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08 December 2010 By Stephen
Lendman By some accounts, it's the
world's murder capital. The UN Development Program (UNDP)
reported 4,473 2008 murders (61.3 per 100,000) in a
country with about 7.3 million people, the equivalent
of over 190,000 annual US killings, over 10 times the
actual rate. For 2009, anthropologist Adrienne
Pine estimated a 9% increase, saying in June 2010: "As someone who has been closely
following the human rights and political stability
situation in Honduras for over a dozen years; who has
written a book and numerous articles on the topic; who
has served as an expert witness in over a dozen asylum
cases; and who has been living and conducting research
in Honduras during the past month, I can say with
absolute confidence that I have never seen worse
security conditions in this country." "And while in the previous
decade, the victims of extrajudicial assassinations
and other forms of state violence were
disproportionately young men identified (often
incorrectly) as gang members, today a large percentage
of the victims fall into two primary categories:
people who are involved in or are openly critical of
drug trafficking, and individuals who are seen as
being critical of the June 28, 2009 coup." "The latter category has included
9 journalists killed in targeted assassinations, and
the disappearance, torture, and murder of numerous
local and national leaders of the non-violent
resistance movements and their daughters, sons,
brothers and sisters....all since the beginning" of
the current Pepe Lobo regime, controlled by two
forces: the military, and a small group of powerful
business elites, united in their opposition against
anyone opposing the coup. In addition, the atmosphere of
impunity assures virtually no investigations or
prosecutions. Moreover, victims are "posthumously
slandered by the police and media as having brought
their deaths upon themselves," either for involvement
in drugs or "calling for a more participatory
democratic government." Supporters of deposed President
Manuel Zelaya are notably at risk, because the
legitimacy of those in power "depends largely on their
unsubstantiated argument that (he) was corrupt and
engaged in criminal activities." Pine believes "generalized
violence serves as cover for politically targeted
assassinations," happening on a near-daily basis. "It
is an extremely dangerous environment," forcing well
over 100 people into exile, and many others into
self-imposed house arrest, what's no guarantee of
safety. Death squads have kidnapped or killed numerous
coup opponents and their family members at home, work
or other perceived less vulnerable places. After the June 28, 2009 coup, two
earlier articles covered death squad terror to
solidify fascist rule against street protesters, human
rights activists, journalists, unionists, campesinos,
teachers, and anyone challenging state authority,
accessed through the following links: http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/06/death-squad-terror-in-honduras.html http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2010/08/honduran-junta-murdering-journalists.html By any standard or measure,
Honduras is an extremely violent country, one of the
world's worst outside of war zones. On October 31, Al Jazeera
headlined, "Massacre in northern Honduras," saying: "Unknown gunmen attacked a group
of people playing football....killing at least
fourteen...." Armed with assault rifles, five or more
attackers shot victims at point blank range. Ten
people died immediately, four others en route to the
hospital. More were wounded, some seriously. Honduran vice-minister of
security, Armando Calidonio, blamed street gangs (maras),
likely to absolve death squad responsibility. In
September, gunmen killed 18 shoe factory employees in
San Pedro Sula. Maras again were blamed. Likely it for
their union related activities, not drugs or crime. According to Honduras' human
rights ombudsman (an oxymoron under Lobo), "Honduras
is on track to finish the year with the world's
highest murder rate, (totaling) 78.8 per 100,000." On November 16, Latin America
Bureau writer Rory Carroll headlined, "Honduras: We
are burying kids all the time," saying: "Three young people are murdered
every day in Honduras," the result of mara youth gangs
involved in drug trafficking, extortion and violence,
"stretching from Los Angeles to the country's capital
Tegucigalpa." "What are the words for what is
happening in Honduras? Slaughter, tragedy, waste?" The
annual youth death toll is nearly 6,000, "an
extraordinarily high number" that makes Honduras "more
dangerous than Mexico....Part of the explanation....is
political." Most he attributes to gang-related
violence, whether or not true. Casa Alianza estimates that gang
rivalry accounts for about 40% of the killings,
contract assassinations (sicarios) another 15%. "For
just a few hundred dollars, sometimes less, they will
pump bullets into your problem." A culture of impunity
exacerbates conditions. "Of the thousands of youth
murders in the past decade, fewer than 50" were
solved. In Honduras, killing is a growth industry, but
over-hyping gang involvement overstates reality. Anthropologist and mara expert
Dennis Rodgers says "Gangs have become convenient
scapegoats on which to blame (state) problems, and
through which those in power attempt to maintain an
unequal status quo." Accusing authorities of
exploiting the phenomenon, he added, "I don't think
there is much coordination (between gangs). They are
local foot soldiers, hired guns for the cartels." According to anthropologist
Robert Barrios, maras have been exploited as a "fetishized
evil to disguise" ruling power harshness and failure. Honduras RESISTE: National Resistance Front is a coalition of grassroots organizations for Honduran democracy. On November 15, it said oligarch Miguel Facusse's "private army" attacked members of the Campesino Movement of Aguan (MUCA) in Tumbador, Trujillo. Five were killed, three more wounded. One of Honduras' largest landowners, he's responsible for ongoing violence in Colon. In collusion with police and military forces, his paramilitaries murder with impunity. Last January, MUCA reported ongoing violations of their rights for years, more recently for having reclaimed their land. Francisco Funez, Zelaya's Director of the National Agrarian Institute, said: Under Honduras' coup d'etat regime, "conflicts have sharpened in the country and especially in Aguan where the agrarian conflicts for land are ongoing, despite the fact that (Zelaya), the peasants, the National Agrarian Institute, and the land owners signed an agreement that said that nobody could dispute the property of those lands without demonstrating the legality of it. Nonetheless, the displacement continues in that zone and the threat is" real. As a result, peasants are being "prosecuted for the crime of usurpation and are receiving persecution and (death) threats." In October, Bertha Oliva, leader of the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH) said 83 resistance members were kidnapped or killed since January. In 1981, her husband, Professor Tomas Nativi, disappeared. Today, CAFADEH members and their families are threatened, assaulted, kidnapped or killed. Rights Action (RA) focuses on community development, emergency relief, environmental and human rights issues in Guatemala, Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. It aims to "build north-south alliances and carries out education, political and legal work for global equity and justice," following a "just development model." On November 19, RA contributor Annie Bird headlined, "Honduras: World Bank Shares Responsibility for Biofuel Massacre of 6 Campesinos," saying: About six months ago, MUCA got provisional title to a farm, neighboring their community, "as part of a longstanding negotiation with Dinant Corporation, a biofuel company, whose land claims are illegitimate." On November 15, after weeks of armed security force encroachments, six campesinos were murdered, two others seriously wounded. "In November 2009....the World Bank's International Finance Corporation gave Dinant a $30 million loan for biofuel production, and now shares responsibility in the massacre." Over the past decade, campesino-designated land "was illegally divided up among several large landholders as a result of corruption and fraudulent titling processes." Small victories were won to get it back. However, the "titling process has been slow and marked by violent attacks by the large landowners," in collusion with military forces and police. Facusse owns the contested 700 hectares controlled by Dinant. Campesinos are being cheated out of what's rightfully theirs. An earlier article discussed the scourge of biofuels, accessed through the following link: http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2008/04/hunger-plagues-haiti-and-world.html Touted as a solution to a growing world energy shortage, the facts refute the hype. Organic fuels, in fact, trash rainforests, deplete water reserves, kill off species, and increase greenhouse emissions. Some solution. They aren't clean and green. They destroy rural development, forcing small farmers off their land. They increase hunger, and better "second-generation" argofuels aren't around the corner. The greater their proliferation, the more harm to the earth and everyone who eats. Honduran campesinos face greater dangers. Those contesting their land rights are murdered, big landowners in collusion with agribusiness and regime fascists killing anyone who resists with impunity. No wonder Honduras is on a fast track to becoming the world's murder capital.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/. |
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