[HNA] Fwd: [NALACC-MA] HONDURAS: Oil palms flourish with peasant blood.

[Proyecto Hondureño]

l Dr. Almendares
________________________________________

http://quotha.net/node/1828

Oil palms flourish with peasant blood, by Juan Almendares
Thu, 06/09/2011 - 10:23 — AP
Massacres, widows and orphans
Oil palms flourish with peasant blood.
Aguan (Honduras)
Juan Almendares (translation by Babette Grunow)

Less than two weeks after the agreement signed by the President of Honduras
Porfirio Lobo Sosa, the former President José Manuel Zelaya, backed by the
President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, President of Venezuela Hugo Chavez
and the National Front for Popular Resistance ( FNRP) and two days after
being reinstated within Honduras to the Organization of American States
(OAS) on Sunday June 4, 2011, at 11 AM, the peasants José Santamaría,
Guillermo Recinos, and Genaro Cuestas of Cooperativa San Sebastian belonging
to the left bank of the River Aguan and the Movimiento Auténtico Reinvicador
de los Campesinos del Aguan (MARCA), were murdered.*

These acts violate the agreements referred to and are an indicator of the
absence of security and respect for the lives of Hondurans, including Mr.
Manuel Zelaya Rosales, the exiles who entered the country and even President
Lobo who is getting sharp criticism of far right for signing the Agreement
and in exchange for future deals with Petro Caribe Venezuela.

The oligarchy and private guard hinged to the
Military-Energy-Financial-Mining-Agricultural -Industrial Complex acts with
impunity and considers itself the all-powerful proprietor of the State of
Honduras.

These crimes against humanity are committed within the sight and tolerance
of the State Security Apparatus, the Navy, Infantry Battalion in the Aguan
area in a country under military occupation by the Pentagon.

As the sap of the plants is transfused with the blood of the assassinated
peasants, dozens of orphans and widows are subjected to torture, panic and
terror.

Children's minds are populated by terrifying nightmares and widows are
subject to extreme structural violence and discrimination based on class and
gender.

Mosquitos of dengue and malaria are rampant in the monoculture of African
palm; the biodiversity vanishes and with it disappears the habitat of native
animals, human blood is not only sucked by mosquitoes but also by human
exploitation of the landlords.

The houses without roofing or floor, tropical storms and flooding of the
rivers contribute to the spread of hunger, malnutrition, parasites and
impairment of brain development of the children.
Autophagy is, the self-consumption of the body in the absence of food which
leads to multi-disease syndrome and chronic energy loss.

Remove this criminal monstrosity in the Aguan, it is the ethical and
political challenge of every nation that prides itself on being a democratic
nation.

Never can there be democracy if there is a society where the landlord has
hired killers with the agenda and the freedom to kill!

Where is the humanity of people who claim to be democratic and civilized yet
maintain silent complicity to the killing of peasant families?

The historical unity and dignity of our people and all peoples of the world
articulated in the struggle for human rights is the way to stop the
machinery of barbarism in Honduras!
June 4, 2011 Tegucigalpa

*Movimiento Auténtico Reinvicador de los Campesinos del Aguan (MARCA) is a
peasant organization that seeks the reclimation of land that was granted to
them under a past land reform program that was negated by the government
brought in by the coup.
________________________________

http://quotha.net/node/1827

Annie Bird--Honduras Back in the OAS: Violations and Militarization will
Increase
Thu, 06/09/2011 - 09:13 — AP

Rights Action - June 9, 2011
HONDURAS - Back in the OAS

BELOW: a commentary by Annie Bird (annie at rightsaction.org<mailto:
annie at rightsaction.org>) about challenges that the Resistance Front in
Honduras is facing now that Honduras is formally back in the OAS.

 *   To learn more about and to support the Resistance Front in Honduras,
see below
 *   To get on/ off Rights Action's listserv: www.rightsaction.org<
http://www.rightsaction.org/>
 *   Please re-publish this information, citing author and source
 *   Rights Action's Facebook group<
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rights-Action/176850879028427?ref=ts>

________________________________

http://quotha.net/node/1827

HONDURAS BACK IN THE OAS:

VIOLATIONS AND MILITARIZATION WILL INCREASE
AS THE MILITARY COUP AUTHORS ENSURE THEIR ECONOMIC INTERESTS, AND
THE RESISTANCE FRONT ADVANCES TOWARD POLITICAL POWER

By Annie Bird, June 8, 2011

The Honduran Resistance movement recently protested the meeting of the
General Assembly of the Organization of American States in El Salvador, June
5-7, where a delegation from the Honduran regime of Porfirio Lobo
participated, enjoyed Honduras' official re-entry into the OAS.

It is not a coincidence that the focus of this OAS meeting is "citizen
security". The military coup has again converted Honduras into the spearhead
of the U.S. military project in Central America. Since the coup, three U.S.
military bases have already been established, and there are reports of a
strong presence of both U.S. troops and of the presence of both official
Colombian security apparatus and Colombian paramilitary forces.

After consolidating Plan Colombia, as part of the "war on drugs" in South
America, the U.S. intends to launch the Merida Initiative / CARCI from
Colombia into Mesoamerica.

It is not surprising that this project of re-militarization in Central
America is happening in areas of significant transnational economic
interest. Now that the military backed coup government in Honduras is again
in the OAS as a full member, and therefore "legitimate" in the eyes of the
international community, it is expected that the coup perpetrators will move
quickly to consolidate the economic and political gains achieved, backed by
a strong military presence and repression.

International trade agreements will secure the benefits of the now
"legitimate" concessions to plunder the national resources such as rivers,
minerals, and apparently the national energy and telephone companies, among
others, concessions which will be very expensive to reverse once the
pro-democracy Resistance Front gains control of political power structures
of the nation.

But amid so much violence and corruption, Honduras is also experiencing a
moment of hope. The same agreement that facilitated the return of Honduras
to the OAS also facilitated the return of President Manuel Zelaya. He was
received by a people ready to fight peacefully and he returned ready to lead
the struggle to take back political power.

UNITED STATES WAS WILLING TO FORCE THE RE-ENTRY OF HONDURAS TO THE OAS
The Cartagena Agreement, signed May 22 between the militarily ousted
President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, and the de facto President Porfirio
Lobo, and facilitated by the governments of Colombia and Venezuela, has been
criticized for the lack of human rights guarantees and its role in the
return of Honduras to the OAS.

However, it is clear that after a nearly two year campaign to lift the
suspension of Honduras from the OAS, the U.S. was willing to force the
return of Honduras.

After Porfirio Lobo assumed the presidency in January 2010, despite the
obvious illegality and fraud in the November 2009 elections, most nations in
the hemispheric moved towards recognition. A meeting of the Permanent
Council of the OAS was called for July 20, 2010, but then cancelled, as it
was not clear if enough nations would support a resolution that called for
the return of Honduras and that even if there were enough votes to lift the
suspension, the mere act of voting would have been political dynamite given
the OAS Permanent Council's tradition of issuing decisions based on
consensus, not by votes.

However, by April 2011 there were only six or seven countries opposed to the
lifting of the suspension and when the Permanent Council met in November
2010 to discuss the border dispute between Costa Rica and Nicaragua, a
precedent was established of issuing a resolution by vote, breaking the
tradition of consensus.

A mediation process was launched on April 9 in Cartagena to discuss terms
for the return of Zelaya to Honduras. In the midst of negotiations, on May
13 a meeting of the Permanent Council was convened to discuss the lifting of
the suspension of Honduras, but was canceled the same day. The move was seen
as an attempt by the U.S. to undermine the mediation in Cartagena, and
showed that the U.S. was prepared to force a vote to get Honduras a seat at
the table in the General Assembly in June.

Given that the return of Honduras to the OAS seemed inevitable, the fact
that an agreement was reached to facilitate the return of Zelaya in Honduras
is impressive.

The presence of Zelaya in Honduras is crucial to the future of the nation,
and will provide the necessary unity to channel the forces of the Resistance
Front along a common path.

During the first week since his return, it seems clear that the Resistance
is moving in the direction of electoral participation.

THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC AGENDA BEHIND THE COUP
In the nearly two years since the coup, the political and economic agenda
behind it has become increasingly clear. During the administration of Lobo,
a flood of new laws were passed that destroyed established social and
economic rights. The recognition of these rights were achievements gained
not just during the administration of President Zelaya, but through the
history of Honduras.

Highly protested laws, like the Hourly Labor Law, the Foreign Employment Law
and the Law for Rural and Marginal Urban employment were established, laws
that "flexiblized" the labor market, undermining most of the rights obtained
by the labor movement over the last 60 years.

Other laws have had serious effects, such as the law to privatize education,
the Anti Terrorism Law that attacks the freedom of expression, the
constitutional reform that created the possibility of Model Cities,
undermining national sovereignty, and Law on Public-Private Partnerships to
facilitate the plunder of national resources through concessions after the
coup.

The list continues to grow, especially as a program of "reforms" is expected
to be promoted as part of the process of "reconciliation" which the return
to the OAS is part of.

REFORM OF HONDURAS
Under the pretext of "national reconciliation", a series of "reforms" will
be promoted in Honduras over the next couple years. The "Commission of Truth
and Reconciliation" (CVR), born of the failed Tegucigalpa-San Jose
agreement, August 2009, intends to submit its report of June 15, 2011.

The CVR was unilaterally created by the coup government and its
commissioners are figures who supported the coup. As a result the CVR was
widely denounced as illegitimate by all recognized human rights
organizations in Honduras. The CVR was created with the administrative
sponsorship of the OAS, and in Washington it is being referred to as the
"OAS Truth Commission," which lends an air of legitimacy that it does not
enjoy in Honduras, where it is known as the "Commission of Lies."

The conclusions and recommendations of the CVR will undoubtedly contain some
elements that may seem beneficial for the resistance movement in Honduras,
elements such as reform of the justice system, reform the police and
military, and electoral reform.

It is highly unlikely that the fundamental structures that maintain impunity
for economic interests that use corruption to undermine democracy and the
rule of law will be addressed.

International aid agencies are expected to flood the country with funding to
examine proposals for reform, generating a wave of forums and workshops for
NGOs to generate proposals for reform.

Under different conditions this kind of process could fracture the
Resistance, creating a middle ground reform lobby which aims to create a
military, police, judiciary and the electoral system in Honduras more
presentable to the international community, but without addressing
structural and economic changes.

However, Hondurans are clear that reforms will do little more than act as
make up for a broken system.

Projects in the Inter American Development Bank, IDB, pipeline show
disturbing plans for justice and public safety "reform". The IDB is
preparing a loan of US$20 million, HO-L1063, which is to be implemented by
the Supreme Court of Honduras. The Supreme Court of Honduras has been widely
denounced for extreme levels of corruption and involvement in the coup by
actors ranging from the International Commission of Jurists to the U.S.
State Department, who suspended visas journey to the Supreme Court of
Honduras.

But above all, the Supreme Court has no legitimacy in the eyes of the
Honduran people, and cannot participate in, much less lead, a "reform" of
justice and security.

CONSOLIDATION OF CONCESSIONS

At the same time there will be a race to consolidate concessions to
transnational corporations. During the past 18 months a long list of
concessions of water rights, power generation projects, forestry projects,
tourism projects, ports, airports, roads, and even the granting of national
sovereignty over the territory as "Cities Models " have been granted, and
will no doubt continue as long as the de facto government maintains control
of the political power structure.

However, the suspension of Honduras from the OAS nation left a shadow over
the concessions within the OAS family. It is interesting, for example,
hydroelectric concessions were given almost completely to Honduran
companies, with the notable exception of the Patuca dam concession to
Chinese interests, many of which lack the capacity to finance the
constructions.

Although in many cases it seems likely that the mega projects will
facilitate the laundering of money from organized crime activities that
frequently occur in areas where mega projects are slotted to be developed,
it is clear that legitimate sources of funding and technology will be
necessary.

Multinational development banks are creating private investment funding
opportunities for these projects. As an example, in December 2010, the IDB
designated a $10 million loan to the FICOHSA bank to create a development
fund for "green power."

The concessions granted in 2010 and 2011 generally allow the resale of the
concessions. It is also standard practice for mega projects to be owned by
national companies, but multinational companies are the major investors in
these companies. Those who may have been reluctant to invest in Honduras
while it was suspended from the OAS can now rush through contracts, with
investments protected by free trade agreements.

Perhaps the most valuable coup booty is the national telephone company,
Hondutel - and the national electricity company - ENEE. It seems likely that
investors have been waiting for Honduras' return to the OAS, and again the
loan portfolio of the IDB loans sheds light on plans. On May 15, 2011, the
IDB approved a "technical support" to write a new General Telecommunications
Law in Honduras, the necessary vehicle for privatization.

A loan to ENEE, HO-1070, is in preparation. Although as yet there is no
precise information about the "Program to Strengthen the Energy Sector", the
loan falls into the category of policy loan. Loans for energy sector
policies tend to focus on the creation of "regulatory frameworks",
information and public awareness and improve efficiency. Regulatory
framework often refers to the legal framework for privatization. The
privatization of national energy companies in the region have demonstrated a
pattern of promoting "public information" focused on generating a lack of
confidence in the national energy company before the privatization process,
and neighboring nations have experienced significant investment in improving
and expanding the power grid before privatization. ENEE has recently
announced programs to extend the power grid to remote communities and for
the construction of public lighting infrastructure.

FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS OBLIGATE HONDURAS TO BILLIONS IN COMPENSATION IF
CONCESSIONS ARE RETRACTED
Once the resistance is in control of political power structures, much of the
political - economic projects behind the coup could be reversed. However,
international trade contracts would benefit from a series of extreme
guarantees established in free trade agreements.

In 2004 the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the U.S. (CAFTA) was
signed. In May 2010 the Central American countries signed the Association
Agreement with the European Union.

Negotiations on the Canada - Honduras free trade agreement have been
completed and it is expected that the nations will sign the agreement soon.
The suspension of Honduras from the OAS, a multinational organization to
which both Canada and Honduras are members, undoubtedly caused concerns
related to the final signing of the agreement, a barrier now surpassed.

Canada's major economic interests in Honduras are the mining concessions and
clothing sweatshops.

The General Mining Law in Honduras was suspended in 2007 by a decision of
the Supreme Court who found elements of the law unconstitutional, leaving in
limbo mining interests in Honduras. Given this situation, many were
surprised by the slow progress in promoting the new mining law following the
military coup of 2009. But press reports in late May of 2011 made it clear
that the new law will soon be approved by Congress, perhaps conveniently in
the coat-tail of the FTA with Canada.

Free trade agreements offer extraordinary guarantees to investors. For
example, under the terms of CAFTA, if the government of Honduras at some
point wants to reverse a concession to a U.S. based company, Honduras will
be required to reimburse the company not only for direct investment lost but
also all the future profits the company would no longer generate through the
concession.

REFOUNDING HONDURAS
The Resistance movement faces tremendous challenges as it moves toward its
goal of re-founding Honduras. It must navigate through the complexities of
maintaining unity amidst the diverse reflection of Honduras that is the
Resistance movement. It must balance the benefits of gaining control of the
political power structure against the threats to structural change
represented by the corrupt electoral system. It must contend with reform
proposals that may on many levels benefit sectors of the movement but that
will fall short of the structural, economic changes needed to transform
Honduras.

The sectors of the Resistance most concerned about the hidden dangers of
electoral participation and limited reforms are those most negatively
impacted by the concessions of natural resources, and are those most
threatened by rights violations, especially if the economic powers are
successful in marginalizing their opposition and criminalizing their defense
of their territories.

And, as Honduras is now considered a "legitimate" member of the
international community, the Resistance must find ways to expose as
illegitimate the wholesale concession of national resources and sovereignty
that will accelerate in the new political context.

It is expected that human rights abuses will accelerate as the Resistance
grows in strength and resists the looting of communities resources under the
now fully recognized government.

[Since 1995, Annie Bird is co-director of Rights Action:
annie at rightsaction.org<mailto:annie at rightsaction.org>, www.rightsaction.org<
http://www.rightsaction.org/>]

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