land fit for farming could be expropriated and awarded to indigent and landless persons by the government, and land was redistributed under this Law. However, the 1993 neoliberal Law of Agrarian Modernization gutted the agrarian reform,increasing inequality among landowners and increasing the desperation of the rural poor. To force the issue and obtain the land essential for rural people to support themselves and their families, the CNTC works with landless people to settle and plant on unused, undeveloped or abandoned land. The occupants then file for title with the Honduran National Agrarian Institute (INA) after some years of living on and working the land. 

The 9th of July community is the most persecuted of all the CNTC communities, but others usually are evicted at least several times in their struggle to obtain land. How long do they have to be on the land before they are granted a title? “We don’t know with this administration. They are not on our side,” answered one man. Some of the CNTC communities have lived and worked on their land for 15-20 years and still do not have title. Others have succeeded in their efforts.

Putting this into an even larger context for us, CNTC General Secretary Franklin Almendares explained that 64% of Honduran people are rural, impoverished, and displaced or facing displacement from their land for lack of a title to it. 46% live in extreme poverty. “We are not poor—our land is rich—but we are impoverished, because they throw us off the land on which we live and farm. They want to annihilate those who speak out, who protest, who object to and challenge this system.” At the same time, Almendares pointed out, when large corporate landowners take land without having title to it, the government is complicit with their actions and grant them titles.

Visiting a second land recuperation project, CNTC organizers led us to a piece of land on a plantation that had been abandoned for decades, its owner living in Tegucigalpa.14 young men and boys, most in their teens and early twenties, had arrived on the land 11 days earlier at night.They had made pup tents from pieces of plastic and canvas held up by sticks for shelter, and had begun clearing trees so that they could begin to create fields to plant. The youngest among them appeared to be around 11 years old. They seemed wary and shy,  vulnerable and scared. Most did not talk to us, letting the CNTC organizers and the elected head of their group explain to us their situation.

All wanted to acquire some land to work on and have something to hope for. They eventually wanted to start a family and needed a way to support them. Without land, they had no hope, and without hope, they had nothing to live for.

The CNTC organizers  told us that after arriving, the group did not sleep for three nights, worried that the police would find them and evict them. They also had not slept outside before with insects and snakes in the area, and they were getting used to that. With encouraging words, the CNTC organizers told the group that eviction is just a passing misfortune on the way to acquiring land and homes and community. Every group had experienced this, and many had eventually earned their titles. They must work and have hope that they, too, will be successful one day, because this path is the only one that offers them any hope.

What can those of us in the U.S. do to stop the persecution of communities working with the CNTC? Call your Congressional Representative’s office, ask to speak with or leave a message for the staff responsible for foreign policy, and request that they co-sponsor H.R. 2199, the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act. This would suspend all U.S. security aid to Honduras, including equipment and training, until they cease their human rights violations. We must stop U.S. funding that enables the Honduran government to use violence against its own people, people who only want a chance to support their families and contribute to the life of their communities.

Berta Se Multiplicó - COPINH Resists:La Voz Delegation Report

ggjalliance.org

V. Cervantes July 26, 2016, Chicago
Unless otherwise credited, photos are from La Voz de los de Abajo

On July 25, some people might have been surprised outside the Democratic Party’s National Convention in Philadelphia to see protesters wearing masks made from  a photo of assassinated Honduran indigenous leader Berta Caceres and a giant puppet of Berta as well marching through the streets.   

Nas lutas@PersonalEscrito

One of Berta’s daughters, Laura Yolanda Zuniga, was there too representing  Berta’s organization COPINH and her family as part of the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance actions.  The protesters had a specific complaint related to COPINH and Honduras, denouncing the fact that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has admitted to working hard to extend and institutionalize the June 2009 coup d’etat in Honduras and the fact that the Obama administration in general continues to support and supply funds to the latest version of the coup government, President Juan Orlando Hernandez — despite a very long list of human rights violations, state violence, and corruption allegations tied to Hernandez's government and political party. At the same time, it isn’t really a surprise to find COPINH participating  in protests that include support for migrant’s rights, against police murders of black and latinos in the US, the TPP, environmental justice and more. Since its beginnings COPINH has had an international vision. 

In late June of this year La Voz de los de Abajo sent a small fact finding and accompaniment mission to Honduras. One of our priorities was to show support for and to talk to with COPINH in the aftermath of the assassination of its co-founder and long-time general coordinator, Berta Caceres.  On June 26 ^th we started out for La Esperanza, Intibuca to visit COPINH and to pay our respects to Berta Caceres’ family.  Leaving from Marcala, La Paz, where we had visited campesinos from the CNTC,  we were already in the area in which the Lenca indigenous people’s communities and descendants are a majority. The indigenous word Lenca means something like “a place of many waters” in English and it is a land of rivers flowing down from breathtaking mountains
 covered in Honduran pine mixed with flowering plants and cultivations of coffee and small land holdings of corn and beans.  At the time of the Spanish conquest the Lenca were one of the larger groups of indigenous people in the region and were  concentrated in the Southwestern region of Guaymara - eventually renamed Honduras by the Spanish. Their resistance to the conquest, led by their most important leader Lempira,  is celebrated like that of Cuahtemoc in Mexico.

hondurastierralibre.com

Lempira was killed during the final Lencan  uprising of 1537-1538. After the conquest, tens or even hundreds of thousands were eliminated by violence, slavery, and disease.  This history does not feel so distant given both the ongoing violent attacks on the communities and their tenacious resistance in the region today in defense of the waters of the rivers that are threatened by hydroelectric projects involving international and national companies, land grabbing by the regional and national oligarchy, and the murders of the defenders themselves such as the March 2, 2016 murder of Berta Caceres. Just a few days after we left Marcala itself would be the site of the murder of another environmental community activist associated with COPINH. Lesbia Yaneth Urquía was murdered and her body found in a trash dump on July 7^th. Five members or supporters of COPINH have been murdered since 2013 when the struggle against the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project intensified (Justo Soto, Nelson Garcia, Tomas Garcia, Berta Caceres, Lesbia Yaneth Urquía) 

After a few hours in a bus bumping down a dirt highway we arrived in La Esperanza where a municipal festival of “Mushrooms and Wine” was underway in the small plaza in front of the cathedral. As is usual, the Honduran local and national authorities claim as their own the legacy of Lempira. Honduran currency bears his name and there is a lot of advertising  of “eco-tourism on the Lencan Trail”, but the real spirit of rebellion is also present. In  La Esperanza there are murals and graffiti throughout the small city celebrating and mourning  Berta’s life and death and denouncing the Honduran state and police.   

Graffitti on muncipal building
"JOH Assassin"

Berta’s mother, Doña Austra Bertha Flores, lives in the family home not far from the old colonial center area of La Esperanza. There is now a National Police presence in front of the house to fulfill the obligation of the Honduran government to protect Berta Caceres and her family who are in receipt of an order for protective measures from the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. Of course everyone recognizes the irony of government protection when so many believe that the Honduran government is involved in the violence.

In Berta's case it wasn't until July 8, 2016 that the Honduran government finally conceded publicly that it had not provided the required protection to Berta prior to her assassination. At the family home, the on-duty policeman got out of his car and looked us over as Doña Austra Bertha Flores (Mama Berta) came out of the house to greet us and again when we left the house.  She is an articulate, strong woman who has her own history of activism and service to the communities, having been a midwife for many years, as well as a mayor and a governor, known for having a position in defense of the Lenca communities and the poor in Honduras. She showed us the small altar dedicated  to Berta in the house and spoke sadly, but proudly of her daughter. She spoke firmly and with determination outlined the continued demands of the Flores/Caceres family for an independent international based investigation of the assassination, and an end to the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project.

Mama Bertha with
La Voz members

Mama Bertha also strongly denounced the fact that the government and its investigators have never shared information or included the family in the investigation and strongly reiterated the family’s position that the investigation will not be complete, even if the gunmen and most proximal guilty are jailed, until all the intellectual authors of the crime are identified and brought to justice as well. 

At the time we were in Honduras the introduction of the Berta Caceres Human Rights Act in the U.S. Congress on June 14^th was reverberating in the Honduran media, augmented by a June 21^st Guardian article  exposing  the fact that Honduran military special units circulated an order to assassinate a  “kill list” of activists including Berta Caceres before her death. To date, three of the four men arrested for Berta’s murder are military - one an active duty officer in the Armed Forces, although the government has denied that there is or was a hit list. The Berta Caceres Act would cut off US security aid to the national police and military, and require a "No" vote on multilateral developmental loans until the government of Honduras meets a series of conditions for investigating and ending human rights crimes. Doña Austra Bertha expressed her strong support for this proposal and her personal thanks to the members of Congress and solidarity activists pushing the Act forward. 

COPINH was founded in 1993 and consolidated its program based on indigenous values and a radical vision of the future in 1995.  From the beginning COPINH emphasized both local community organizing and the importance of a strong, diverse mass movement to fundamentally change Honduras. It has also always been internationalist, seeking and offering solidarity with struggles around the world. In Honduras COPINH is centered in  organized community base organizations in the Lenca region (at least 200 exist now) with a program for autonomy, against racism, against patriarchy, for gender diversity including LGBTI people and for  sustainability and life opposed to the death and destruction of the present. capitalist and imperialist system. 

Mural at Utopía 

COPINH has made their ideas concrete with the construction of an organizational center and meeting space called Utopía just outside of La Esperanza; a women’s refuge, and their office and radio stations. The La Voz de los de Abajo group arrived at Utopía later in the afternoon of June 26^th.  We spoke with Tina, a COPINH member who is one of the people who keeps Utopía up and running on a daily basis and later with a leader from the Rio Blanco community along with a member of COPINH’s coordinating committee, Asunción, and COPINH’s communication coordinator Gaspar Sanchez.

La Voz members at Utopía

They had all only recently returned from  traveling outside the country to present COPINH’s case on Berta’s assassination to solidarity organizations and legal entities in Europe and Costa Rica.  Utopía  has meeting halls, dormitories, a kitchen, — decorated with beautiful murals and slogans that reflect Lencan culture and the people’s struggles. It includes land that has been planted with corn and beans and a few head of cattle graze around the building. A larger meeting shelter outside the main building is under construction because the meeting halls inside are not large enough for the people’s assemblies. COPINH uses popular assemblies as the key part of their decision making process. The next morning when the General Coordinator Tomas Gomez Membreño arrived he explained that COPINH has the vision of making Utopía a more sustainable collective agricultural project as well as a center for training and gatherings. 

Tomas also had just returned to Honduras from a speaking tour in the United States, including Chicago and Washington DC. The next day as he showed us more COPINH projects including the women’s refuge, main office and one of the radio stations. While he drove us he talked some about the history of racism in the region. La Esperanza is really a dual city which includes La Esperanza and the city of Intíbuca. According to some histories these cities originally corresponded with closely related Mayan and Lenca communities that were, along with the entire region, seized by the Spanish crown. During the 19^th Century the area slowly drew in more businesses and ranchers from outside the Lenca area and from Guatemala and El Salvador this new elite founded La Esperanza. Meanwhile, as Tomas explained, The city of Intíbuca remained more indigenous and poorer, with its residents discriminated against to the present day. These kinds of conditions greatly influenced the founding of COPINH and its principles of autonomy.

Lilian

At the women’s shelter we met with another long time leader in COPINH, Lillian, who explained the importance of COPINH’s feminism and anti-patriarchal stance not being in words only but also in action.
The women’s shelter is an impressive apartment complex with around 8 complete apartments (each with its own kitchen and bathroom) as well as a communal kitchen and meeting rooms. Women fleeing domestic violence or other difficult situations can find not only shelter but also emotional support. Lilian told us that COPINH organizes women’s encounters (in which men are asked to do all the cooking and childcare so that women can fully participate). Their plan for the center, for which they are looking for solidarity funding, include to have full-time healthcare staff for psychological and physical health, educational projects and more. 

"No Patriarchy"
"My body is my territory"

When we got to COPINH’s office and the site of one of their radios (Radio Guarajambala)  we found La Abuelita (the Grandmother) Doña Pascualita on the air, with another compañera,  talking about women’s contributions to their communities and to the organization COPINH. We were invited to say a few words about our organization, the solidarity movement and other things going on in the US.

La Abuela Pascualita on the air

 Later Gaspar interviewed La Voz member Jenine, who is active in the Palestinian community in Chicago, about the Palestinian struggle. She took the opportunity to denounce the members of the Honduran oligarchy of Palestinian descent probably 5 of the 8-10 oligarchic families, including the Atala family who are involved in the Agua Zarca project and the Faccusse family that is the largest landowning family and dominates the Aguan Valley. She called them out as not representing the Palestinian people who understand very well the role of elites who betray the people.

Gaspar Sanchez interviews Jenine
with interpreter

Since the death of Berta, COPINH leaders as well as her daughters Berta, Olivia Marcela and Laura Yolanda have been non-stop traveling across Honduras but also internationally, advocating for pressure on the Honduran government to allow an internationally based investigation of the assassination and to end the Agua Zarca project.  One of the focuses of COPINH is on how to deal with the Honduran government's refusal to allow the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to head up an independent investigation of the assassination. This has been one of the key demands of the family and of COPINH since the assassination. Berta’s death and the demands of seeking justice for her and defending COPINH from the blatant attempts to destroy it as an organization, have taken a toll on the organization and its leaders but they made it clear that they are strong and united as an organization, unblinking in the face of the attacks and dedicated to the vision of COPINH. Berta Caceres was murdered but that murder spread her spirit and as the slogan goes — “she didn’t die, she multiplied”.

Mural in Utopía