6 killed in agrarian conflict in Honduras

[Judi Lynn]

6 killed in agrarian conflict in Honduras
14:11, November 16, 2010

At least six people were killed on Monday in northern Honduras during a clash between farmers and private security guards on an African palm farm, local police said.

The clash broke out when members of the Unified Peasant Movement of Aguan (Muca) attempted to enter the El Tumbador farm located in Trujillo in Colon department, the Security Ministry's spokesman Leonel Sauceda said.

The police were not involved in the clash, Sauceda said.

The clash lasted at least two hours, during which six were killed and many others injured and taken to nearby hospitals, Colon's police assistant commissioner Julio Benitez told Xinhua.

More:
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7201067.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. From April, 2010: LAND CRISIS & REPRESSION IN AGUAN, HONDURAS

Indigenous Peoples Issues and Resources
LAND CRISIS & REPRESSION IN AGUAN, HONDURAS
By Annie Bird, Rights Action, April 2010, ([e-mail])

On Saturday April 10, 2010 a minimum of 3,000 military troops and police were mobilized into the area of the Bajo Aguan on Honduras’ north coast, especially the town of Tocoa, and press reports claim the US Drug Enforcement Agency is participating in the operation.

This massive mobilization occurred just three days before the April 13 negotiations which could determine the fate of 20,000 hectares (almost 50,000 acres) of land whose ownership is contested between 3,500 poor farming families organized in the Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguan (MUCA) and three powerful businessmen.

It is feared that if the MUCA farmers do not accept the businessmen’s proposal, represented in negotiations by Honduran President Porfirio Lobo, a proposal which has remained firm in the three prior meetings, forced evictions of twenty eight communities and hundreds of arrests may occur.

Evictions in the area have a history of extreme violence, resulting in extrajudicial executions and even massacres.

More:
http://ko-kr.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=318668727975&topic=13481