MUCA Campesino Movement Maintains Land Occupation to Demand Land Rights and Denounce the Coup

Entrance to MUCA land recuperation action on land of La Esperanza Cooperative in municipality of Tocoa.

December 21, 2009

On December 8th, campesinos of the Aguán Farmworkers Unification Movement (MUCA) occupied two land plots in Colón, Honduras in an effort to recuperate land illegally obtained by Miguel Facusse, a large land-owner, a major supporter of the coup d’etat and part of the country’s oligarchy.

Now on their 13th day, over 650 campesinos and their families remain camped out at the two plots of land in the municipalities of Tocoa and Trujillo in the department of Colón in northeastern Honduras.


After 13 days and getting ready for more, they have built shelters and set up cooking pits under the palm tress on the plantation

Through various acts of resistance since their lands were illegally taken from the members of MUCA in the ‘90s, the campesino movement gained momentum during President Zelaya’s terms when Zelaya himself signed an agreement with MUCA to clarify the land transactions that had caused the land conflict. (For more history, see article by Sandra Cuffe: http://hondurassolidarity.wordpress.com/)

Exactly 9 days later on June 28th, the coup d’etat was carried out by the Honduran oligarchy and spported by the military, reversing the gains that MUCA had made under the Zelaya administration.

This is why MUCA distinguishes themselves not only as a well established campesino movement but also as part of the national resistance movement against the coup where the land occupation were planned as a way to “resist the consequences of the coup d’etat” particularly how the coup has affected their struggle for land.

According to MUCA leader, who asked not to be identified “We have been accompanying the Resistance movement since the 28th – we did not participate in the elections and we did not vote. We are thankful of the support we received from Zelaya who supported the poor in the country.”

REPRESSION AND INTIMIDATION AS THE OCCUPATIONS CONTINUE

Since both groups began the land occupations, both have received various threats from the private security guards of the company owned by Miguel Facusse and the local military and police.

“We have seen heightened military presence around the area where we are located. Security guards of Facusse and Canales are infiltrating our movement to obtain information, give us false information and make us scared. They are creating a psychological war against us – they want to intimidate us.”

On December 16, the 8th day of the recuperation action, two men, Osman Alexis Ulloa Flores and Mario Rene Ayala were illegally detained by police as they were leaving the occupation site. Although they were freed late in the following day, the illegal detention was an act of intimidation by local police.


Left to right: two detained campesinos, Osman Alexis Ulloa Flores & Mario Rene Ayala being interviewed by the local press at the police station in Tocoa, Colón, Honduras.

One MUCA leader has reported that a pick up truck without license plates is periodically parked outside his house. As well as days after the occupation, local police along with company managers showed up and began taking pictures of participants, “trying to identify the leaders of the movement.”

Since the coup, the country has been heavily militarized and control remains in the hands of the oligarchy, including Miguel Facusse who was once called “the owner of Colón” by a local journalist for all the land he owns in the region and his influence on the local authorities.

“They [the oligarchy] are taking advantage of the situation in the country under the coup regime because there are no repercussions against people like them. They make the decisions and do what they want in the country”

Karen Spring is an activist working with NGO, Rights Action based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Comunicado de MUCA / Press Release from MUCA

COMUNICADO

Nosotros los miembros del Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguán; hemos retomado las acciones de RESISTENCIA por recuperar la tierra mal comprada por Miguel Facusse, Reynaldo Canales y René Morales que amparándose en leyes hechas para favorecer la oligarquía del país arrebataron estas tierras dejando en ellas pobreza y miseria en esta zona, ante la opinión Pública nacional e internacional estamos denunciando la captura de los compañeros Mario René Ayala Hernández y Osman Alexis Ulloa Flores, quienes al momento de ser capturados por miembros de la DNIC andavan llevando alimentación para el grupo, responsabilizamos al Señor Miguel Facusse Barjum y al gobierno de Facto de Roberto Micheletti por lo que pueda pasarle a estos compañeros y a todos los miembros del moviemiento y Hacemos saber que estamos en esta recuperación de tierras con todas nuestras familias (niños, mujeres, hombres y ancianos) y que por favor no vayan a cometer un acto salvaje como los que han venido haciendo al pueblo Hondureño que resiste a la pobreza y el hombre en que nos tiene Honduras la oligarquía de Honduras.

A la vez denunciamos a la fiscal de Trujillo Abog. Kenia Vanessa García Lara quien amenazó con desalojar con el décimo Quinto Batallón a todo el movimiento.

SOMOS HONDURENOS TODOS Y LUCHAREMOS HASTA EL FINAL, HASTA LA VICTORIA SIEMPRE VENCEREMOS.

Tocoa, Colón, 16 de diciembre 2009

LGBT Human Rights Defender, Walter Trochez Assassinated in Tegucigalpa

On December 4, 2009, human rights defender Walter Trochez, member of the gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans community and active member of the National Resistance Front was kidnapped and brutally beaten in front of the Obleisco Park of Comayaguela by four hooded men in a grey pick-up truck without plates.  Months before, Trochez had denounced that a vehicle matching this description was monitoring his home and he had changed residence as a result.

On Dec. 4th, the kidnappers told him that they knew him very well and that they would kill him. They put a hook over his head, insulted him and questioned him regarding the resistance, asking questions about the leaders and their movements. That day, Trochez escaped with his life. The next day he denounced the incident before national and international bodies.

Today we received a report that Trochez was assassinated by two bullets in front of Larach and Cia in the center of Tegucigalpa.

We denounce this deplorable act before the Honduran people and the international community. This death is one more in a list of ten, suffered by the gay/lesbian/bisexual/trans community of Honduras and part of a pattern of persecution, harassment and threats directed at organizations and human rights defenders under the coup regime.

We demand that an investigation into this crime be conducted to identify those responsible and hold them accountable.

We demand that the Honduran State guarantee the physical integrity of those who defend human rights and that it respect and comply with international treaties and conventions that protect human rights defenders and the general population.

We demand that the persecution, threats and harassment of individuals, leaders and organizations that have ideological differences with the de fact regime cease.  

CIPRODEH (Centre of Investigation & Promotion of Human Rights), Honduras

'While the corporate media repeat over and over the lies of 61% turnout in recent military-run elections - by now thoroughly contradicted even by the Honduran dictatorship's own numbers (which show well over half the electorate stayed home) - in Honduras resistance continues and repression is on the rise. The latest incident is eerily reminiscent of the acts of the famous 3-16 Batallion death squad that operated in Honduras in the 1980's, many of whose members are key leaders and advisers in the de facto government.'

The Death Squads are Back

El Libertador
http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/2009/12/death-squad-kills-five-members-of.html

Death squads have come back to do what they do. Sunday night a vehicle without plates took the lives of 5 people, all identified as members of the popular resistance against the dictatorship that was installed in the country 5 months ago.

The event occurred in sector 6 of the Villanueva neighbourhood of Tegucigalpa, where unknown men in a white vehicle without license plates opened fire without saying a word on the five now dead men who were near a traffic circle by the belt-line road.

According to one of the residents of the area, who for obvious reasons of security declined to give his name, "the boys (the victims) were active members of the Resistance. They had organized the committees in the Honduras and Víctor F Ardón neighbourhoods so that the neighbours could get involved in the Resistance Front."

The names of the deceased are: Isaac Coello, (24); Roger Reyes (22), Kenneth Rosa (23), Gabriel Parrales and Marco Vinicio Matute (39), while one woman, Wendy Reyes, was wounded and is receiving treatment at the medical school hospital.

Area residents said that in the hours prior to the bloody event, there was an agent of the National Criminal Investigation Directorate (DNIC) watching the area where the crime took place and who mysteriously left shortly before the killings.

José Luna, a sub-inspector of the Preventative Policía responded to questions about the killings by saying “Whenever there are murders, there are people who say the victims were good people." He added that the police are tracking those responsible for the massacre. So far, however, they have not been able to locate the vehicle described in the incident.

During the last few weeks, double cabin pick-ups with no plates have taken on the task of intimidating members of the Popular Resistance Against the Coup d'etat. Reporters of this publication have also complained of being followed and observed by vehicles with similar characteristics, and human rights organizations are also been aware of such anomalies.


My Comments on these tragic deaths:

THE DNIC WAS AT THE CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATING THE BODIES OF THE 5 YOUTH SHOT AS CROWDS OF HONDURANS STOOD AROUND AND WATCHED. OCCASIONALLY, A FAMILY MEMBER COULD BE HEARD CRYING OUT IN AGONY.

ARRIVING AT THE WAKE OF 3 OF THE ASSASSINATED YOUTH, FAMILY MEMBERS ASKED US (A GROUP OF JOURNALIST AND HUMAN RIGHTS INVESTIGATORS) TO AVOID FILMING FACES AND USING NAMES FOR FEAR OF FURTHER REPRESSION- FROM WHO? .... POLICE, MILITARY OR INDIVIDUALS IN THEIR COMMUNITIES.

ONE YOUNG WOMAN SURVIVED THE SHOOTINGS BUT IS UNABLE TO BE LOCATED BY HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS WHO WANT TO TAKE HER TESTIMONY, INVESTIGATE AND ENSURE HER SAFETY. IT IS SUSPECTED THAT HER FAMILY IS TRYING TO KEEP A LOW PROFILE TO AVOID BEING TARGETED & MONITORED BY POLICE & MILITARY.

SINCE THE JUNE 28TH COUP, WHEN MURDERS AND ASSASSINATIONS SUCH AS THIS ONE ARE REPORTED IN THE NEWS, ONE OF THE FIRST QUESTIONS ASKED IS 'WERE THEY PART OF THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT?'.

AS HONDURAS CONTINUES TO BE MILITARIZED, THE STATE OF FEAR THAT ALL ARE LIVING IN CONTINUES TO DEEPEN AS IT IS BECOMING INCREASING DIFFICULT TO INVESTIGATE INTO THE DETAILS OF THESE DEATHS. FAMILY MEMBERS ARE TOO SCARED TO COME FORWARD, DENOUNCE AND ALLOW DOCUMENTATION OF THEIR CASES. IN SOME CASES, FAMILY HAVE EVEN ASKED HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS NOT TO PUBLISH ANY INFORMATION ABOUT THE DEATH OF THEIR FAMILY MEMBER. THIS MAKES IT EXTREMELY DIFFICULT FOR THE HR ORGANIZATION TO DENOUNCE THESE INTERNATIONALLY AND GET THE INFORMATION OUT TO THE HONDURAN POPULATION.

WHETHER A VICTIM OF AN ASSASSINATION IS PART OF THE RESISTANCE MOVEMENT OR NOT, THE EFFECT ON THE POPULATION IS THE SAME. FEAR.