|
Montevideo, November 19, 2010
Porfirio Lobo
Presidential Palace
Tegucigalpa
Honduras
Subject: New peasant massacre
Dear Sir,
We are deeply outraged to learn
of a new massacre perpetrated by commandos of
private guards hired by the African palm
producer and president of Dinant Corporation
Miguel Facussé Barjum against members of the
peasant movement Movimiento Campesino del
Aguán (MCA), on November 15 at “El Tumbador”
establishment, in the municipality of Trujillo.
So far there is confirmation that
at least five people have been murdered:
Teodoro Acosta, Ignacio Reyes,
Raúl Castillo, Ciriaco Muñóz, and José Luis
Saucedo Pastrana. A sixth person, Noé
Pérez, is still missing, and there are
numerous people injured, some of them
hospitalized in critical state.
This deadly attack was committed
with high-caliber guns, war weapons that Mr.
Facussé’s paramilitary bands carry on
them openly while they patrol the Bajo Aguán
region, using them to kill people in cold blood.
Mr. Porfirio Lobo, once
again we are witnessing the pain of the
Honduran people, caused by lives brutally
cut short, the lives of men and women who are
demanding their legitimate rights - the right to
access land and to have a chance at a decent
life and a decent income. But in answer to their
demands they are subjected to extreme violence.
We know you are well aware of
this, but it is good to remind you that these
peasants are fighting for lands that were
illegally seized from them by large landholders
who have no scruples and impose a policy of
terror, persecuting and killing peasants under
the very noses of local and national
authorities, who look the other way in
indifference.
According to data from Movimiento
Campesino del Aguán, more than 20 members of
that organization have been killed so far in
land-related conflicts.
Moreover, another peasant
movement, Movimiento Unificado Campesino del
Aguán (MUCA) - with which an agreement
was signed to settle the serious conflict that
began last year, and which for the most part is
not being honored -, has denounced that 16 of
its members have been killed by paramilitary
commandos linked to large African palm
producers.
A true massacre of peasants is
being committed in the Bajo Aguán region, and
you and your government must respond to your
people and to the international community for
this ongoing and shameful loss of human lives.
You are accountable to that very same
international community to which you are trying
to sell an image of a Honduras that is
fully reconciled and living in peace.
Mr. Porfirio Lobo, the
IUF and its 383 affiliates from 124
countries around the world will not cease in its
efforts to denounce these deplorable events in
every relevant international forum.
Lastly, we urge you to thoroughly
investigate these crimes and to put an end to
the repression and harassment of popular,
social, labor, peasant, and indigenous
organizations.
We know from experience that if
impunity is not condemned and rooted out, it
will continue to fuel and allow atrocious
situations such as the one we are denouncing and
which cloak your nation and the international
community in darkness.
Sincerely yours,
Gerardo Iglesias
IUF Latin American Regional
Secretary
|
