Being Better Neighbors towards Latin America

Click here to download a PDF version of the declaration in English

Click here to download a PDF version of the declaration in Spanish

                                                                                                                           
The Public Hearing on the Human Rights Situation in the Peasant Communities of Bajo Aguán, Honduras, was convened by nine organizations and international networks that in recent years have been monitoring the human rights situation in Honduras and in particular that of the peasant communities in the Bajo Aguán region.  This monitoring effort has been carried out in coordination with local organizations.

March 14th, 2012

Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and 93 other members of the Congress sent a letter on March 12th, 2012 to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing grave concern about human rights violations in Honduras, particularly the murder of 45 people associated with small farmer associations in Bajo Aguán.

"This is a wake up call for the Lobo Administration,” said Lisa Haugaard, Executive Director of the Latin America Working Group.   “Forty-five campesino leaders in a small area of Honduras have been murdered.  Human rights defenders of all stripes -- campesino leaders, lawyers, LGBT community members, women defenders, journalists, opposition activists -- are being threatened and killed. And not only is the Honduran government failing to do enough to protect them and prosecute those who endanger them, but in too many cases, police or military agents are involved directly or are collaborating with those who commit abuses.  We need to see greater effort to protect the rule of law in Honduras."

To read the congressional letter, click here (unofficial Spanish translation, here ).

In Latin America, wars have been fought and societies turned upside down by strife over economic inequality. But what does it look like now? The United States has a history of involvement in Latin America, creating trade agreements and providing military and socioeconomic aid. How can we ensure that our government provides aid that will help not hurt our Latin American brothers and sisters? Join us for six exciting workshops that will address these questions. Come learn about free trade agreements, U.S. aid for refugees, the Cuban embargo, the harmful effects of gold mining, alternative national economic models, ecumenical activism for land rights, and more!

Check out the schedule below. To register, click here.

Workshop Session I - Saturday, March 24th – 11:00am – 12:30pm

Successful Economic Alternatives in Latin America
In the past decade, many Latin American countries have elected progressive governments who have initiated a myriad of alternative economic programs with mixed success. Grassroots organizations in Latin America are also creating alternative business models that are more democratic and equitable.  What are some of the more promising examples of these working alternatives? How have they been able to improve people’s lives? What do they tell us in the United States as we look to reform our own economic system?
Speakers: Mike Fox, editor of NACLA; Mark Weisbrot, Center for Economic Policy Research

Faith Leading the Way: Ecumenical Activism for Land Rights and Peace Colombia
This past year, a new law went into effect in Colombia that promises to return lands to Colombia’s displaced families. Could this be a real solution to the humanitarian crisis or is it just empty promises? In this workshop, leaders of the Presbyterian Church in Colombia will talk about what’s really happening in rural Colombia and what it means for people of faith to advocate for economic justice from a biblical perspective.
 Speakers: Rev. Jairo Barriga and Rev. Milciades Pua, Presbyterian Church of Colombia; Rev. Shannan Vance-Ocampo and Rev. Linda Eastwood, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship

Workshop Session II - Saturday, March 24th – 2:15 – 3:45pm

Trade Agreements and Human Rights: How the Victimizers Sue the Victims in Latin America
Transnational corporations are increasingly utilizing international tribunals to resolve disputes about natural resource rights. Compensation in these cases can be in the millions and foreign investors can use these processes to bypass national laws and regulations designed to protect public health, safety and the environment. Panelists will engage disputes under way in Peru, focusing on the toxic town of La Oroya, and in El Salvador, where a people’s movement emerged to oppose a gold mining operation.
Speakers: Conrado Olivera, Joining Hands Against Hunger Network (Peru) and Mesa Tecnica (La Oroya); Manuel Perez Rocha, Institute for Policy Studies; Alex Herman, Harrison Institute for Public Law; Rev. Alexa Smith, Presbyterian Church (USA) Hunger Program

Keep Your State from Being “Alabama-d”: The Economy & Anti-Immigrant Policies
Immigrants often become scapegoats during economic downturns, despite playing important roles in our communities and economy. This workshop examines state anti-immigrant bills, negative enforcement measures, such as the “Secure Communities” program and the expansion of unnecessary and costly immigrant detention. Come learn how people of faith can powerfully oppose and defeat anti-immigrant legislation, become involved in detention visitation ministry and offer community support to immigrants released from detention. Join us to learn, discuss, plan, organize, and act! 

A Shared Responsibility: Supporting Colombian Refugees in Their Search for Home
In addition to the 5 million people who have been internally displaced by Colombia’s conflict, 500,000 Colombians have taken refuge in Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela. What do these people encounter as they search for safety, security, and new start? How do the cities and countries receiving them deal with this influx of people when they may be already struggling to provide for the needs of current residents? And what can the U.S. government and international humanitarian organizations do to help to help these vulnerable populations and the governments dealing with this crisis?
Speakers: Marc Hanson, Refugees International; Shaina Aber, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA

Workshop Session III - Sunday, March 25th – 11:00am – 12:30pm

Ignoring economic reforms by our neighbor? How the U.S. embargo on Cuba is only isolating US
New economic reforms within Cuba that have allowed citizens to start small private enterprises are only one of the many changes occurring on the island. These small enterprises are allowing Cubans to work for themselves and find a new form of independence. Our government should support these reforms, yet we continue to tout an embargo in attempt to create “regime change.” What can we do to make a difference and help the Cuban people?
Speakers: Luis Rumbaut, Cuban American Alliance Education Fund (CAAEF); Mavis Anderson, Latin America Working Group; Emily Chow, Latin America Working Group

All That is Gold Does Not Glitter:  How Latin America's Gold Rush is Poisoning Communities
Throughout Latin America, transnational corporations are extracting gold on a large scale, taking advantage of local poverty and weak governance to reap unparalleled profits for their investors in the Global North. Their operations, which generate conflict, shred social fabric, and contaminate the environment, continue to grow at an alarming rate due to the passage of free trade agreements and record gold prices. This panel will examine how the corporate gold rush in Latin America is impacting communities, what those communities are doing to resist, and how we can best support them.
Speakers: Gustavo Castro Soto, Otros Mundos, Chiapas, Mexico; A community leader from the anti-mining struggle in Guatemala (TBA); Nick Magel, EARTHWORKS; Amanda Kistler, Center for International Environmental Law

Below you will find the text of the letter written by Representative Jan Schakowsky that is circulating for signatures in the House of Representatives right now. Current signers include:

1.    Schakowsky (IL)
2.    McGovern (MA)
3.    Davis (IL)
4.    Woolsey (CA)
5.    Grijalva (AZ)
6.    Jackson (IL)
7.    Lee (CA)
8.    Doyle (PA)
9.    Rush (IL)
10.    Lewis (GA)
11.    Honda (CA)
12.    Clarke (NY)
13.    Price (NC)
14.    Capuano (MA)
15.    Gutierrez (IL)
16.    Van Hollen (MD)
17.    Cohen (TN)
18.    Farr (CA).

We will update this list as it grows. To ask your representative to sign on, click here.


The Honorable Hillary Clinton
Secretary of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, DC 20520
 
Dear Secretary Clinton,

We are concerned with the grave human rights situation in the Bajo Aguán region of Honduras and ask the State Department to take effective steps to address it.  The abuses taking place in this area of the country reflect a larger pattern of human rights violations in which human rights defenders, journalists, community leaders and opposition activists are the subject of death threats, attacks, and extrajudicial executions. We appreciate the November 9, 2011 State Department statement urging Honduran authorities to take measures to end the violence and impunity in the Bajo Aguán. We urge you to continue to pressure the Honduran government to protect the fundamental human rights of its citizens, and to investigate and prosecute abuses.

Forty-five people associated with peasant organizations have been killed in the Bajo Aguán area between September 2009 and February 8, 2012.  One additional peasant association member, Francisco Pascual López, remains disappeared since May 2011. Seven security guards, a policeman, a journalist and his partner, and three other persons have also been killed.

This critical situation was the subject of an Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) hearing in October 2011. The IACHR concluded that it is “particularly concerned about the situation in the Bajo Aguán region of Honduras…. The Commission received information regarding the criminalization of the campesino struggle and the militarization of the area, which has reportedly placed the peasant farmers and human rights defenders in the Bajo Aguán in a state of high risk.”

Private security guards on farmlands in dispute are cited by witnesses as the perpetrators of many of these crimes, according to information presented to the IACHR by human rights groups.  In some cases, the security guards are reported to have acted in collusion with army and police agents. In mid-August, the Honduran government initiated a joint military-police action in Bajo Aguán known as Operation Xatruch II.  At least nine peasant organization members, including two principal leaders, have been killed since this operation was launched.

According to information presented to the IACHR by human rights groups, police and military associated with Xatruch II tortured community members.  In one case, the 17-year-old son of a peasant leader was allegedly tortured by police and military, doused with gasoline and threatened with being burned or buried alive. On November 1, a group of small farmers and their families returning from visiting a cemetery were fired upon, allegedly by private security guards. One was killed and four wounded, one of whom subsequently died.

These cases have yet to be effectively investigated and prosecuted.  In September 2011, Human Rights Watch reported that while some arrest warrants have been issued, no one has been arrested or charged for these killings.  While the Honduran judicial system has failed to effectively prosecute perpetrators of extrajudicial executions, it has been remarkably efficient in issuing arrest warrants for Bajo Aguán peasant organizers.  Legal proceedings have been initiated against at least162 small farmers and more than 80 were temporarily arrested, largely on charges of trespassing and theft of farm produce, between January 2010 and July 2011.  

Underlying the violence are long-standing land conflicts that urgently need to be resolved. Land in the Bajo Aguán was titled to small farmers by a government agrarian reform initiative in the 1970s.  According to peasant associations, fraud and coercion subsequently were used to force many to sell their lands.

Several associations reached an agreement with the Zelaya government to resolve the land conflicts, and, when this agreement was not fulfilled after the June 2009 coup, small farmers began occupations of the lands they claim as their own. An agreement reached between the Lobo government and peasant groups in April 2010 to transfer land to their communities has not been implemented. The Honduran government has also failed to comply with provisions of Honduran law that mandate that state-owned land belonging to the former Regional Military Training Center in the Bajo Aguán area be transferred to landless farmers.  Further, the government has not protected the rights of settled communities with long-term legal titles to their land, which have been attacked and evicted.

We know you share our firm belief that given U.S. support for the Honduran government, including assistance for the police, military and judicial system, we have an obligation to ensure that human rights are respected.  Indeed, it is our understanding that the United States is providing training to the 15th Battalion of the Honduran military which is operating in the Bajo Aguán region.

We ask you to urge the Honduran government to take immediate action to protect human rights in the Bajo Aguán region and throughout the country.  This should include investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the murders, threats and other abuses, including the intellectual authors of such abuses, and immediately suspending, investigating and as appropriate prosecuting members of the military and police credibly alleged to have committed or acted in collusion with such abuses.  We urge the State Department to request an accounting of the specific status of these cases and provide us with an assessment on their status rather than just a general evaluation of efforts to strengthen the judicial system.

The Honduran government should provide basic protective measures, in consultation with beneficiaries, to witnesses, victims, human rights defenders, and peasant leaders at risk in the region. We also believe that the Honduran government should regulate the private security companies that have, thus far, acted with impunity.  In addition, the Honduran government should comply with the agreements already signed with peasant associations to address the land conflicts in Bajo Aguán and seek comprehensive solutions to lack of access to land and livelihoods that underlie this conflictive situation.

We also ask you to suspend U.S. assistance to the Honduran military and police given the credible allegations of widespread, serious violations of human rights attributed to the security forces. We note that the foreign operations appropriations bill for FY12 requires the State Department to certify that the Honduran government “is investigating and prosecuting in the civilian justice system, in accordance with Honduran and international law, military and police personnel who are credibly alleged to have violated human rights, and the Honduran military and police are cooperating with civilian judicial authorities in such cases.”  In addition to the Bajo Aguán cases, there are numerous other allegations of police and military involvement in threats, excessive use of force and extrajudicial executions.  For example, the U.S.-supported Truth Commission, which examined 20 emblematic human rights cases resulting in death that took place in the period between the June 2009 coup until the Lobo government took office, determined that more than three-quarters can be attributed to excessive use of force by army or police, or selected killings by government agents.  The overwhelming majority of such abuses remain in impunity.

The U.S. government has an obligation to vigorously enforce the Leahy provisions included in laws governing both foreign operations and defense appropriations funding.  We request specific information about efforts made by the U.S. Embassy to apply the Leahy provisions in relation to abuses allegedly committed by members of the police and military in the Bajo Aguán, including in relation to the 15th Battalion and the various police and military units that have participated in Operation Xatruch II.Thank you for your attention to this important matter concerning strengthening the rule of law in Honduras.

Sincerely,
 
cc: Ambassador Lisa Kubiske
Maria Otero, Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs
Roberta Jacobson, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
Frank Mora, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Western Hemisphere Affairs
Daniel Restrepo, Senior Director for Western Hemisphere Affairs, National Security Council
Kathleen FitzPatrick, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
Senator Patrick Leahy, Chair, Senate Foreign Operations Subcommittee