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

Student Protests Continue - Campesinos Planning Mobilizations

Campesino Press Conference: Protests Planned For Agrarian Reform and Decriminalization of the Campesino Movement

Conferencia de Prensa Campesina de Defensores En Linea y Honduras Tierra Libre: el original en español: 

Campesino press conference April 9th Tegucigalpa
foto: defensores en linea

The campesino movement today demands approval of the Law for Integral Agrarian reform with Gender Equity, a proposal that was introduced in the National Congress by the campesinos a year ago. 

The demand of the campesinos was made publicly at a press conference held in the offices of Vía Campesina in Tegucigalpa, where they announced that they would be holding big mobilizations nationally for the approval of the law. 

The campesinos noted that with the approval of the Law for Integral Agrarian Reform with Gender Equity the agrarian problem in Honduras would be resolved. 

On April 9, 2014 the campesino movement introduced a proposal for a law called “Agrarian Reform with Gender Equity, for Food Sovereignty and Rural Development” in the National Congress. The law had been previously circulated publicly to all the congressional political parties which promised to back it and to support the campesino movement related to this discussion and approval of the proposed law. 

The campesino movement lamented that the proposal was tabled with no measures taken for its discussion among all the political sectors represented in the National Congress. 

“It’s a disgrace that this proposed Law was tabled simply because there is no priority given to resolved the agrarian problem that the Honduran campesinos have at the national level,” stated campesino leader Agustín Ramos.

The criminalization of the campesino struggle grows greater every day. Around 5 thousand campesinos are in legal processes, of those 815 are women and 11 are in prison because of their struggle for the land. 

The problem for the campesino sector has increased so that the campesinos and campesinas announced that in upcoming days they would organize protests as a way of applying pressure so that the Law for an Integral Agrarian Reform with Gender Equity would be approved. 

“There will be mobilizations at the national level and we are conscious that we will be repressed but that won’t stop our demands that the Agrarian Reform Law be passed”, declared Magdalena Morales, representative of the National Center of Rural Workers (CNTC). 

She also called on President Juan Orlando Hernández to put his influence to work so that the Law would be approved in the National Congress in that with it the agrarian problem in Honduras would be resolved, in that the campesinos in Honduras don’t have land to work. 

Morales reminded President Hernández that in the rural areas there are more that 2 million women campesinas living in extreme poverty.

The campesino movement also denounced the fact that violent evictions continue in which their crops and homes have been destroyed with impunity causing thousands of lempira’s worth of losses for poor families of the Honduran campesino sector. 

Finally the campesinos called for the President of the Republic, Juan Orlando Hernández, the President of the National Congress, Mauricio Oliva and the President of the Supreme Court of Justice, Jorge Rivera Avilez to meet with them to open a broad and inclusive dialogue regarding the agrarian problem in the country and the crises in basic grains that will occur  this season if urgent measures are not taken to resolve it.

Student Protests: Support for the Students Grows while Violence Against Students Increases

Tegucigalpa March 26 protest
foto from desdeaquiabajo

Student protests begun by high school/middle school students and joined by university students against the budget cuts and privatization of public education have been marked by repression including the death squad style murders of student activists - one a 14 year old girl. The violence has been widely denounced including by the Honduras Solidarity Network (See statement here). The students now have been joined by broader sectors of the resistance movement and outraged Hondurans. For an update and more photos go to the Desde Aquí Abajo blog .

Campesinos Protest Against Criminalization

El original declaración en español sigue el ingles

Declaration and photos from Vía Campesina Honduras

"Immediate liberty for the arrested campesinas & campesinos
More than 5 thousand in all of Honduras

Declaration on the wave of criminalization against the campesinos and campesinas of La Paz, Honduras

March 23, 2015,  Vía Campesina Honduras

Campesinos and campesinas, members of the National Center of Rural Workers (CNTC) accompanied by Vía Campesina carried out a march on Monday through the main streets in the province of La Paz as pressure to demand that the government end the violence against the campesinos. 

The countryside has stopped being an important sector for governments since the neoliberal system defines its plan for development based on the industry of agro-exportation, the financial system, mining, tourism, sweat-shops maquiladores and other things and agriculture is left abandoned. 

The agrarian and alimentation crisis is a true human tragedy, the situation in the countryside worsens day after day due to the lack of a true legal framework (to protect it). 

In order to resolve the agrarian problem and guarentee support to the small farming sector of the country, last April 9 the Law for an Integral Agrarian Reform with Gender Equity for Food Sovereignty and Rural Development, was introduced (to the Congress); it has remained tabled by the legislature. 

The campesino movement continues to be repressed on the land, our fields are destroyed, we are beaten, they burn our houses; from 2014 to the present 15 campesino groups in different municipalities, belonging to the CNTC have suffered violent evictions and another 34 evictions have been announced to take place soon. 

As of this moment around 5 thousand campesinos and campesinas at the national level have legal charges against them and more than 700 are women. Just in La Paz of 48 campesino groups 46 of the groups are in legal processes; we have more than 500 people with probationary measures, 161 are women and there are 10 comrades in prison condemned to more than 6 years. They are: 

1. Omar MejíaGálea (10 de Enero 2014) Grupo Buena Vista, la brea Comayagua

2. Benancio  Palomo Chavarría (10 de enero 2014) Grupo Buena Vista, la brea Comayagua

3. Gerson Edgardo Hernández (10 de Enero 2014) Grupo Buena Vista, la brea Comayagua

4. Héctor David GáleasLópez (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

5. Nery Antonio Gonzales (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

6.Ángel Arnaldo Martínez Marquez (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

7. Manuel Nicolas Dominguez (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

8. José David Aguilar Gáleas (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

9. Jacinto Bardales 11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

10. Osmar Lara, Grupo Campesino Unidos para un Futuro Mejor, Marcala, La Paz

Rafael Alegria and Franklin Almendarez

During the protest by the campesino movement the General Secretary of the CNTC, Franklin Almendarez denounced the political persecution aimed at the local group leaders and campesino leaders in La Paz, "our compañeros are followed in public places and public transportation by the police authorities and people dressed as civilians, we also want to sound the alert to the fact of the confabulation of the National Police with the big landowners to facilitate armed civilians executing evictions and persecuting the campesino groups" he stated. 

"In the same way, we vigorously denounce that government institutions such as the Institute for Forest Conservation (ICF) and the National Agrarian Institute (INA) deny us the right to Agrarian Reform, dismisses as "without cause" the filings for titles to the land made by our compañeros, denying them access to natural resources and violating Accord 169 signed and ratified by the Government of Honduras with the International Labor Organization (OIT). The peoples affected must have the right to decide their own priorities regarding the process of development to the extent that this affects their lives, beliefs, institutions and spiritual well being and the lands that they occupy or use in some way, and (the right) to control to the degree possible their own economic, social and cultural development. (Accord 169, Article 7(1). "

For his part, the General Coordinator of Vía Campesina Honduras, Rafael Alegría stated that, "this march has been organized in La Paz to demand that the government end the criminalization of the campesino movement, we want this day to make history and its voice reach the government to say that we need them to give us land so that the campesinos have a parcel of land to work, that the Law for an Integral Agrarian reform with Gender Equity for Food Sovereignty and Rural Development that is tabled in the congress be passed immediately; the immediate liberation of the campesinos in legal proceedings and of the 11 compañeros imprisoned in Tamara and Marcala; and an immediate end to the violent evictions and the destruction of crops", he concluded. 

​The march arrived to the court building in La Paz where campesinos Blanca Rodríguez Manueles, Rómulo Gáleas and Antonio Gonzales had court hearings for allegedly stealing land, they were accompanied by the Coordinator of Vía Campesina, Rafael Alegría and the General Secretary of the CNTC, Franklin Almendarez; they achieved the campesinos being freed pending the continuation of the investigation. 

Afterwards the march went to the prison in La Paz where family members accompanied by congressmen from the LIBRE Party Rafael Alegría and Wilfredo Paz and Franklin Almendarez,  visited the 5 young campesinos who are incarcerated there. 

ANTE LA OLA DE CRIMINALIZACION CONTRA LOS CAMPESINOS Y CAMPESINAS DE LA PAZ, HONDURAS

La Vía Campesina Honduras 23 de Marzo del 2015. Campesinas y campesinos miembros de la Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC) con el acompañamiento de La Vía Campesina, realizaron este lunes una caminata en las principales calles del departamento de La Paz, como medida de presión para exigir al gobierno el cese de la violencia en contra de los labriegos.

El campo dejo de ser un sector importante para los gobiernos, pues el sistema neoliberal definió un plan de desarrollo encaminado a fortalecer la industria de agroexportación, el sistema financiero, la minería, el turismo, la maquila, entre otros y la agricultura quedo en el absoluto abandono.

La crisis agraria y alimentaria es una verdadera tragedia humana, la situación en el campo se ha venido agravando día a día, producto de la falta de un verdadero marco jurídico.

Para solventar la problemática agraria y garantizar el apoyo al sector campesino del país, se introdujo el pasado 9 de Abril la Ley de Reforma Agraria Integral con Equidad de Género para la Soberanía Alimentaria y el Desarrollo Rural, misma que se mantiene engavetada en el legislativo.

El movimiento campesino, continua siendo reprimido por la tierra, nos deshacen nuestras milpas, nos golpean, nos queman nuestras casas, entre el año 2014 a la fecha 15 grupos campesinos pertenecientes a diferentes municipios de La Paz miembros de la Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC),han sufrido desalojos violentos y para los próximos días se anuncian 34  desalojos mas .

Hasta el momento se encuentran con procesos legales alrededor de 5 mil campesinos y campesinas, de ellos más de 700 son mujeresa nivel nacional, solo aquí en el departamento de La Paz, de 48 grupos campesinos, 46 de ellos tienen  procesos legales,  tenemos más de 500 personas con medidas sustitutivas, 161 son mujeres y 10 compañeros guardan prisión, condenados a  mas de 6 años de cárcel, los compañeros son:

1. Omar MejíaGálea (10 de Enero 2014) Grupo Buena Vista, la Brea Comayagua

2. Benancio  Palomo Chavarría (10 de enero 2014) Grupo Buena Vista, la brea Comayagua

3. Gerson Edgardo Hernández (10 de Enero 2014) Grupo Buena Vista, la brea Comayagua

4. Héctor David GáleasLópez (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

5. Nery Antonio Gonzales (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

6.Ángel Arnaldo Martínez Marquez (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

7. Manuel Nicolas Dominguez (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

8. José David Aguilar Gáleas (11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

9. Jacinto Bardales 11 de Octubre 2013) Grupo 18 de Abril la Pollera, Quilaperque, La Paz

10. Osmar Lara, Grupo Campesino Unidos para un Futuro Mejor, Marcala, La Paz

Durante la manifestación del movimiento campesino el Secretario General de la CNTC Franklin Almendarez denunció la persecución política de que son objeto los líderes de base y dirigentes campesinos en el departamento de La Paz, “nuestros compañeros son perseguidos en lugares públicos y en los medios de transporte, por las autoridades de la policía y personas que andan de civil, también alertamos la confabulación de la policía nacional con los terratenientes para avalar que personas civiles armadas ejecuten desalojos y persecución a los grupos campesinos” expreso.

“De igual manera lamentamos enérgicamente que instituciones del estado como el Instituto de Conservación Forestal (ICF) y el Instituto Nacional Agrario (INA) nos nieguen el derecho a la Reforma Agraria, declarando sin lugar los expedientes de titulación de tierras de los compañeros, negándoles el acceso a los recursos naturales y violentando lo acordado en el Convenio 169, firmado y ratificado por el Estado de Honduras con la Organización Internacional del Trabajo (OIT).

Los pueblos interesados deberán tener el derecho de decidir sus propias prioridades en lo que atañe al proceso de desarrollo, en la medida en que éste afecte a sus vidas, creencias, instituciones y bienestar espiritual y a las tierras que ocupan o utilizan de alguna manera, y de controlar, en la medida de lo posible, su propio desarrollo económico, social y cultural. Convenio 169, Artículo 7(1).

Por su parte el Coordinador General de La Vía Campesina Honduras Rafael Alegría dijo que, “esta caminata se ha organizado en La Paz para reclamar al gobierno un cese a la criminalización del movimiento campesino, queremos que este día se haga historia y llegue  la voz al Estado de que necesitamos que nos den tierras  para que el campesinado tenga una parcela para trabajar, que se apruebe de inmediato la Ley de Reforma Agraria Integral con Equidad de Género para la Soberanía Alimentaria y el Desarrollo Rural, que se mantiene engavetada en el Congreso Nacional, la liberación inmediata de las y los campesinos con procesos legales y los 11 compañeros que guardan prisión en los centros penales de Tamara y Márcala y un alto a los desalojos violentos y la destrucción de los cultivos”, concluyó.

Los manifestantes llegaron hasta los Juzgados de La Paz, donde se realizaría la audiencia de imputado a Blanca Rodríguez Manueles, Rómulo Gáleas y Antonio Gonzales, por supuesta usurpación de tierra, acompañados por el Coordinador de La Vía Campesina Rafael Alegría y el Secretario General de la CNTC Franklin Almendarez,  logrando que se continúe con la investigación pero con los campesinos en libertad. 

​

Posteriormente la movilización se dirigió hacia el presidio de La Paz, donde familiares visitaron a los cinco jóvenes campesinos que guardan prisión, acompañados por los diputados del Partido Libertad y Refundación Rafael Alegría y Wilfredo Paz, al igual que Franklin Almendarez.   

UPDATE - CAMPESINOS IN HONDURAS APRIL 17

April 17th,  8pm Central time - Eviction of one recuperation - Military threats to another

This afternoon armed private guard employed by the big landowner and businessman Jaime Rosenthal evicted 80 campesino families from the coop Allianza La Lima in La Lima, Yoro in northern Honduras. The land which consists of sugar cane fields was recuperated as part of the day of campesino action. Another of the new recuperations in San Manuel, Cortes appears to be under threat by the military --- troops have arrived in the area but have not moved in. This recuperation is one of the largest, 3200 hectares and 1500 campesino families - the land is also sugar cane fields and is claimed by sugar producer landowners.

At a press conference at noon today , campesino leaders announced that during the very early hours of April 17th, simultaneously 3,000 campesino families recuperated approximately 12 thousand hectares of land across the country- in Cortes, Yoro, Santa Barbara, Intibuca, El Paraiso, Choluteca, Comayagua and Francisco Morazan. The organizations the CNTC, ANACH, COMDIMCA, UCIH, MUCA, ADROH, MOCASAM and FENAJUC held the press conference with Via Campesina the FNRP and the CPTRT.
Rafael Allegria of Via Campesina emphasized that the recuperated lands under Honduran agrarian law are national lands that should have been handed over to the campesinos who filed the solicitudes years ago. The campesino organizations are demanding that the Integral Agrarian Reform Law that they proposed to the congress last October be passed, that Porfirio Lobo convoke a national dialogue to end the land conflicts and the recuperated lands be titled to the campesinos now.

Thank you to Jesse Freeston and to an article posted by German Reyes for some of the information in this posting.

Dia Internacional de Acción Campesina - Campesinos Hondureños - La toma de tierras en 5 provincias.

Un comunicado en español sigue el articulo en ingles

APRIL 17 - International Day of Campesino Struggle

by Victoria Cervantes, La Voz de los de Abajo - Chicago

Honduran Campesinos mobilize for land and survival. - Land takeovers in 5 provinces.  

January 26, 2012, Tutule, La Paz ---defensoresenlinea.com

After the massacre of campesinos of the MST in Brazil on April 17, 1996 the date was declared the International Day of Campesino Action by Via Campesina and other campesino organizations. Today, April 17, 2012, amidst constant attacks and violence from the big landowners and oligarchy that control the police,military and government, Honduran campesinos are mobilizing in defense of their rights to land and survival. At least 13 campesino groups today recuperated land in 5 different provinces in Honduras. The action is organized by the National Center for Rural Workers (CNTC) a sector of the National Association of Honduran Campesinos (ANACH) and others on lands that according to agrarian law should be owned by the campesinos. The land recuperations are occurring now In Olancho, Francisco Morazan, Paraiso, Yoro, and Cortes.

Honduran campesinos have always faced violence and repression, but since the June 28, 2009 military coup the situation has deteriorated dramatically with increasing impunity, militarization and power of the land owning oligarachy and corporate agribusiness. To make matters worse, the Honduran National Congress in December 2010 annulled former President Zelaya’s order (Decree 18-2008) for a limited land reform that would have given dozens of campesino communities title to disputed lands.

Campesino organizations denounce an increase in terror tactics and violence in which national police and other military or mysterious men, dressed in black with their faces covered but carrying police and military weapons, arrive in communities before dawn, knock down doors, pull men women and children violently out of their homes and then destroy the homes and detain community members. Bulldozers and fire have been used to destroy homes and crops. The local leaders in the communities are held in jail or placed on probation requiring them to travel distances every week to sign in at a police station. Always the threat of another traumatizing and violent attacks hangs over the community. These attacks on campesino communities have occurred in the Tutule region of La Paz (20 evictions as many as 3 in one week), in Olancho, Atlantida and other regions. 

The violence and attacks on organized campesinos is infamous in the lower Aguan region in Colon where more than 50 assassinations have taken place since January 2010, and there are constant threats, violence detentions and harassment. Just during the past 4 weeks 2 members of the Unified Campesino Movement of Aguan (MUCA) were murdered and two others detained. The Campesino Movement of Rigores were harassed by armed troops after the community verbally confronted the government’s Agrarian Institute director Cesar Ham and on March 18th a land recuperation in Las Brisas, Colon was violently evicted.

Government and agro-business terror against the campesinos is paired with bad-faith negotiations or promises of negotiations to supposedly resolve land disputes. On February 23 of this year, Cesar Ham convened a meeting of campesino groups, many of whom have been recently evicted or are in imminent danger of eviction. According to some participants the meeting was “a lot of talk about possible negotiations but nothing concrete”. So far, when negotiations have resulted in settlements either the land-owners have openly refused to full-fill the agreements (the case of African Palm grower magnate, Miguel Facusse and MUCA communities) or the negotiations have resulted in untenable, smaller amounts of land and large debt burdens for the campesinos , for example, a February 17th agreement with some MUCA communities.

No wonder then that campesino organizations have decided to step up their struggle for land and to be allowed to produce food and other crops that can sustain their families and the rural economies. Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the region; the United Nations World Food Programme estimates that chronic malnutrition in the countryside is as high as 48.5% and the average rate is 34%. In a recent interview with Jesus Ponce, Secretary General of the CNTC, the campesino leader denounced the violence and attacks on the campesinos and stated, “we only want land to plant and to be productive; the campesinos will never leave land abandoned when so many are hungry; we can be part of a solution to the problems but instead the government, the big landowners, consider us to be less than animals and an obstacle to their plans. The land belongs to us and we demand Justice, Land, and Liberty! ”.

Support the campesinos - Dennounce the violence against campesino communities.
Send an email in Spanish or in English in support of the campesino movement demands for an end to attacks and violence against their communities and organizations and for a recognition of their rights to the land.

Cesar Ham, Director of the National Agrarian Institute: cham@ina.hn

Porfirio Lobo, President of the Republic of Honduras: diseloalpresidente@presidencia.gob.hn with a copy to La Voz de los de Abajo: lavozchicago@yahoo.com 

Comunicado de Prensa -Abril 17, 2012
La Voz de los de Abajo, Chicago, Illinois, USA
Campesinos se movilizan para la tierra y la supervivencia. - La toma de tierras en 5 provincias.
Después de la masacre de 19 campesinos el 17 de abril de 1996 en Brasil, en la movilización por la reforma agraria. Campesinos Brasileños y Vía Campesina declaran el 17 de Abril Como día Internacional del Campesino.
Hoy, 17 de abril de 2012, en medio de constantes ataques y la violencia de los grandes terratenientes y la oligarquía que controla la policía, el ejército y el gobierno, los campesinos hondureños se movilizan en defensa de sus derechos a la tierra y la supervivencia. Hoy más de 13 grupos campesinos hoy están recuperado la tierra en 5 departamentos de Honduras. (Olancho, Francisco Morazán, El Paraíso, Yoro y Cortés). La acción está organizada por La Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo (CNTC) y un sector de la Asociación Nacional de Campesinos de Honduras (ANACH)


Los Campesinos hondureños siempre han enfrentado la violencia y la represión, pero desde el golpe de estado militar del 28 de junio 2009 la situación se ha deteriorado dramáticamente con la creciente impunidad, la militarización y el poder agroindustrial de la oligarquía y los terratenientes. Para empeorar las cosas, el Congreso Nacional de Honduras en diciembre de 2010 anuló la orden del ex presidente Zelaya (Decreto 18-2008) que daba la oportunidad de titular tierras de campesinos en disputa.


Las organizaciones campesinas denuncian el aumento en las tácticas de terror y violencia de la policía nacional y otros militares o sicarios vestidos de negro con el rostro cubierto, que llegan aterrorizando a las comunidades, quemando y demoliendo sus casas, destruyendo sus cosechas, torturando a Mujeres Niños y hombres. Disparando contra campesinos indefensos, arrestando y procesando a lideres, como una clara muestra de intimidación para que claudiquen en su lucha. Estos ataques contra las comunidades campesinas se han producido en diferentes regiones del país, incluyendo La Paz, Olancho, y Atlantida, mas sin embargo es en la región del valle aguan donde se registran las mayores violaciones donde más de 50 asesinatos han tenido lugar desde enero de 2010, y constantes amenazas, detenciones violencia y el acoso. Sólo durante las últimas 4 semanas 2 miembros del Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguán (MUCA) fueron asesinados y otros dos detenidos.

Por lo tanto no es de extrañar que las organizaciones campesinas han decidido intensificar su lucha por la tierra, para la sobrevivencia de sus comunidades, para producir alimentos y otros cultivos que puedan sostener a sus familias y las economías rurales.

Honduras es uno de los países más pobres de la región, según el programa mundial de alimentos de las Naciones Unidas, se estima que la desnutrición crónica en el campo es tan alta como 48,5% y la tasa media es del 34%. En una reciente conversación con Jesús Ponce, Secretario General de la CNTC, el líder campesino denunció la violencia y los ataques contra los campesinos.


"sólo queremos la tierra para sembrar y para ser productivos, nosotros queremos ser parte de la solución al problema, pero el gobierno favorece siempre a los grandes terratenientes y a nosotros nos trata como animales, y no es justo por que esta tierra a fin de cuentas nos pertenece y por ella estamos dispuesto de luchar hasta el final, solo queremos lo que nuestro lema dice. Justicia, Tierra y Libertad”

Apoyemos la lucha de los campesinos, denunciando la violencia contra sus comunidades campesinas.

Chicago IL, 17 de Abril del 2012