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- Press Release
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- Honduras: Stop violence against peasant groups in the Lower Aguán
Honduras: Stop violence against peasant groups in the Lower Aguán
April 14, 2010
The undersigned organizations are deeply concerned by the increasing acts of violence and repression against members and groups of the Unified Movement of Peasants from Aguán (MUCA) and the Peasant Movement of Aguán (MCA).
Over the past three days, there have been massive mobilizations of troops to the Lower Aguán. Because of this, there is a deep concern of possible acts of repression and forced evictions of peasant groups. In this context, on Monday, April 12, military personnel surrounded the community of Guadalupe Carney.
We recall that since January, 2010 eight members of the MUCA have lost their lives: Juan Ramón Mejía died on January 31 as a result of repeated blows; Isidro Cano and Francisco Montes, members of the Cooperative Buenos Amigos, were killed on February 4; Feliciano Santos, a member of the cooperative July 21, was killed on February 14; On March 17 both Jose Antonio Cardoza and Jose Carías, Directors of the cooperative Brisas de COHDEFOR in Bonito Oriental, were killed; Miguel Alonso Oliva, was murdered by a security guard at one of the African palm plantations at the Aguán Valley on April 1; and on April 7, Jose Leonel Álvarez Guerra, a member of the Cooperative La Confianza, was murdered by two men on a motorcycle, when he was coming back home located in the neighborhood Manga Seca, in Tocoa, Colón. The procedural status of these investigations is unknown.
The perpetrators of human rights violations committed since the coup of June 28, 2009, have enjoyed impunity until now. The situation of helplessness in which citizenship is still immerse in, require a return to a state of law with full functioning of essential guarantees for a democratic life. In addition, there is an increase in violence against the peasant movement, independent journalists, and defenders of human rights that support a fair resolution of the agrarian problem in the Lower Aguán. Given these fact, we make a call to national and international actors to contribute to a lasting and non-violent problem resolution that respects human rights and avoids more violence and deaths.
We, the organizations, are asking the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), within the next follow up visit to Honduras, to particularly investigate situation in the Lower Aguán.
Recalling that the State of Honduras, even after the coup and the exclusion from the OAS, maintains its obligations to international human rights law, we request the following:
– The withdrawal of the military to their barracks;
– An immediate end to repression and violence against peasant groups;
– Effective protection of life and personal integrity for human rights defenders, peasant leaders, and others involved in the conflict;
– The effective investigation of all deaths of peasants, as well as the prosecution and punishment of those responsible for these acts;
– The development of an open dialogue process, peaceful and constructive, with the Unified Movement of Peasants of Aguán (MUCA) and authorities from the National Agrarian Institute;
– Compliance with the obligation of the State against the right to food of rural families by providing adequate access to land and facilities to enable them to live from their work with dignity;
– The effective resolution and final delivery of the lands of the former Regional Military Training Center (CREM) to the communities of the Peasant Movement of Aguán, as land reform laws regulate, in particular Decree 18-2008.
Signatory organizations:
International Organizations:
Via Campesina Internacional
FIAN Internacional
Amigos de la Tierra Internacional (ATI)
Amigos de la Tierra América Latina y el Caribe (ATALC)
CADTM Internacional
CADTM-Afrique
Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL)
Centre Europe-Tiers Monde (CETIM)
Copenhagen Initiative for Central America and Mexico (CIFCA)
Coalición Internacional para el Hábitat, Oficina para América Latina (HIC-AL)
Federación Internacional de Derechos Humanos (FIDH)
Land Research Action Network (LRAN)
Pax Christi International
Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo (PIDHDD)
Red Europea de Comités Oscar Romero
Réseau Ouest Africain Dette et Developpement “ROAD”
National Organizations:
ACSUR-LAS SEGOVIAS, España
Alternativa Antimilitarista, MOC Las Palmas, Islas Canarias
Asociación para el Estudio y Promoción de la Seguridad en Democracia (SEDEM), Guatemala
Ayuda Obrera Suiza
Alliance contre la Pauvreté au Mali “AP/Mali”
Broederlijk Delen, Bélgica
CADTM Belgique (Comité pour l’Annulation de la Dette du Tiers Monde)
CADTM Lubumbashi, República Democrática del Congo
Centre de Recerca e Información en Consum (CRIC) de Barcelona, España
Centre d’étude et de recherche pour l’intégration régionale et le développement de l’Afrique (CERIDA), Guinea
Centro tricontinental (CETRI), Lovaina-la-Nueva, Bélgica
Centro de Estudios para el Cambio en el Campo Mexicano (CECCAM), México
Centro de Políticas Públicas y Derechos Humanos, Perú – EQUIDAD
Centro Internacional para Investigaciones en Derechos Humanos (CIIDH), Guatemala
Centro Internazionale CROCEVIA, Italia
Coalition des Alternatives Africaines dette et Developpement (CAD), Mali
Collettivo Italia Centro America – CICA, Italia
Comité Suizo para Honduras, Suiza
Coordinadora mexicana de Solidaridad con Honduras, México
Coordinadora Un Altre Món És Possible de Sabadell, España
Consultoría para los Derechos Humanos y el Desplazamiento (CODHES), Colombia
DIAKONIA Suecia
Espacio DESCA de México
FIAN Bélgica
FIAN México
Fundación de Estudios para la Aplicación del Derecho (FESPAD), El Salvador
Guatemalanetz Bern, Suiza
Guatemalanetz Zürich, Suiza
HEKS, Ayuda de las Iglesiasa Evangélicas de Suiza
ICCO – Interchurch Organisation for Development Cooperation, Holanda
Instituto de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad Centroamericana “José Simeón Cañas” (IDHUCA), El Salvador
Instituto de Estudios Comparados en Ciencias Penales de Guatemala –ICCPG, Guatemala
Instituto de Estudios Políticos sobre América Latina y África (IEPALA), España
Medico International Suiza
MOCASE, Vía Campesina Argentina
Movimiento Nacional Campesino Indígena (MNCI), Argentina
Observatorio de Derechos Humanos – DESC, Barcelona, España
Ökumenisches Büro München, Alemania
Red Latinoamericana en Zurich, Suiza
Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio (RMALC)
Réseau des Organisations de la Société Civile Mauritanienne pour la Promotion de la Citoyenneté (RPC), Mauretania
Réseau pour le Developpement et l’Autopromotion de la Femme”RDL/AFEF”, Mali
Réseau National Dette et Développement Niamey, Niger
Soldepaz Pachakuti, Colombia
Solifonds Suiza
SUEDWIND, Austria
Union des Femmes pour la Dignité Humaine “UFDH”, República Democrática del Congo
Unión de Pochtecas de México
Veterinarios Sin Fronteras, España
Xarxa de Consum Solidari de Catalunya, España
Also, signatures from individuals:
François Houtart, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgique
Bernd Michel, München, Alemania
Maria Paz González, Tarragona, España
Contact for the Press Release:
Martin Wolpold-Bosien
Coordinador para América Central
FIAN Internacional
