From the Aguan Valley: La Lucha Sigue

May 9, 2016, meeting with campesino
organizations in Tocoa, Colon

Article and photos by Vicki Cervantes
Video: Massacre en El Tumbador courtesy of Alto Al Riesgo, written and directed by Laura Bermúdez. 

On May 24, 2016 at around 6:30 in the morning, Jinson Aldin Alfaro Almendares, a young member of the campesino group Empresa Campesina Gregorio Chávez was shot in the back without warning by private paramilitary guards working for COFRUCO, a large land holder in the Aguan, as he worked in his fields. The COFRUCO plantation as well as the land Jinson was working are next to the Paso Aguan plantation controlled by the Faccusee family's corporation Dinant. The Paso Aguan plantation and the nearby community of Panama have been the scene of many attacks on local campesinos including the murder in 2012 of Gregorio Chavez, which has never been investigated and remains in impunity.   Jinson survived, but this incident is one of many, recent attacks against campesinos and their organizations. The day before the shooting, the home of the coordinator of the campesino umbrella organization the Regional Agrarian Platform for the Aguan Valley, Jaime Cabrera was surrounded for a time by armed men wearing ski masks while Jaime was inside the house. Police refused to take action against the guards who shot Jinson. (Information on the attack as reported by the Plataforma Agraria del Aguan via Karla Zelaya). 

In Guadalupe Carney on May 9, premier of documentary
of 2010 El Tumbador massacre of 5 campesinos

Just two weeks ago, I participated in an International Human Rights Observer Mission organized by COFADEH (May 6-12) that met with campesino organizations in the Aguan, including the Movimiento Revindicador Campesino Gregorio Chavez, Movimiento Unificado Campesinos del Aguan (MUCA) Movimiento Authentico Revindicador Campesino del Aguan (MARCA)  and the Permanent Human Rights Observatory of the Aguan (OPDHA).

That same day we also participated in an event to commemorate and launch a new struggle to demand justice for the November 2010 massacre of 5 campesinos from the MCA by guards working for DINANT.  COFADEH has been working with the survivors of the massacre and the families of the murdered campesinos and is getting ready to take the case to the international justice system. The event held in the community of Guadalupe Carney included a photo exhibition of the survivors and victims and the premier showing of a new documentary about the El Tumbador.

May 9, Meeting with survivors and victims
of 2010 massacre at El Tumbador 

The meeting with campesino organizations, social movement organizations such as the Coordinator of Peoples' Organizations of the Aguan (COPA), and community organizations from the towns in the region who are defending the environment from mining and mega-tourism projects took place in the town of Tocoa. Participants in the meeting gave moving testimony about the violence, including murders, against campesinos, and different trickery and pressure being used to facilitate campesino lands passing into the hands of the large landowners and agro-businesses. Testimony also denounced what is seen as a new phase in the violence in the Aguan in which large scale violent attacks have been replaced with a more selective violence, infiltration of communities, threats and intimidations to terrorize and disorganize all opposition to land grabbing, mining and dispossession of the poor residents of the Aguan.

MUCA leaders speaking

MUCA leaders talked about the establishment of outright death squads, one group calls itself "head collectors of Colon"; on September 1, 2015 after police attacked a local protest with live ammunition and tear gas, a Coronel was reported to have said that he wanted the heads of two campesino leaders which he named by their names. Around the same time a 'hit list' came to light with more names of leaders and activists. Environmentalists, members of organizations opposed to the coup and current government also spoke of threats they are receiving. Employees of the National Agrarian Institute spoke of being threatened personally and having their jobs threatened because they support campesinos or because they belong to LIBRE (the left opposition party). Another woman who works for the municipality but is opposed to mining concessions that will affect her community. She was told at work that her job was at risk and that furthermore that bad things happen to people working against mining.

Members of the human rights observatory (OPDHA) also gave testimony about recent attempts on their lives. Irma Lemus and Rigoberto Duran were run down by a car that was obviously waiting for them as they rode by on Rigoberto's motorcycle. Both suffered serious injuries. There were previous incidents in which cars with darkened windows and without license plates followed them and attempted to intimidate or run them off the road. Campesino activists and members of COPA and other social movements emphasized that Juan Orlando Hernandez's government is firming up a dictatorship that is "asphyxiating" the campesinos and that there is a strong alliance between National Party politicians, big businessmen, judges and police against the campesinos in the Aguan.

COFADEH Urgent Action and Campesino Evictions

Honduras Resists publishes below an urgent action issued by COFADEH regarding the continuing threats and intimidations aimed at the human rights defenders in Honduras. La Voz de los de Abajo strongly supports COFADEH and we hold the Honduran government responsible for the physical and emotional integrity of COFADEH's staff, volunteers and the citizens who use the office and come there looking for help.

Eviction in Comayagua June 5, 2014

At the same time we dennounce new EVICTIONS of CAMEPSINOS of CNTC affiliates in Comayagua and MARCA members in the Aguan.  On June 5th the CNTC community in Ajuterique, Comayagua was evicted  by large force of police and military. 120 men, women and children  of the campesino group La Brea lost the land they have lived on and cultivated for 5 years and the coffee, corn and bean crops that were growing in their fields today. The campesino community was accompanied by members of the National office of the CNTC, Via Campesina and also had the presence of international human rights observers from PROAH. On May 21, 2014, at 6.00 a.m.  four military commandos and four police patrols, arrived at the area that 300 families affiliated with MARCA have occupied since July 12, 2012 with an order granting right of possession from the appropriate authorities based on a June 29, 2012 ruling from the Court of Trujillo. The police launched tear gas and fired rifles and captured 16 campesinos including 3 leaders who have protective orders from the Inter-American Human Rights Commission. Several campesinos were injured and denied medical care. One pregnant woman who was detained miscarried later. 

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COFADEH Urgent Action: June 9, 2014

URGENT ACTION

The Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) expresses its concern, to the national and international public, regarding a series of events that have occurred systematically in recent weeks; events that occurred immediately after COFADEH registered formal complaints.

Since February 2014, various types of surveillance have been documented including stationed vehicles without license plates, vehicles circulating in front of COFADEH’s facilities at night and presence of vehicles that coincide with the departure of employees. These vehicles move slowly even when there is no heavy traffic, making several laps around the perimeter. Some of these vehicles park in the vicinity of the building and others pass by, making it clear that they are observing movements.  Unknown persons are strategically located on corners opposite the building in order to monitor the office’s movements. 

As of May 13, 2014, a private vehicle, red Toyota Corolla sedan with a black stripe and dark, tinted windows, has been observed parking daily at 7:00 A.M. in a suspicious manner (no one exits nor enters the vehicle). This vehicle parks at the same time and in the same place, usually located to the left of the entrance of the building coinciding with the hour that COFADEH personnel enter work. 

On May 29, 2014 at 10:00 A.M., a tall stocky man with dark skin and short hair, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, took photographs of the COFADEH facilities. When he realized that he was being watched, he left the perimeter walking unhurriedly.

Also, at the end of May 2014, the General Coordinator of this institution observed during morning hours, a suspicious man carrying a firearm suspiciously located on a sidewalk near COFADEH, exactly opposite the Building of Women in the Arts.

On Tuesday, June 3 of this year at about 8:00 A.M., Mr. José Ricardo Castillo Molina was murdered just 100 meters from the offices of COFADEH, as he emerged from his vehicle to go to his business: La Casa de las Velas (The House of Candles).  Two armed men driving a motorcycle shot him at close range. According to information provided by the family, the businessman had no personal enemies and his family was not aware that he had received any threats or was the object of extortion.

Events on Thursday June 5 of this year also alarm us. At about 7:40 A.M., immediately after the aforementioned red car left, a blue car with no plates parked in the same place, stayed until 8:45 A.M., and no one left the vehicle. However, it was apparent that there was a person inside of the vehicle with a cell phone in hand, apparently filming.

On June 4, 2014, at 3:00 P.M. one team member was temporarily kidnapped in a taxi in which there were four people: the driver, two women and a man, supposedly passengers, who detained her for two hours during which time the vehicle circulated throughout different zones of the city, including secure neighborhoods.  During this time she was assaulted, beaten severely in the face, suffered a strangulation attempt, and injuries from a pen stabbing her in the legs, neck and left hand.  This incident happened after leaving an event on “Forced Displacement due to Violence” which was held in the capital.

COFADEH is a beneficiary of protective measures issued by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), however the state has not adopted effective measures to dissuade insecurity. 

In May, this institution presented a report on findings regarding the Human Rights situation prepared by the Delegation of Spanish Parliamentarians that visited Honduras at the beginning of April, 2014.  The General Coordinator also spoke in Canada during April and in May, participated in the IEDDH 2014 Forum, speaking on the issue of “Arbitrary and Summary Executions and Forced Disappearance” at the invitation of the European Union in  Brussels, Belgium.  Her interviews were reproduced in the international news media. 

Recently, 108 U.S. Congress members sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry to express their concern about the current human rights situation in Honduras.  The letter which referenced COFADEH as a source of information, expressed concern that the human rights situation has worsened under the government of Juan Orlando Hernández, asked the State Department to demand that the government of Honduras protect the fundamental rights of citizens, end the use of military forces for public policing, investigate and prosecute abuses and restore the rule of law.  

In Honduras, human rights defenders continue to be intimidated, persecuted, criminalized, censured, threatened and stigmatized. 

REQUEST:

We request that the national and international community communicate with the State of Honduras to ask that it take necessary measures to guarantee and protect the lives and integrity of the staff of COFADEH. 

That it guarantee the universally recognized right to defend human rights, as established in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights Defenders approved in 1998 and the OAS Resolutions of 1999 and 2000.  

Remind the State of its obligation to conduct effective investigation and make public the results, to identify those responsible for the acts described above. 

Request the State to effectively carry out the protective measures issued to COFADEH by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Please call the following authorities. 

OSCAR FERNANDO CHINCHILLA   

Fiscal General de la República/Attorney General.

Fax (504) 2221-5667 

Tel (504) 2221-5670  2221-3099        

ARTURO CORRALES ALVAREZ

Secretario de Estado en los Despachos de Seguridad/Secretary of State

Teléfono: (504) 2229-0003

E-mail: medidgeovanny@yahoo.com

KARLA EUGENIA CUEVA

SUB-SECRETARIA JUSTICIA Y DERECHOS HUMANOS/Sub Secretary Justice and Human Rights

Tel: (504) 2231-1542; 2232-0231

Fax:  (504) 2232-0226

E-mail:  karlacueva144@gmail.com

ROBERTO HERRERA CACERES

COMISIONADO NACIONAL DE DERECHOS HUMANOS/National Human Rights Commission

Tel: (504) 2220-7648; 2232-0433

Fax:

E-mail:

Tegucigalpa, MDC., June 9, 2014.