Three died and 30 were arrested after 600 peasant families clashed with police and security forces in Bajo Aguán, Honduras, this weekend. The families had moved onto the land to occupy it on Saturday in protest of a wave of violent evictions of landless peasants in the region.

On Sunday, police moved in to evict the families from a 540-hectare terrain. According to the Unified Peasant Movement of Aguán (MUCA) hundreds of officers closed the exits and threw teargas.

According to MUCA, before the police operation, the farm’s security guards shot at the peasants, and ambulances were not allowed to enter the area.

Civil society groups have blamed the country’s president, Porfirio Lobo, for the latest deaths. In 2011 the president decreed the militarisation of the region after various confrontations, something which is said to have only further aggravated the situation. The total number of deaths due to land evictions in the area now numbers over 80 in the past three years.

Last month, various civil society groups, along with the National Front for Popular Resistance (FNRP), accused Lobo of human rights violations in the region. The Front has called for urgent new agrarian legislation to stop the conflicts in the Aguán.

The government of Honduras signed this week an agreement with a group of international investors to construct a ‘charter city’ within the country’s borders.

The city, officially labelled “special development zones”, will be built from scratch using private investment and will have its own laws, tax regime, immigration policy, and police force.

The president of the National Congress, Juan Orlando Hernández, said the project, which could enter the initial construction phase as early as October, would create 5,000 jobs in the first six months, and many more after that.

Meanwhile, Carlos Pineda, president of the Commission for Public-Private Partnerships (Coalianza), called the agreement with international investor consortium MKG Group “the most important in 50 years for Honduras.”

The government and supporters of the ‘charter cities’ plan, which was inspired by US economist Paul Romer, says it will help attract foreign investors to Honduras, which suffers from one of the world’s highest murder rates.

However, the project has also sparked opposition among local NGOs, civic groups, and indigenous communities, who fear they will be displaced from their land in order to make way for the new cities. One proposed site for the first charter city, near Puerto Castilla on the Northern Caribbean Coast, is in an area inhabited by the Garifuna indigenous community.

Former constitutional lawyer Oscar Cruz called the project a “catastrophe” for the country, and filed a suit at the Supreme Court to declare it illegal.

In 2011, Congress introduced several reforms to the national constitution, including one that allowed the creation of special development zones in the country. In 2009, Honduras was plunged into crisis after elected president Manuel Zelaya was removed in a military-backed coup.

Honduran journalist, José Encarnación Chinchilla López, is seeking political asylum in the United States, after his son was shot by two gunmen at his house on 3rd August.

The two gunmen on motorcycles reportedly opened fired on his home with 9-millimeter pistols seriously injuring his son, 24-year-old Jose Alberto Chinchilla Bardales. Chinchilla is a reporter for Radio Cadena Voces in the city of El Progreso, Yoro and claims this is the third attempt on his life.

He asked the US embassy in Tegucigalpa for permission to travel to the US with his wife and four children, Jose is expected to make a full recovery.

A journalist working at the station told the Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) that Chinchilla suspected an attack after he wrote a story about local gang activity. He also said that before Friday’s attack he had received threats after writing a piece about a local land dispute.

The news has gained international attention from numerous journalism organizations including the CPJ and The International Press Institute (IPI).

“In the last few years Honduras has become one of the most dangerous countries on earth for journalists. Regardless of the challenges, the Honduran authorities have an obligation to bring killers to justice and to roll back the tide of impunity. Otherwise, this deadly cycle of violence will continue,” said IPI Deputy Director Anthony Mills in statement regarding the attack.

According to IPI, three journalists have already died in 2012 with 18 others having been killed since June 2009.

Journalists at the Radio Cadena Voces have been targeted in the past. According to CPJ research, Carlos Salgado was murdered after reporting on government corruption. In that same year the radio’s director had to flee the country after his name appeared on a hit list., In 2009, journalist Rafael Mungía Ortiz was killed in what was deemed “unclear circumstances.”

The increase in attacks against journalists started after former president Manuel Zelaya was removed from office in what the Organisation of American States has called a coup d’état.

A United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent shot and killed a suspected drug trafficker during an early morning raid near Brus Laguna, a village in northeastern Honduras.

The raid occurred on Saturday morning, after a suspected smuggling plane landed at Brus Laguna’s airport. Four helicopters with Honduran police and members of the DEA’s Foreign-deployed Advisory Support Team (FAST) followed the plane’s passengers and cargo into a wooded location. According to US embassy spokesman, Stephen Posivak, four suspects surrendered to arrest, but a fifth reached for a weapon, at which time the DEA agent fired.

The squad seized several weapons and 360 kilograms of cocaine at the site. According to an agreement between the DEA and Honduras police, the agent acted within strict procedure and fired out of self-defence.

The incident highlights the growing involvement of the US in Central American counternarcotics operations.

In May, protests erupted in Honduras after a US-owned helicopter carrying DEA and Honduran police fired on a fishing boat during a drug raid, killing four people, including two pregnant women. The shooting happened near Ahaus in northeastern Honduras when a boat carrying suspected smugglers began firing at the helicopter.

Lucio Baquedano, the mayor of Ahuas, says the four fatalities were innocent civilians not involved in the drug trade.

In response, protestors set government buildings ablaze and demanded US drug enforcers leave.

FAST is a commando-style squad led by former Navy SEALs members, with origins in Taliban-linked narcotics investigations. Now, FAST is commonly deployed to small Central American countries to help resident speciality units fight narcotics trafficking.

Honduras is a popular spot for cocaine shipment headed from South America to the US.

World Press Freedom Day took place on 3rd May this year, celebrated in cities around the world. Sponsored by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Science, and Cultural Organisation), the event’s purpose is to examine the promise and challenges facing media of various forms, as well as inform citizens on violations of press freedom that continue to this day.

In Latin American countries, the press has made many important strides, often through some of the most difficult present day conflicts. In cases such as Mexico and Honduras, however, reporters are frequently intimidated and targeted for violence by members of organised crime. In other countries, such as Venezuela and, to a debatable extent, Ecuador, hostile relationships between the government and certain parts of the press have produced censorship.

In order to find out what residents of Buenos Aires think about the current state of press freedom in Argentina and throughout Latin America, we took to the streets and asked for some opinions.

Photos by Kamilo Hernández

Jorge Alberto Vajanella, 62, Caballito, Public Accountant

Here in Argentina, freedom in the press is very broad. No matter who or where you are, you can say what you want. In the newspaper, on television, on the radio, on the streets, wherever. In Mexico, of course, there is a profoundly serious problem, and in Venezuela the government has considerable control over media and communications. I think the press faces repression in Chile as well, partly because of the right-leaning government. In general, I think the press in Latin America is becoming freer every day, and young people have the resources to continue this trend in the future.

Christian Savloff, 25, Caballito, Works in Film Post-production

I think it’s important to highlight that the press has commercial interests beyond informing us, like Clarín’s role here in Argentina, as well as La Nación. While the point is to truly inform us, in many cases there is a lot of subjectivity, so the reporting is not objective. In places like Venezuela, the government can be very fanatical and tilt the press in favour of Hugo Chávez. To me, respect for the media is very important. I think that if you educate people with various points of view, they will listen and decide.

 
Sara Martínez, 25, Palermo, Works in Fashion/Design

For me, I don’t read the newspapers here as much as I see the news on television or listen to it on the radio. There are plenty of channels, with many different programs, and people can choose from a variety of perspectives to interpret what is going on. I think the trend in Venezuela, with radio stations and newspapers censored by the government, doesn’t seem very good to me because it is cutting away freedom in the press.

 
Angel Benitez, Caballito, 36, Hotels and Tourism

Throughout Latin America, each country’s situation is very different, and the image of the real community we have here gets complicated by propaganda. In Argentina, liberty in the press is very divided. Some think the press is very free, some don’t, and there are also particular situations when it is and it isn’t. Ideologies among citizens and certain outlets will influence how one sees things. I think the background problem uniting all Latin American countries has to do with education. The formation of values, the small details. Partly as a result of fear, partly because of insecurity, the values that truly unite Latin Americans have gotten lost. People are on guard. To me, the fundamental problem is educational, and it’s something that has to change not just in schools, but especially in the family.

Laura Fraguas, 23, Belgrano, Medical Student

I think there is freedom of press in Argentina. I don’t really know the full context of other examples in Latin America, but I think that here, it is free. There exist programs like that of [Jorge] Lanata, or 6-7-8, as well as many that give a full spectrum of political views and information in Argentina. Freedom in the press exists here.

Journalists protest against rising violence during march in Mexico (Photo courtesy the Knight Foundation)

On the 3^rd of May, as the world celebrated Freedom of the Press Day, three journalists were found dead in Mexico. The mutilated bodies of photographers Gabriel Huge, Esteban Rodríguez, and Guillermo Luna were found in Veracruz state chopped up and discarded in a canal, the complete disregard for human life on full display for the world to see.

Just five days ago the body of Marco Antonio Ávila García was discovered in Ciudad Obregón, north-western Mexico. Strangled and wrapped in a plastic bag, the crime reporter was victim to an increasing trend that has been sweeping the Latin American country. His fault? Telling the truth.

Criminal Oppression

García was the fourth journalist this month to be found murdered in Mexico, a tactic being used by organised crime gangs to install fear in press who are speaking out and reporting on crime. As the intensity of the fighting between organised crime groups and government forces has increased, the tolerance of journalist’s reporting has waned. These journalists have been killed with the same brutality as the crime cartels are treating each other, showing the level of threat the gangs consider freedom of press to be.

Speaking to Carlos Martín Lauría, Senior Coordinator for the Americas at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), he considers this violence to be one of two major issues with the freedom of press in Latin America. CPJ is a non-profit organisation that was set up in 1981, while many Latin American countries were still ruled by dictatorships, and which has ardently covered threats to, and fought for, freedom of press in the world.

A poster of Alfredo Villatoro, found dead last week

“One problem [with media freedom in Latin America] is the violence against press where organised groups have increased their pressure on journalists reporting on trafficking, corruption and crime.” Lauría states. “They are being specifically targeted.”

“Mexico right now is probably the worse case scenario,” He continues. “The country has become one of the worst places for journalists to work, not only in the hemisphere, but also around the world.” Since the Felipe Calderón government took office in 2006, and started an offensive against organised crime, levels of violence have increased at a rapid pace. This violence has also been directed at members of the press, who tirelessly work to expose gang exploits, while also acting as a watchdog for army forces – since then, 45 journalists have been murdered.

Similar attacks have occurred in Honduras and Northern Guatemala, areas that have been increasingly deteriorating due to the heightened presence of the drug trafficking gangs. In Honduras, journalists Alfredo Villatoro and Erick Martínez Avíla were both found dead in the last few weeks. Villatoro, who worked for the news station HRN, was kidnapped on the 9^th May. His body was found, with shots to the head on the 15^th. According to the International Press Institute, Villatoro was the 23^rd journalist to be killed in the Central American country since the coup d’état that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya in 2009. This year, despite the fact Honduras has 7% of Mexico’s population, the same number of journalists have been killed in both countries.

Lauría hints that part of the violence in Central America is intrinsically linked to their northern neighbour. ”The presence of Mexican cartels can be felt now in Central America, especially in northern Guatemala, where the criminal cartel organisation known as the Zetas is having a big presence. Also in Honduras, the presence of the cartels is creating a lot of problems as that is the place where there has been the most murders, per ratio, according to UN reports.”

Honduras has the additional problem of a government that is not entirely committed to bringing justice to these killings. Lauría describes a CJP report in which the NGO “are calling on the government to break the acts of impunity that surround all these investigations.”

So does this mean there is no hope for journalists while organised crime is widespread in the area? “We know there is no magic solution, but we still need to ensure freedom of expression,” says Lauría.

Journalists are ill prepared in their fight against organised crime, but will not be silenced either. (Photos courtesy of Knight Foundation)

The Pen is Sharper than the Sword

Despite the continuing violence, journalists and support networks are making a stand for themselves, and for their work. CPJ and other press support organisations continually lobby for international organisations to pressure governments for change. CPJ has travelled to Honduras and Mexico in recent years to compile reports on stifling of press and present them to the UN Council on Human Rights to demand for change. On Friday in Honduras, a march organised by the Colegio de Periodistas de Honduras will take place across the country, in a stand against the killings, and general intimidation of press.

A recent study by Reporters Without Borders asked if journalists are best prepared against organised crime, with an answer a resounding ‘no’.

“It is clear from this report that the media are not united against organised crime, their correspondents are isolated and lack resources, and their capacity for investigative reporting is eclipsed by the race for breaking news,” the report claims.

Reporters Without Borders, another NGO which monitors and advocates for global press freedom, released the report claiming that they believe the way for journalists to combat this violence is for them to strategically work together, especially in countries where the governments might not be reliable enough.

Journalists should be “pooling information and sources,” while calling “for the creation of journalists’ associations that can help to guarantee the independence of their media and prevent murky financial interests from influencing editorial choices.”

Both Sides of the Law

But it is not just the extremity of the violence that is stifling freedom of press in Latin America. Below the headline grabbing aggressive tactics of the cartels, there is a culture of soft censorship that is threatening the freedom of press in a less explicit way.

“The second problem [with freedom of press] is the fact that some democratically elected leaders in Latin America are practising unconstitutional methods in an attempt to stifle press,” Lauría warns. “Venezuela is perhaps the most stark example of this, followed by Ecuador and Nicaragua.”

In the case of Ecuador, back in February, the high court decided to uphold a criminal libel conviction brought against newspaper El Universo by President Rafael Correa. The leader of the South American country filed a lawsuit against the paper after they published a column by journalist Emilio Palacio, criticising Correa and his treatment of the police uprising in March 2011. In a column titled ‘No to Lies’, Palacio referred to the president as a ‘dictator’ and blamed the action of the army troops, who killed three police officers during protests, on Correa. The court decided the paper had to pay US$40 million in damages and sentenced Palacio and the three owners of the paper to prison for three years. Palacio has since filed for political asylum in the United States.

Journalists Protest against rising violence during March in Mexico (Photos courtesy of Knight Foundation)

“This demonstrates that you can prosecute not only the clowns, but also the owner of the circus,” said Correa in response to the decision. He argues that the press organisations in Ecuador are corrupt and run by biased opposition parties, who funded El Universo, and who should not be allowed to “buy a printing press.”

After the case Lauría released a statement saying that “this short-sighted ruling will only keep Ecuadoran journalists from investigating powerful politicians; it represents a serious setback for democracy in Ecuador.” In reference to this case, he says that although Correa has since pardoned Palacio and El Universo, it was only due to international pressure. “It’s for the international community to be aware that this censorship has been going on.”

In Ecuador, the conflict between the press and the government has been intensifying in the lead up to the 2013 presidential election. Standing by his previous assertion that the press are too powerful and corrupt, the president has stood by his decision to change an electoral law, which will limit press coverage of the event. Critics of the press in Ecuador argue that their influence is too politically motivated and that they have unleashed a self-serving campaign against the government in order to suit their own economic interests.

In the case of violent attacks on journalists, the government has a role, however effective it may be, which is to stand up for the press. When it is the government itself threatening the freedom, NGOs such as CPJ, Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and many others make it their job to bring these cases to media attention.

Lauría argues that a constant spotlight on exploitation of the outlets of speech is the key to ensuring a more open flow of information. “It is up to inter-governmental institutions like to Organisation of American States (OAS) to protect freedom of expression.”

The UN declaration for Freedom of Press Day clearly states, that “freedom of information is a fundamental human right.”

Across Latin America the free state of the press has improved significantly within the last decades. But while acts of aggression, be they legal or physical, are exercised on journalists, the level of threat remains unacceptable.

As Carlos Lauría so conclusively puts it, “what is being affected is more than the right for journalists to report the news, but also the rights of freedom of expression and access to information.”

To find out what Argentines think about the state of freedom of the press in Latin America, click here.

Police in Honduras announced they have caught a second person in connection with the kidnapping and murder of the HRN journalist Alfredo Villatoro Rivera.

Villatoro’s body was found on Tuesday in Residencial Las Uvas, a quiet neighbourhood of Honduran capital city, Tegucigalpa. He was abducted on Wednesday the 9^th May when he was intercepted between travelling from his home to his work.

Juan Ramón Fonseca, 25, who was captured today who is thought to have carried out negotiations for ransom with Villatoro’s family. Miguel Ángel Álvarez, 34, who was arrested on Wednesday, is another suspect in the case. Both men are pleading not guilty to the crime, stating they had no role in the kidnaping.

Police are transferring the two suspects under heavy guard to a maximum-security prison located in Tamara, 15 miles north of the capital. It is hoped that they will provide information about the kidnapping and killing of the journalist.

Two days ago, President Lobo Sosa offered the equivalent of US$157,400 for anyone who had any information on those responsible for the murders. Lobo and Bonilla Pompey, the security secretary, have assured that the perpetrators will be punished.

“The government is absolutely determined to regain security for Hondurans and defend their lives, we are doing everything possible to solve this crime and clarify the details,” said Lobo in a public statement.

The Honduran government and President Lobo have previously been criticised as not giving enough protection for journalists, or prosecuting perpetrators of violence towards journalists.

Erick Martínez Ávila was found dead this Monday in the Honduran village of Guasculile. He was a journalist, a leader of the lesbian, gay, transgender, and bisexual community, and a candidate for the Freedom and Refoundation Party.

The body of the journalist, 32, was found with signs of strangulation in manhole near a highway. His disappearance was reported last weekend.

Ávila was in charge of communication at the Association of Kukulcán, an organisation that defends the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community (LGBT).

The murdered journalist was also the leader of the leftist political organisation called Los Necios and the founder of the Diversity and Resistance Movement.

He represented the department of Francisco Morzán for the current Refoundation Popular Force (RPF), which belongs to the Freedom Refoundation Party.

Following the murder, the National Commissioner for Human Rights, Ramón Custodio, informed that at least 21 journalists have been murdered in Honduras over the last three years.

Previously, the National Commission of Human Rights announced that in 2011, the Honduran homicide rate was recorded at 86 people per 100 thousand.

This committee also pointed out that a violent death occurs every 74 minutes in Central America.

Before Ávila, the most recent journalist murdered was Fausto Elio Hernández in the Honduran department of Colón.

Translated from Púlsar.

Santos Alberto Domínguez was killed on Tuesday, allegedly by police officers, in the Honduran town of San Isidro. The Civic Council of Indigenous Populations and Organisations of Honduras (COPINH) today condemned the crime.

In a statement, the COPINH condemned the murder of the 24 year old activist. In the text, the organisation stated it would not permit the crime to go unpunished.

According to the organisation, Santos Alberto Domínguez was assassinated by members of the national police force assigned to the Honduran town of San Isidro, located in the southern department of Intibucá.

The Council of Indigenous Populations and Organisations blamed the secretary of the Honduran Police, Pompello Bonilla, for the murder of Domínguez.

In addition, the COPINH demanded that the public prosecutor of Honduras carried out “a thorough and impartial investigation to punish the murderers.”

The organisation will accompany the Domínguez’s family in the judicial process to convict those responsible.

Santos Alberto Domínguez belonged to the community of Lenca de San Bartola. This community are currently mobilised against the construction of dams and the privatisation of the rivers in the region.

The young man killed was a member of COPINH and was concerned with these social demands. He also participated in the struggle against the theft of ancestral land.

The Indigenous Organisation stated that in it’s statement that this crime continues the hostilities against the good of nature and the culture of the Lenca people.

Translated from Pulsar.

This Wednesday, more than 3,500 peasant families occupied approximately 12,000 hectors of land in various parts of Honduras, protesting for access to land.

The peasants taking part in the occupations announced that previous demands had not been met with answers.

In some regions, protestors left the occupations after the arrival of police and local prosecutors.

Last Tuesday, the director of Peasants and Indigenous Peoples’ Union of Honduras, María Pérez, declared that the protestors are willing to push through their demands until “the last moments.”

Moreover, the Honduran government rejected the measure of protest and opposition leaders blamed the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP) for causing the land occupations.

The peasant leader Rafael Alegría and member of the Front for Resistance justified the occupations, highlighting the “dramatic” situation of more than 15,000 rural workers in Honduras.

He described the occupied lands as idle and blamed the National Government, employers and landowners for any repressive situation generated in the fields.

Significantly, protest action was carried out following celebration of the International Day of Peasants’ Struggle, on Tuesday 17^th April.

The conflict over access to land in Honduras has caused more than 50 deaths in the last two years, and has involved the persecution of farmers and political leaders, as well as the militarisation of territories.

Story courtesy of Agencia Púlsar, the AMARC-ALC news agency.