Washington’s Invented Honduran Democracy: Seven journalists slain since March

Washington’s Invented Honduran Democracy 

by COHA Staff

Revised and amended version of COHA communiqué of April 22, 2010 President of Newspaper Guild Joins COHA in Expressing Their Extreme Concern Over the Ongoing Massacre of Honduran Journalists

Washington’s Faux Honduran Democracy has deceived very few in the Hemisphere, with News Journalists Paying the Heavy Price (in the picture TV journalist Jorge Orellana).

• U.S. Newspaper Guild president blasts killing of seven Honduran journalists (COHA’s first and longtime chairman, the late Charles Perlik, Jr., also served as the president of the Newspaper Guild)
• With the wave of killings now besieging the Central American country, the White House needs to show that it’s willing to support democracy in Honduras
• It’s disappointing that the Obama administration’s position on Honduran policy has helped to create an environment for the sixth murder of a Honduran journalist in recent days, making the tiny Central American country the world’s murder capital when it comes to gunning down media professionals.

Honduran campesinos under the gun Pt2

The Real News -

In Part two of two on the land conflict in the Aguán Valley, we look at the roots of the conflict, and the motivation for the campesinos to begin the land occupation that eventually won them 11,000 hectares. We also look at what the experience in Aguán means for other conflicts in a country where the power struggle that gave rise to the June 2009 coup is far from over.

Including interviews with Father Ismael "Melo" Moreno, Rosemary Joyce, and reporting from the land occupation in question.

PART 2

Produced by Jesse Freeston.

Honduran campesinos under the gun Pt1

The Real News -

A tentative and controversial resolution has been reached in a long-standing land conflict in Honduras. The controversy lies in the mobilization of the military, in the form of at least 2,000 soldiers, to pressure the campesinos into signing the latest negotiated deal. The group of 3,500 campesino families has agreed to accept a total of 11,000 hectares from the Lobo government. The previously landless workers continue to occupy a series of African palm plantations in the fertile Northern Honduran valley of Aguán, until their access to the land is assured.

PART 1

Produced by Jesse Freeston.

Bio

Rosemary Joyce is an anthropologist and archaeologist at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been worked regularly in Honduras ever since 1977. She blogs regularly at her 'Honduran Culture and Politics'.
Her blog can be found at: hondurasculturepolitics.blogspot.com

URGENT!!! Violent eviction of peasants in Aguan being prepared by Honduran Army

 URGENT!!! Violent eviction of peasants in Aguan being prepared by Honduran Army!!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Sunday April 11th, 2010 20:05 Dina Meza

A violent eviction against the 28 peasant settlements in Aguán is being prepared for this Monday [today] by thousands of military, police and security guards of the land-owners, who have built-up around the recuperated places according to the latest information from this weekend.


Through the arrival of these combined forces from different parts of the country the zone is totally militarized, strong operations are taking place with the intention of intimidating the men and women who have joined the Unified Peasant Movement of Aguán, MUCA, who are struggling for a piece of land.

Videos posted on YouTube show military transports loaded with troops and towing supply trailers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdL17p_mblM
http://www.youtube.com/user/MUCAtv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTaIVEIdDQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUmbrOdBJoI