HondurasEyeWitness

  A report from the Permanent Observatory for Human Rights in Bajo Aguan reports the following (and I paraphrase in translation the longer message below…):

   Subject:  Climate of Terror Prevails in Honduras, Wednesday May 19

“The process of recovering land initiated in the Aguan Valley and now extended in different latitudes across Honduras has provoked the militarization by the landlords in the diverse regions and the implementing of a state of terror produced by detentions, land invasions, and persecution of leaders and assassinations carried out consecutively, such as the case of the indigenous groups of COPINH, of the Tolupanes in Montanya del Flor and the assassinations of members of the Miskito organization MASTA, as well as the Farmer Movement of Aguan (MUCA) where today, May 16 a double cabin white vehicle with armed men, shot against the life of Juan Jose Peralta Escoto, 70 years of age who died on the spot.  The driver was his son in law Jose Antonio Veliz and his son Juan Jose Peralta Barrera in another vehicle loaded with firewood.  These were wounded.  This occured near the settlement of La Confianza at 9 a.m., the murdered man and Veliz are members of the MUCA settlement in Marañones, while Juan Jose Peralta is a member of the National Movement for Recovery in Rigores who lived temporarily in La Confianza.  Aguan is suffering a re-militarization, which contradicts the version of the Minister of Agrarian Reform Cesar Ham and the minister of security in this ¨pacified” area, a militarization at the moment of a payment is due for the lands in conflict (by those who signed that agreement), which could mean a military intervention, and the letter sent to the Observatory by Roger Pineda of Dinant Corporations (the palm oil refinery) stating that as long as the payments are not made, that the lands belong to Miguel Facusse* (the largest landholder of Honduras,(note by Stephen B: *Facusse never paid for most of the lands himself)).

  Photo:  Jennifer Jewell, (Photos and Names of farmers killed over Aguan land disputes.)

  The commandos of the armed forces led by foreign officials have appeared in the municipalities of Trujillo, Sava, Tocoa and Sonaguera where they have been active until far into the night and early morning, some nearby the farmers´ land settlements.  Their presence of U.S. intelligence officials has been detected and of the arrival of the CIA into the area.   We make a call of National and International Alert to oppose this climate of terror imposed by the current regime on diverse sectors of Honduran society, especially the farmer movement and sectors in permanent resistance.  The assassinations in honduras have the goal of stopping the advance of the social movement that defends the rights of the people, such as in the case of our ancestral indigenous peoples who struggle to maintain their fundamental land base to sustain their culture. 

Released on May 16, 2012 from Tocoa, Colon,

No more detentions and attacks.  No more violations of human rights in Aguan and across Honduras.

Wilfredo Paz

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Civic Counsel of Popular Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH)

To the Indigenous and Afro Peoples of Honduras, to the international and national community in the face of the crime perpetrated against a group of members of the Miskito People by US and Honduran troops, and in the face of more repression against the Indigenous Peoples and against our organization itself, we declare:

*1.- The strongest condemnation of this crime undertaken by members of the U.S. and Honduran armies who occupy Honduran Moskitia, a deed that led to the assassination of several people, including pregnant Miskita women and Miskita children.  

2.- That this action on the part of the repressive U.S. and Honduran forces adds to other actions perpetrated directly against the indigenous and campesino peoples, such as the assassination of our colleague Santos Alberto Dominguez at the hands of the police, who remain in impunity, and also the participation of U.S. troops in repression of the farmer communities of Bajo Aguan, which has been denounced repeatedly by those communities and organizations of that region.

*We are being informed now that police elements are indiscriminately pursuing members of COPINH of the Lenca community of Cuchilla, in the municipality of Ceguaca, Santa Barbara and the arrested COPINH members Presentación Casteñanos Muñoz, Bonifacio Trochez and Nelson Gómez at a time when this community has maintained for the past month a struggle for the recovery of ancestral lands and will continue that struggle.  The community denounces that they have not been charged for any crime by means of a judicial order.

*That at this moment the Honduran police and (corporate) lumber guards have been involved in attacking indigenous Tolupan brothers and sisters in the community of Lavanderos in the Mountain of the Flower, who are defending their territory against the industrial tree cutters who have violated Tolupan territory.

3.- For years we have been denouncing the strategy of total intervention by the U.S. in Honduras, the military bases installed since the coup d’etat, the threat of installing more such bases in the Lenca region, the hunger of transnational and oligarchy imperialism to take over the Indigenous and Afro territories, their biodiversity, knowledge and cultures along with the goal of converting us into their slaves.

4.- That this murderous action, not the first committed by the U.S. and Honduran army, is part of a policy of imposing fear, displacement, control and reproducing the terrorist U.S.-Colombia policy against the peoples as a strategy of strengthening the hegemonic domination of the U.S. in the continent, using projects such as the hypocritical “war on narcotraffic”, with the movements of the Fourth Fleet, components of militarization and security for the Free Trade Agreements, projects of Security for Central America that include financing by the international financial institutions (IFIs) with more external debt, along with the coup d’etat in Honduras and the increase in numbers of troops, military bases and operations of war that violate the individual and collective rights of the First Peoples. 

5.- It is crystal clear that this policy of terror, of subjugation and pillage against the indigenous and Afro peoples, against the Honduran people in general are increasing according to a plan already agreed upon in the U.S. and will accelerate while the people in resistance in Honduras continue to undertake the social and political struggle to Re-Found our Motherland.

6. - We demand the immediate freedom of our COPINH member and respect for his physical and emotional well being; we add our voices to the demands of the Territorial Counsels, the organizations of the Miskito People who demand the departure of U.S. troops from their sacred ancestral territory which has been forced to grieve and has suffered bombardments and indiscriminate machine gun fire.  We add our voices to the call that those responsible for this atrocity are the Honduran and U.S. military and demand the punishment of those responsible and that in this case they not remain in impunity.

7.- The U.S. army, the Honduras army and other repressive military forces are not welcome in any place in our territories.  We demand their disappearance.  We have had enough of the deceitful discourse about the “fight against drugs”.  We demand respect for the life, territories, cultures, autonomy and legitimate right we have to defend ourselves against  this imperialist, elitist and colonialist invasion.

8.- We energetically call on all the indigenous and Afro peoples to follow the example of the great rebellious spirits of the Miskitus, of Lempira, of Barauda, of Cicumba, Copan Galel and all our ancestors who taught us the path of dignity, of rejection of the oppression and of rising up against them.

Intibucá, May 15, 2012.

Note (May 16):  Ubaldo Pineda, member of COPINH and a leader of the National Front for Popular Resistance, has also been detained.

TO DEMAND THE FREEDOM OF THE COPIN COMPAÑEROS CALL (504) 99-90-75-48 TO THE ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER OF THE POLICE, WILMER AGUILERA AND TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY CONCERNING ETHNIC AND CULTURAL HERITAGE, CONTACT LAWYER JANNY DEL CID AL (504) 95-65-33-61

 The recent visit of Joe Biden to Honduras and the regional gathering of the presidents that took place in Tegucigalpa last Tuesday, March 6 provides yet another signal of an ominous imperial perspective of increased intervention in the Isthmus, with the pretext of slowing the violence caused by organized crime.

Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala are considered the most violent countries on the planet, reaching in the case of Honduras the extreme of 86 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, while the city of San Pedro Sula surpassed Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) as the most violent city in the world.

The social decomposition that exists in the countries north of the isthmus of Central America, called the Triangle of Death presents a large number of questions that the nation state uses to increase repression and the violence this provokes.

The visit of Joe Biden to Honduras only lasted a few hours, for a “dialog” with the presidents of Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Salvador, the Prime Minister of Belize and the Honduran host.  The menu was prepared and digested by the White House, despite the upset caused by the ultra right militarist Otto Perez, the current leader of Guatemala, when he suggested on February 11 the legalization of the use and transport of drugs.

Weeks prior during the Festival of Literature in Cartagena in a conversation about the problem of drugs by the writers Carlos Fuentes, Sergio Ramírez and Juan Manuel Santos, the president of Colombia said he was in favor of “decriminalizing or legalizing drugs.”

Drugs and Prohibition

It was in 1875 when San Francisco, California prohibited the use of opium among youth of Asian origin, a drug that at the time was commonly used in the U.S. including in medicinal remedies.  In 1914 the Harrison Act was passed, which led to the prohibition of opium and cocaine.  This law was then copied by the majority of western countries.  It was in 1961 when the Unified Convention on Narcotics and, as a response to the phenomenon called the “counter culture” of the U.S. which promoted the use of drugs for hedonistic purposes, the president of the US Richard Nixon launched the failed war against drugs. 

In 1988 the Law to Fight Drug Abuse was enacted, promoted by Joe Biden, and which coined the term “drug Tzar.” This law included mandatory imprisonment for five years for possession of a cocaine derivative “crack.”  This was the preferred form of cocaine, a drug of choice among the African American population, which contributed greatly to the differentiation and the filling of the U.S. jails with mostly young African Americans. 

Currently the US possesses the largest percentage of its population in jail in the world, reaching 2.4 million persons behind bars.  The great majority of this jail population is locked up due to the criminalization of drug possession, and disproportionately people of color in jail or on parole fill the judicial system.  This is greater than the number of slaves in the U.S. in 1850.

The Traffic of Arms and Drugs in Honduras.

Meeting death in Honduras has become habitual.  The number of arms circulating in the country has reached a stunning figure.  The business-political class who have controlled the country for decades have not been able to instate a moratorium on the legal sale of guns on the part of the Armed Forces through public stores called  ”Armory”.  In addition, there are hundreds of large caliber weapons circulating in the country, as leftovers from the “Cold War” liberated in the 80s and the frequent robberies in police and army weapons stores.

There are enough weapons in order to create a parallel army.  Nevertheless, the most notorious incident in this respect concerns a lot of arms sent by the U.S. by a state agency AFT at the same time the coup d’etat of 2009 occurred. Operation Castaway, which was never officially clarified by the Obama administration and to which the Honduran government has never objected, had some 1700 arms sent to the country. 

Honduras claims the need to get radar supposedly to show the arrival of airplanes.  Despite this the U.S. maintains overflights of un-registered airplanes RQ-4 Global Hawck, small planes frequently land in the country, many times supported by officials of the National Police, with its shadowy ex-minister Oscar Alvarez, designated for control of the air in Narco-trafficking.

Of course the line between legality and crime in our country is becoming more and more blurred.  The Armed Forces and National Police have succumbed to the tempting salaries and benefits provided by organized crime.  Even so the Head of the Southern Command of the U.S., general Douglas Fraser said this Tuesday that the armed forces will continue to play a key role in fighting organized crime in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador due to “the alarming increasing in brutality and assassinations.”

Legalization and stir provoked by Perez’ proposal.

Guatemala has been known as a narco-democracy for several decades.  The military and organized crime have melted into a single knot that has controlled drug trafficking and a large part of the economic activity in the country.  The military form a fundamental part of the regime of terror imposed during the Cold War and up to the present maintains the country under their boot.  “The shadowy Cartel of the Sleepers” has the Guatemalan people under control, and in the last four it has been the ZETAS who have controlled the transshipment corridor between Honduras and Mexico.  It has also been rumored for several years that there is a tight alliance between Otto Perez and the Maldonado Cartel, from which comes the multiple interpretations one can put on Perez’ proposal, with includes the legalization of transport of drugs.

Interdiction in Central America and the return of the Caribbean.

Once again the pretext of drug trafficking serves to militarize large areas of the planet.  This is the case of Afghanistan and Colombia, the largest producers of heroine and cocaine, and also scenes of invasions and internal wars.  Despite the millions of dollars thrown into bloody wars, that lubricate the military industrial complex of the empire, drugs continue to flow in “mysterious” ways to the markets of the post-industrial counries; while the battles continue, the illegal laboratories and the laundering of money all prosper. 

The recipe offered by Joe Biden to the Central American presidents is simple: for the failed and rotting governments to prosecute this fight that favors another kind of organized crime: the mining companies, the enormous plantations dedicated to agrofuels, the construction of hydroelectric dams and industrial parks worked by slave labor. 

The late initiation of a debate about de-criminalization is of course to be applauded, despite the fact that the proposal comes from the Guatemalan ultra right, which sows doubts about the interests that exist.  What lacks if for the U.S. to clarify what Operation Rapid and Furious and their replicas, in addition to the laundering of $340 million by the Wachovia Bank, should dissipate doubts about the costly an ineffective war on drugs.

Meanwhile, especially in Honduras we are seeing a metastasis of the U.S. bases.  Already in the heart of the country there is established- not far from the Prison that burned a few days ago— the Joint Task Force Bravo base, and in addition the new bases of Karataska and Guanaja.  Soon with the Invasion 2.0 of the Biden formulation, these will come to exist across the country.   

La Ceiba, Atlantida, March 9, 2012

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, OFRANEH

http://ofraneh.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/biden-drogas-armas-y-la-invasion-2-0/

Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña, OFRANEH Telefax (504) 24432492 Av 14 julio, calle 19, Contiguo Vivero Flor Tropical, Barrio Alvarado, La Ceiba, Honduras email:garifuna@ofraneh.org, ofraneh@yahoo.com http://www.ofraneh.org http://ofraneh.wordpress.com/

English summary of report:

Following the successful international human rights gathering in Tocoa, and the brigades of solidarity that visited the Honduran land settlements, several actions against the campesino leaders and their allies have been taken by the latifundistas and their allies. The arrest of Rudy Hernandez is one of them. He has been vocal in warning of imminent new acts of repression in the community of Rigores.

Upon investigating the circumstances surrounding the detention of Rudy, the following was learned:

Three men with ski masks on, heavily armed and driving a private vehicle, came to the dwelling of Rudy. They entered the building and started pounding on Rudy’s door. The owner of the apartments came to find out who was damaging his building, and found guns pointed at his head. Eventually Rudy opened the door, but not before he had called the Observatory to let them know what was happening. The Observatory called the local police station and spoke with the officer in charge who claimed that there was no operative to bring in Rudy, and said they would send a patrol out. By that time two of the individuals had identified themselves as police officers but the third individual never identified himself.

At the hearing before a judge on March 2, Rudy was remanded to “house arrest”. The “arresting” officers never had showed a warrant for Rudy’s arrest, etc… Rudy was transported by commandos and preventative police with masks and pistols in hand, the way the big criminals, such as assassins and drug traffickers move around these days.

Local leaders on the short list of those to be “taken care of” include: Juan Chinchilla, Esly Banegas, Aidee Sarabia, Consuelo Castillo, Vitalino Alvares, Eriberto Aleman y Wilfredo Paz

(summary by Stephen B)

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El Observatorio Permanente Internacional de Derechos Humanos Para el Aguan, confirma una vez mas, la estrategia de los operadores de justicia que actuando en representaciòn del estado de Honduras pretenden encerrar a Rudy Hernandez defensor de derechos humanos en el aguan. Tras el exitoso encuentro internacional de derechos humanos en solidaridad con Honduras y el aguan hay ahora una estrategia orquestada para desmeritar, desnaturalizar y desprestigiar la labor de defensa y de denuncia que hasta hoy a realizado este observatorio.

En el caso de las acusaciones de violaciòn contra Rudy, una comisiòn de seguimiento e investigaciòn a comprobado los siguientes hechos:

a.- El dìa de la captura alguien se encargò de avisar que a las 7.40 p.m que Rudy Hernandez habìa llegado a su habitaciòn porque cinco minutos mas tarde tres hombres enmascarados llegaron hasta la vivienda en carro particular, rodearon la casa, entraron al interior y se fueron directamernte al cuardo donde estaba Rudy, con sus armas listas para disparar golpeaban la puerta ordenando que la abrieran o caso contrario la romperìan, tras el escandalo apareciò el dueño de la vivienda quien fue encañonado inicialmente y tras identificarse como dueño les pidiò que no fueran a hacerle daño a su casa, le manifestaron que ellos eran policìas, el señor German Pavòn le manifestò a rudy que abriera, rudy abriò y de inmediato fuè detenido,pero mientras los hombres armados buscaban como ingresar al cuarto,tuvo la oportunidad de llamar a miembros del observatorio, estos se comunicaron con la policìa de Tocoa, los cuales ,en la oficina del jefe departamental no sabìan nada del asunto y desplegaron una patrulla hacia el sector, con Rudy se identificaron dos como policìas, el tercero no quiso hablar y no portaba la chapa de policìa, tambien nos comunicamos a nivel internacional, pero si a Rudy lo hubieran encontrado con la puerta abierta o si se hubiese quedado en silencio exista unsa alta probabilidad de que hubiese sido secuestrado o asesinado en el acto, por ello el dueño de la vivienda muy temeroso de la suerte de Rudy lo acompañò mientras lo llevaban detenido. Los hombres armados no presentaron orden de hallanamiento nì de captura, y fuè operativizado a las 7.50 p.m,contrario a lo que esta la ley que cualquier hallanamiento debe realizarse despues de las seis de la mañana o antes de las seis de la tarde.
b,.Durante la primera presentaciòn de la fiscalìa del ministerio pùblico en los juzgados no establecieron nì el lugar nì el dìa en que fuè capturado y minutos antes de trasladarlo al juzgado varios ingenieros relacionados con los empresarios terratenientes llegaron a las oficinas de la policìa nacional preventiva con pequeñas bolsas negras en sus manos. Fue trasladado con comandos de las fuerzas armadas y en las patrullas de la policía nacional preventiva se movilizaron hombres enmascarados con pistola en mano, así como mueven a los grandes delincuentes, los grandes asesinos o los grandes narcotraficanes con impresionante militarización de los juzgados en Tocoa.
c.- Este observatorio de derechos humanos, conociendo durante el actual proceso acerca de las posibles violaciones sexuales que ha sufrido en años anteriores, nombró una comisión de compañeras mujeres para visitar a la denunciante de violación sexual, para ofrecerle nuestro apoyo en lo que fuese necesario pero fue imposible establecer donde se encontraba y persiste nuestro compromiso para darle seguimiento a su caso. Sostemos como principio que la violacion sexual contra cualquier ser humano es un atentado a la integridad física y a la dignidad humana y que debe haber sanción con todo el peso de la ley una vez comprobado el delito.Sostenemos que en el caso de Rudy Hernandez se le quiere criminalizar con este delito de violación sexual para sacarlo del esquema de defensa de derechos humanos en el aguan y en el cual se conjugan elementos de caracter politico en relación al manejo de la situación de derechos humanos en la región.Este observatorio exige una investigación real, creible, confiable, donde queden fuera los entes estatales por su estrecha alianza con los terratenientes de la zona y quienes han venido amenazando a Rudy Hernandez o cualquier otra instancia que posibilite la manipulación de pruebas a favor de cualquiera de las partes.
Todos los elementos investigados hasta hoy nos llevan concluir que hay en marcha todo un plan para defenestrar este observatorio de derechos humanos pero por la sangre de nuestros mártires caídos JURAMOS seguir en la lucha por la defensa de la vida y el respeto permanente de derechos humanos.
El 2 de marzo se ha realizado la audiencia inicial en los juzgados de Tocoa, despues de 10 horas de debate entre defensores y defensoras de ambas partes, presentación de testigos y pruebas científicas, el juzgado de Tocoa dictaminó que Rudy Hernandez continuará con la medida cautelar de arresto domiciliario demostrando una vez mas que no existen elementos de prueba para dictar auto de prisión al demandado, El estado militarizó nuevamente el juzgado de Tocoa, por su parte las organizaciones campesinas y movimientos sociales de la zona se apostaron masivamente exigiendo la libertad de Rudy hernandez,entre la multitud una enorme cantidad de mujeres campesinas con la consigna ….LAS MUJERES DEL AGUAN CON RUDY ESTAN.
En la línea de ser criminalizados utlizando cualquier circunstancia como le sucede ahora a Rudy, tambien estamos Juan Chinchilla, Esly Banegas, Aidee Sarabia, Consuelo Castillo, Vitalino Alvares, Eriberto Aleman y Wilfredo Paz para quienes hay una especie de seguimiento con repetidas amenazas y vigilancia desde antes del encuentro internacional de derechos humanos en el aguan.
Alertamos a las organizaciones nacionales e internacionales sobre la puesta en marcha de un plan de criminalizacion y de asesinato de dirigentes en el aguan y a nivel nacional.
d.- El 2 de marzo del año en curso, en el municipio de sonaguera a 20 kilómetros de Tocoa, asaltaron dos agencias bancarias, la policía aseguró que el asalto lo habían operativizado los campesinos del asentamiento campesino la Marañones en la márgen izquierda perteneciente al MUCA, lo cual es falso y tiene el objetivo de crimininalizar a la organización campesina, pues durante esa misma tarde mas de trescientos soldados militares del cuarto y décimo quinto batallón se ubicaron en sus alrededores, buscan crear la condición para realizar el hallanamiento masivo que allí no han podido realizar.
Tocoa colon, 3 de marzo 2012.
Por la defensa de la vida, ni mas secuestros,ni mas asesinatos, ni mas hallanamientos a las comunidades campesinas. Alto a la criminalización de la lucha en el aguan.
Wilfredo Paz
Vocero del observatorio permanente internacional de derechos humanos en el aguan.

Jesse Freeston has reached a wonderful milestone by putting together a trailer for his documentary “Resistencia,” “about 3,000 landless farming families as they occupy the palm oil plantations of Miguel Facussé, the richest man in Honduras”. Its a strong piece of work that’s been rejected by mainstream filmmakers as its “not about Iraq” Please see the trailer, and if you can, support financially to ensure a neglected voice about our people is heard!

http://www.indiegogo.com/Resistencia-1