Honduras and the dirty war fuelled by the west's drive for clean energy

The west's drive to reduce its carbon footprint cheaply is fuelling a dirty war in Honduras, where US-backed security forces are implicated in the murder, disappearance and intimidation of peasant farmers involved in land disputes with local palm oil magnates.

More than 100 people have been killed in the past four years, many assassinated by death squads operating with near impunity in the heavily militarised Bajo Aguán region, where 8,000 Honduran troops are deployed, according to activists. Farmers' leader Antonio Martínez, 28, is the latest victim of this conflict. His corpse was discovered, strangled, in November.

Peasant farmers say they are the victims of a campaign of terror by the police, army and private security guards working for palm oil companies since a coup in June 2009 ended land negotiations instigated by the deposed president, Manuel Zelaya.

Witnesses have implicated Honduran special forces and the 15th Battalion, which receives training and material support from the US, in dozens of human rights violations around the plantations of Bajo Aguán.

Full story on The Guardian - The Bajo Aguan Region - A Laboratory for the New Global Counterinsurgency, and a Laboratory for Neoliberalism (Rights Action)

Miskitu Communities Fight Militarization

Miskitu communities organize amid escalating violence in Honduras.

More about Honduras on The Real News

Anger mounts over Honduran prison tragedy

Survivors of a Honduran prison blaze that killed more than 350 inmates have accused guards of leaving prisoners locked inside their cells while the fire burned them to death and even shooting at others who tried to escape the inferno.

The Honduran government has launched an investigation and suspended prison officials over Tuesday's blaze at a prison in the city of Comayagua, as bereaved relatives, survivors and experts blamed massive overcrowding, gross negligence by the prison guards and a failed justice system.

Reynaldo Moncada, a prison chaplain, described the tragic event as "total chaos" in a facility that was built for 250 inmates, but was holding at least 842 when the fire broke out. "People were running for their lives, shots were being fired. People were being burned alive," he said.

Rosendo Sanchez, an inmate of the Comayagua prison, awoke as the blaze started. He escaped his cell block and said he saw guards firing at other inmates trying to escape from. "It was hell here, seeing your friends, people you have known well, burn alive," said Sanchez, who added that firefighters had taken more than half an hour to reach the prison.

Other survivors said guards ignored the cries for help. Prison guards denied they had stopped inmates from escaping, while police say firefighters took only 15 minutes to arrive at the prison.

Al Jazeera English

Ousted Honduran President Zelaya’s Return Home 23 Months After U.S.-Backed Coup

In a Democracy Now! global broadcast exclusive, we take you on the plane of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya as he and his family return home after almost two years in exile. We speak with Zelaya, ousted Honduran foreign minister Patricia Rodas, Honduran exile René Guillermo Amador, and former Colombian senator Piedad Córdoba, one of the many representatives of Latin American countries who accompanied Zelaya home.

We also speak to Father Roy Bourgeois of School of the Americas Watch on the role U.S.-trained generals played in the 2009 coup. "This military coup had real connections to the School of the Americas. The two top generals, the key players in this military coup—the head of the air force, the head of the army—were graduates of the School of the Americas,” said Bourgeois.

Listen to the interview on Democracy Now!

Brutal Repression in Honduras Targets Teachers and Popular Resistance

On Wednesday, March 30, the Honduran popular resistance called for a general strike and public works stoppage while attempting to occupy universities, schools, and major thoroughfares following several weeks of mobilizations. The de facto regime of Honduran President Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo has stepped up violent police and military confrontations against demonstrators across the country in recent weeks. Today, several universities were among the various areas targeted by the regime's military and police forces.

The Real News

Honduras president condemns 'plot'

Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras, has called for "peaceful resistance" after the country's military forced him to leave the country.

After arriving in Costa Rica on Sunday, Zelaya said that he had been the "victim of kidnapping" when Honduran soldiers raided his home earlier in the day.

The military made its move after Zelaya vowed to go ahead with a referendum on constitutional changes, which the Central American nation's supreme court and attorney-general had declared illegal.
"They came to my house in the early hours of the morning and firing guns they broke the doors with bayonets and threatened to shout me," Zelaya told Venezuela's Telesur television station.

"I don't think that the whole army supported this interruption of the democratic system by capturing a president elected by the people.  
"I think that this has been a plot by an elite whose only wish is to keep the country isolated and in total poverty."

Al Jazeera

Venezuelan president: US behind Honduras coup – Inquirer.net