The security forces broke into the farms, shooting directly at people and throwing tear gas bombs at them. As a result, 15 people were arrested and injured, among them 3 underage people. The peasants have already been released but they have been summoned to a hearing to take place in a month.

Powerful interests

The peasants have been legally living in these lands for the past two years, after their lawyer, Antonio Trejo, managed to have the Tegucigalpa Court enforce a historical sentence in favor of the communities. Trejo paid for this victory with his life, just a few months later.

He had denounced receiving death threats, blaming landowners Miguel Facusse and Rene Morales, in case he was murdered. Both landowners hold interests in these lands to develop African palm oil monoculture plantations, and they occupied these lands illegally, displacing the 3500 families that live in the farms covering 2700 hectares.

The current eviction "has no legal basis", said Walter Cárcamo, head of the MARCA peasant movement in interview with Real World Radio, a few hours after being released and injured by the police. "We have the titles, we are registered at the Ownership Record". Trejo ensured us that we were the owners of the land, and we were certain that they could not evict us as they did", said Carcamo.

"Here in Honduras, they violate human rights, laws and with their economic resources they do what they want" said the leader. The violent eviction took place just13 days after the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted precautionary measures to 123 leaders from several peasant movements of Aguan, Honduras.