Delegation of 90 national and international human rights defenders and jounalists

verified grave human rights violations under a coup-continuation regime at Bajo

Aguan Honduras where the monocrop African Palm is massively cultivated.

Rosie Wong, reporting from Colon, Honduras

After the 15 November 2010 massacre where a contingent of hundreds of security guards
of large land holder (illegally usurped) Miguel Facusse opened fire and murdered 5
campesinos where a community occupied the El Tumbador land to reclaim it, a
delegation of Honduran and International human rights defenders and journalists (of
alternative medias) travelled into the region in December to document the massive human
rights violations in the region.

I had the privilege of joining this trip, those who came included: from Honduras – human
rights organisations including COFADEH (whose coordinator just received the Tulip
prize from Holland Government in recognition for her work and resistance), Centre of
Women’s Rights Honduras, Women for Life, Right to Food Informational and Action
Network Honduras, Via Campesina Honduras, alternative medias: Globo Radio and TV,
El Libertador, amongst others. Internationally there was a delegation of 10 journalists and
activists from Germany and Austria.

On our way there in the bus, we kept passing by palm plantation after palm plantation,
they are endless, and most palm plantations are owned by the same few (literally) large
land holder/usurpers – Facusse, Morales, Canales and National Party parliamentarian
Oscar Najera.
Palm plantations

These monocrops are killing biodiversity, have limited lifespans of 25 years and die, and
large landholders will use these to take advantage of carbon credits and subsidies under
the REDD (Reducing Emissions of Deforestation and Degradation) counting replacing
natural forests and food crops with palm plantations as ‘reforestation’. Likewise,
increasing use of palm oil as biofuels under the carbon market qualifies the production as
part of the ‘solutions’ to the existing environmental problems of dirty energy,
disregarding the impact this has in displacing local populations and farmers including
Indigenous peoples, displacing food crops, and destroying the environment and
biodiversity of Honduras.

Honduras comes second in the region for the amount of arable land per capita, and Bajo
Aguan is amongst the most fertile lands in Latin America. Despite this great availability
of land and high agricultural activity, because they are focussed on export crops (palm
oil, bananas, coffee, meat, and dairy products) controlled by few large landholders, more
than half the rural population (1.5 million people or 300,000 families) continue without
access to land. Around half the rural population live on less than 50 cents (of US dollar)
income a day, and 25% have income of less than 25 cents a day (G. Trucchi, 23/11/10).

Loss of food sovereignty

Production of basic grains are increasingly replaced by export crops, as have the
concentration of land ownership in fewer hands, impacting strongly on the food security
of thousands of families. Honduras went from being one of the main producers of basic
grains in central America to producing much less than what it needs. Every year
Honduras has to import increasing amounts of corn, beans, and rice (G. Trucchi,
23/11/10)

Eviction of farmers at Paso Aguan and Panama settlements of Bajo Aguan

Honduras

Our first visit on Thursday morning was to the communities Paso Aguan/Panama.. which
had just been evicted before we arrived by a contingent of army, police, and seemingly,
also paramilitaries. When we arrived many of them were around and had done their dirty
work already. There were around 100 police, soldiers, and what many said to be
Colombian paramilitaries, with heavy arms, standing around, sitting in their vehicles,
moving about, inducing fear in the community and in the visitors.
Here is one of the soldiers with balaclavas

Here journalists and human rights defenders were interviewing the police Public
Relations, Alex Madrid who was overpowering and kept saying that the police respect
human rights, that they were carrying out orders, that everything was within the law, and
that unless we have video or photographic evidence of police and military violence or
presence of Colombian paramilitaries, they maintained that they had done nothing wrong.
Many campesinos around gave testimonies that the security forces are displaying
completely different words and actions since the arrival of the big team of journalists and
human rights defenders. When asked about the disarmament and why it is against the
campesinos who have no arms, and not against Facusse’s visibly heavily armed guards
Madrid said their job is not to confiscate all arms but all arms that are without
permission, whether they be of farmers or security guards. When journalists pointed out
that security guards and paramilitary gain easily and illegally access to permissions, he
said that is not within his responsibility, that has to be questioned to someone else.
Campesinos were in the process of gathering their few possessions with nowhere to go
but to leave.

Here is Alex ‘we do everything within the law’ Madrid – apparently it is also his right to film and
photograph us since we are filming and photographing him. There are also reports that a
military was filming people entering and leaving the hotel where we were staying as a
means of persecution and intimidation. If international visitors can be scared and
intimidated, and local reporters and human rights defenders more so for lots of reasons,
imagine the daily reality of fear and intimidation and persecution the farmers struggling
for land rights are under, with over 20 campesinos killed since the coup and a massacre
against 5 farmers by Facusse’s security guards on 15 November 2010.

Evictions against the poorest of the poor

The communities being evicted lived in houses made of sticks and plastic covers for
roofs. They lived in appalling conditions, instead of improving their living conditions, the
armed forces came along and forcefully destroyed people’s sticks-homes with fire and
force.
This little child kept picking up big pieces of things sadly and loading them onto a bus.

This is a picture of a youth Misael showing us the beating injury from police. He is from
a community with 200 stick houses. He said he was getting ready to go to work and
families were cooking breakfast when before 6am hit, families in their homes were
suddenly surrounded by security forces. He said they were told to be gone within an hour
or everything will be set on fire because police knew the cameras were coming. That
things would have been much much worse in terms of violence and they would be
throwing their clothes in the streets, if only the cameras weren’t coming, and that fewer
of the contingent was now present than before we arrived.

Fear

‘We had a lot of fear because they are armed….People can’t say anything because they
can shoot at us, they shoot at us, capture us, put us in prison, they beat us’…..

‘They came looking for arms but found only machetes that we use to cut corn’
‘We just want a place to live and work. We don’t know where we are going now. We are
just going to the street…In Honduras there is a lot of land but much of it (is held by)
Facusse… We hope that the government will make a solution, that we will have another
government, because it is not just one family here, it is the whole Colon territory.’

So that was one story from one of many settlements struggling for their land rights and to
produce for Hondurans.

Militarisation at the Agrarian State Department (INA in Spanish)

Since late November, the Agrarian State Department had been taken over by the military.
Their excuse was that there were allegations that farmers kept arms there. On not finding
any arms, they are still there weeks later. So what are the real reasons?

Journalists caught up with Jose Andres Andrade Soto recently put in charge of this
regional Agrarian office. He has been announced to have the power to fire and hire, but
further to that he has literally no power. He could not make statements other than of what
has been said publicly already. The military did not allow him access to the buildings and
files of the department he is supposably the head of (no one can enter apart from the
military, not him, not the workers). He could not answer the questions of why
militarisation continues.

Esly Banegas, the regional president of the SITRAINA – workers union of the Agrarian
Department, said the department’s job is to facilitate projects of Agrarian reform, and that
the militarisation is there to violate rights of farmers and workers. The paper and
electronic documents about land rights and conflicts are there in the hands of military.
She said the real intention of militarising the INA is to close this regional office, fire and
remote everyone, and legalise the theft by Miguel Facusse of the Tumbador land where
the massacre took place on 15 November 2010.

Outside the INA offices, the parade celebrating one year anniversary of the MUCA –
Unified Movement of Aguan Campesinos involvement in land occupation to recover
their land, made up of around 5000 families struggling for their land, passed by and
stopped to send a message to the military occupying the INA.
Because media and regime spokespersons try to discredit the farmers land rights
movement and justify militarisation and paramilitary killings against farmers, they hold
up this sign/placard saying: ‘These are the arms of MUCA: agriculture project,
fishery project’. In sum, projects to create independence

At the same time some days ago, campesinos started blocking the highway to Trujillo 24
hours a day… it is now evicted on 15 December 2010. Their demand: demilitarisation.
Simply, get out – soldiers, police, paramilitaries..

Adjacent to the INA, is some families who have been refuged there because their
settlement was flooded; when military invaded INA, they also invaded the homes of these
families. Their work tools were taken from them, some farmers told of stories of one case
of stolen money which was returned later to save face, and another case of a stolen watch
that was never returned. So you can see them in the picture below, the caretaker tried to
enter to stand with the community but the soldier didn’t allow.
Below are some of the workers of INA who have been sitting out here since military
invaded and overtook INA. Some 80% of the INA workers are unionised with
SITRAINA.

The message above says: MUCA/MCA: Cops, get out of Aguan. Soldiers, get out of
Aguan.
This last photo is of a mother giving testimony of his son having been assassinated.

On the Friday we visited several communities one after another, all with the same stories
and messages (My camera ran out of battery at this point! Sorry..)

Timeline of the Bajo Aguan farmers struggle and reference to the coup against President
Zelaya

Agrarian Reform law 1962

The process of agrarian reform peaked between 1973-1977, when the approval of a specific
law and different decrees, 120,000 hectares were distributed to small landless farmers within 5
years – a total of 409,000 hectares were distributed over 3 decades, constituting 12.3% of rural
land, benefiting 60,000 (13%) of campesina families (G. Trucchi 23/11/10).

It was a period when through the INA, the state began to promote the migration of campesinos to
unpopulated areas in the Atlantic coast, especially in the Bajo Aguan region. The state built
highways and roads, drainage systems, retention walls, schools, health centres, and compesinos
settlements grouped together as cooperatives to be competitive in the market. In 1970-1990, the
big producers were almost completely of campesina cooperatives and the region became
one of the most important productive centres of the country (Rios, in G. Trucchi, 23/11/10)

Agrarian Reform law arose out of international agreements adhered to in 1959 Punta de Este
meeting in Uruguay in the context of the Alliance for Progress, the purpose was to prevent
revolutions like what was happening in Cuba with the arrival to power of Fidel Castro and with
uprising of democratic governments like in Guatemala at the time with President Arbenz by
implementing social reforms. 57 of the 84 campesino cooperatives formed in Honduras to
cultivate palm oil because it was known as the ‘capital of agrarian reform’ (MUCA, 13/1/10).

1990: Law of modernisation and development of the Agricultural Sector

This ‘modernisation’ law was introduced giving way to expansion of land by few large
agrobusiness-people (Facusse, Morales, Canales and Najera) at the expense of small farmers
collectives, in the Callejas administration and in the context of Structural Adjustment Agreements
propelled by international finance organisms. The land usurption was never legal nor through this
new law which does not allow agrarian reform lands to be sold except back to the Agrarian
Reform department which is obligated to re-distribute this land to small landless farmers.
However, using tricks and different interpretations of the law and wicked bureaucratic
modifications, leaders of campesino organisations were forced to sell the land in the context of
persecution, corruption of campesino leaders and of state officials. The law did, complement this
land usurption process by the privatisation of the few previously free state services of credit,
technical assistance, training and advice – so that small farmers in financial difficulties had to sell
the land to large companies who receive loans from international financers like World Bank (G.
Trucchi, 23/11/10).

Lidia Ramos said that with the Agrarian Modernisation Law in 1990 allowing individual rather than
collective ownership of land while some campesinos sold out, those who refused to sell were
persecuted by paramilitary, including her spouse. Members of the Maran~ones settlement
reported the same story. As did MARCA members who said Facusse persecuted those who
wouldn’t sell, and falsified papers.

‘We have all the paperwork’ and have the right to recover the land: Gilberto Oliva, MARCA
In 1990s, 40,000 hectares were cultivated with Palm trees in Honduras.

Large landholders tried to trick people to believe that the palm oil expansion will solve the
problems of poverty and unemployment in the area. Having lost their land the farmers returned to
being labourers for the landholders/transnationals, as subcontractors in semi slavery conditions.
Since palm cultivation is not labour intensive, high levels of unemployment and underemployment
is generated with palm plantations expansion in Bajo Aguan affecting thousands of families.
Workers worked under difficult and coercive and precarious (temporary) conditions. They had to
apply different chemicals like Roundup, Gramoxone, and Paraquat. At the beginning some self
protection gear was given, but afterwards workers were told that it was very expensive and they
had to go without or with highly inadequate ‘protection’; nor workers compensation for treatment
for poisoned workers. The pay is miserable and many workers are in debt with their local shops.
Under these arrangements, for a tonne of fruit, 75 lempiras go to the worker, and 2,500 lempiras
of profit to the landholder (Trucchi, 23/11/10).

1998 campesinos began to investigate.. members of cooperatives left landless began to

investigate the fraudulent sales of agrarian reform lands (MUCA, 13/1/10)

2001 campesinos under MUCA (Unified Campesinos of Aguan Movement) and MCA
(Campesinos of Aguan Movement) and MCA (Aguan Campesinos Movement) began a
struggle through the courts to reclaim their land. They managed to demonstrate through their
investigations that the sales were illegal, that the large land holders never held land titles, and
were instead granted concession for the use of the land until February 2005 according to a 2002
document. (MUCA 13/1/10, Emanuelsson, 28/11/10). The legal process was constantly stalled by
a ‘justice system’ which has no independence.

By 2005, 80,000 hectares were cultivated with Palm trees in Honduras

February 2006 MUCA campesinos peacefully occupied a Tocoa highway, following which an
agreement was made with the State General Prosecutor and Supreme Court President Morales
to resolve MUCA’s demands (MUCA 13/1/10).

March 2009 MUCA presented a proposal to the President Zelaya, for Zelaya to mediate the
conflict, to work towards having the land returned to its owners the campesino cooperatives. 28
May 2009 MUCA began to occupy Facusse’s Oil Extraction Plant to pressure the state to
comply with the signed agreements and a new agreement was signed with Zelaya on 19
June 2009 towards resolving the legal situation of the campesinos’ land. By 21 June 2009 a
government team arrived to begin work on what was agreed, and held a meeting with MUCA
representatives on 23 June 2009 (MUCA 13/1/10).

Process of agreement with Zelaya was broken by a military coup against Zelaya on 28
June 2009. At that point campesinos also joined the struggle calling for the return of Zelaya. They
also occupied the central Agrarian Reform Department until they were evicted, to try to protect
agreements signed with Zelaya (MUCA 13/1/10, Emanuelsson, 28/11/10).

Many farmers explained to the delegation that the land struggle has been for many years as had
the persecution, but that during Zelaya’s term they felt he was supportive of farmers, they said
that he talked with the military telling them not to kill campesinos, that he signed a commitment 15
days before the coup to legalise the campesinos’ land ownership in 90 days

9 December 2009, given the non-compliance with the agreements, MUCA campesinos began a
process of land recovery through occupation of various cooperatives (MUCA 13/1/10,
Emanuelsson 28/11/10). These occupations were met with violent persecution (by paramilitaries
and security guards) and evictions (by military and police) and settlements evicted often returned
to occupy these lands once the military withdraw. In the process at least 16 campesinos had
been killed. Some individual campesinos also obtained small arms to defend themselves in this
climate and 35 paramilitaries, police and soldiers also lost their lives (Emanuelsson 28/11/10)

March and April 2010 – massive militarisation during ‘negotiations’. At least 5000 soldiers
and police moved into the region and installed checkpoints, forcing campesinos to literally
negotiate with guns pointed to their heads. Several assassinations took place against farmers in
land struggle during this time.

April 2010 - agreement signed. An agreement was signed between the Lobo regime and
MUCA for the state to buy the land from the large landholders (although these are not legally the
owners) to re-sell to campesinos, at yet to be determined prices. In order to stall these
agreements large landholders demanded excessively inflated prices. Less than 20% of the
agreement had been complied with and there are no signs of progress (Trucchi, 23/11/10).
Several cooperatives of MUCA opted out of the agreement and formed MARCA, an organisation
of cooperatives continuing the legal struggle for their land.

MCA’s struggle

Similarly, MCA (Aguan Campesinos Movement) members live where the Puerto Rican US citizen
Temistocles Ramirez illegally bought 5,724 hectares of land, who was obligated to sell
these back to Honduras state INA for Agrarian Reform but where the Honduran State in
the 80s installed on these lands the Regional Military Training Centre (CREM). Using the
corruption and Law of Agricultural Modernisation, landowneres (Miguel Facusse, Rene
Morales and Oscar Najera NP MP) managed to illegally appropriate these lands and began
to cultivate african palm, when families entered into an agreement with the general
Ombudsman to have these lands returned to INA, and began to organise to recover it. On
15/11/10 the 5 campesinos assassinated by Facusse’s security guards at El Tumbador
were MCA members. This land of El Tumbador was surveyed by INA that had defined that
it is part of where CREM was – agrarian reform land the state had paid for, and they were
going to pass onto campesinos, who would just have to pay the value of the
‘improvements’ the large landholders made to the land.

Currently, over 120,000 hectares are cultivated with palm trees in Honduras, with 70% of
palm oil produced destined for export. A US Embassy report says Honduras has 540,000
hectares suitable for cultivation of palm oil (Trucchi, 23/11/10).

The dozens of thousands of campesino families continue to struggle for an integral agrarian
reform towards a dignified life and salary, while they continue to face bullets, persecution,
violence and death (Trucchi 23/11/10)

‘Let us work’

‘Please help us so there is no more of this (persecution) so we can work’ Lidia Ramos.

‘We want the land to work…how can one man (MF) have so much land?’ Sebastian

‘We are looking for the future of these people’ said MARCA representative.

‘We started with nothing and began to grow food and the African Palm” Gilberto Oliva.

‘We have no arms, only work tools, as if we can afford arms anyway..’
Consuelo Castillo of Lempira said they have no arms there, just machetes and another tool called
malayo.

‘We have only machetes’ San Isidro leader.

‘It is the military and security guards with the arms’

Consuelo Castillo (Lempira) said the farmers cannot move around, that there are always guards
and soldiers who are armed and insult people and come looking for arms. They install
checkpoints and ask for documents and look for ways to repress people. They are always
threatening people by pointing their loaded guns at them.

Giovanni (La Confianza) said security guards and forces are always posted on the highways and
pointing their guns including at women. He said INA was militarised to stop the agrarian reform
projects.

Fausto Reyes (La Confianza) said people are treated like animals.

From the Maran~ones, la Confianza, Paso Aguan and Panama settlements, people said they
knew of Colombian paramilitaries.

‘We will keep claiming our land even if they keep killing us’

Lidia Ramos ‘We can’t put up with this anymore. We will not be silenced. Even if they kill us.’
Lidia recounted with sorrow the killing of the local journalist Nahum Palacios this year who
fearlessly reported on the plight and struggle of campesinos in Aguan and was riddled with over
30 bullets.

Consuelo Castillo (Lempira settlement) said 80% of people in Colon are in the Resistance with
FNRP, to transform Honduras to a better country.

Terrible living conditions

You saw the stick houses. The water gets in and its uncomfortable. Community members also
told of their experiences of children being excluded from school and health services. People told
of stories like, many children for one school, and many do not go. Communities need places for
schools. One man asked for my glasses because he couldn’t see far away. He said the Cuban
doctors come in their brigade but there is so much demand it is only a part of the need that they
can help with.

Violations of women’s rights by the security forces

Gina of Centre for Womens Rights Honduras said the farmers live in a climate of terror and
women live in fear in leaving or not leaving for work, are victims of sexual, physical and
psychological violence by the forces that they underreport. They also don’t have access to
pre/post natal services. The communities in struggle need security guarantees.

Farmers’ demands:

- Demilitarisation

- Let us work on our land

- Let our families and children work to have a future

- Let us live in dignity

- End plunder and exploitation

Under this coup regime, it is clear who the public institutions answer to – the army, police,
congress, DPP, etc execute what happens, and they answer to interests of few elite people
including Palm Plantation Agro-industrial businessman Miguel Facusse. This is including
according to the well respected Father Fausto Milla. Coup governments particularly are not for
the masses.

It is really impressive how many people said they will continue the struggle and know their
lives are on the line. Entire communities of thousands of families struggling for land and for a
better Honduras are subject to this impossible to accept campaign of control and domination by
death and terror.

BUT THIS IS NOT THE IMAGE THEY WANT PORTRAYED, BECAUSE THE REGIME WANTS
MONEY AND NEEDS TO APPEAR LEGITIMATE. In fact, World Bank, Inter-American
Development Bank, IMF, and WWF are all complicit in having given funds and whitewashing to
the regime, and to the company Dinant of Miguel Facusse, who contracted his army of security
guards that carried out the El Tumbador massacre. We can put the pressure on our diplomatic
representatives – MPs, Foreign ministers, embassies, UN, World Bank, etc etc.. we can break the
silence, etc, so many different things..

References:

‘De nuevo corre la sangre en el Bajo Aguan’, G. Trucchi, 23/11/10,

http://www.albasud.org/noticia/135/de-nuevo-corre-la-sangre-en-el-bajo-aguan

‘Honduras: El Aguan, escenario de guerra con intereses que trascienden fronteras’, Frented
Nacional de Resistencia Popular en Colon, reported by Dick Emanuelsson, on 28/11/10,
http://colarebo.wordpress.com/2010/11/28/honduras-el-aguan-escenario-de-guerra-con-
intereses-que-trascienden-fronteras/

‘Recuento de los hechos y la recuperacion de las Tierras de la Reforma Agraria en Honduras’

Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguan, 13/1/10