Photo Credits
JD-1,2,4,12-14, 16-18
BR-3,6
CT-5
CF-7
NH-9,10
KC-11
?-8,12,15
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
A Tortured Isthumus
The other night I wrote an email to a friend in Thailand about how easy it is to comment on your neighbor's situation (i.e. the United States) without ever looking to see that your own yard is a disaster. Things on Honduras' north coast continue to escalate, and that's not even mentioning the tropical storm brewing off the coast.
Anyway, roughly 50 miles from my home in Jutiapa lies the Aguán Valley in the department of Colon. It is one of the most fertile regions of Honduras, and has traditionally been home to a number of large scale palm and fruit plantations. Over the years a feud has festered between the rich landowners who employ private security forces on par with that of any small country and the campesinos who live and work the land. The blame game has been well played out. Campesinos blame the the government for colluding with wealthy land owners and private business interests, who in turn blame Zelaya and corrupt segments of the current federal government for perpetuating this battle and not maintaining a monopoly on violence. Both sides insist that the other is receiving help from outside forces as well. Is this starting to sound like state level American politics yet? Campesinos claim that Colombian and American security forces are implicit in the violence, and offer a very different account from the landowners of what is happening. The landowners on the other hand state that these groups of laborers and campesinos are receiving money and arms from countries like Nicaragua and Venezuela, countries part of the Bolivarian Alliance, which doesn't sound all that far fetched to me now that I've been here for a year. These simmering differences culminated in the two groups clashing the past weekend leaving at least 11 dead, and forcing the government to call in the military to restore order. It's important to note that members of Aguán campesino groups and other social movements have also given different interpretations of the events, although all seem agreed that the campesinos are not using violence. "Our movement is peaceful, but it's about the struggle for the recovery of the earth in order to produce, and this is exactly what the Honduran campesinos are doing."
Most large scale land conflicts, like this recent one in the Aguán Valley, need to be put into proper context, because it is unlikely they will subside in the near future, as poverty and class separation continue to grow as serious problems here. These disputes develop over the need for land to grow monocrops such as pineapple or palm oil, as is the case in the Aguán Valley. These types of land disputes exist all over Honduras, in part because the country's mountain terrain limits the amount of available farmland. Olancho, Copan and Atlántida have all seen conflicts like this occur, just perhaps not the same extent.
It's also important to note that this recent battle, in which hundreds of armed individuals participated also has some suspected ties to the drug war currently plaguing Central America. The state of Colon serves as an important conduit on "the road of death, the cocaine trafficking route which begins at the border with Nicaragua, in the Caribbean province of Gracias a Dios, and which runs along the coast through four other departments before arriving at this border with Guatemala." Among them is Atlantida (where I live), the most violent province in Central America.
Troops deployed to northern Honduras after clashes leave 11 dead-CNN International
(About as good as CNN is going to get, which is still not very good apparently.
Anyway, roughly 50 miles from my home in Jutiapa lies the Aguán Valley in the department of Colon. It is one of the most fertile regions of Honduras, and has traditionally been home to a number of large scale palm and fruit plantations. Over the years a feud has festered between the rich landowners who employ private security forces on par with that of any small country and the campesinos who live and work the land. The blame game has been well played out. Campesinos blame the the government for colluding with wealthy land owners and private business interests, who in turn blame Zelaya and corrupt segments of the current federal government for perpetuating this battle and not maintaining a monopoly on violence. Both sides insist that the other is receiving help from outside forces as well. Is this starting to sound like state level American politics yet? Campesinos claim that Colombian and American security forces are implicit in the violence, and offer a very different account from the landowners of what is happening. The landowners on the other hand state that these groups of laborers and campesinos are receiving money and arms from countries like Nicaragua and Venezuela, countries part of the Bolivarian Alliance, which doesn't sound all that far fetched to me now that I've been here for a year. These simmering differences culminated in the two groups clashing the past weekend leaving at least 11 dead, and forcing the government to call in the military to restore order. It's important to note that members of Aguán campesino groups and other social movements have also given different interpretations of the events, although all seem agreed that the campesinos are not using violence. "Our movement is peaceful, but it's about the struggle for the recovery of the earth in order to produce, and this is exactly what the Honduran campesinos are doing."
Most large scale land conflicts, like this recent one in the Aguán Valley, need to be put into proper context, because it is unlikely they will subside in the near future, as poverty and class separation continue to grow as serious problems here. These disputes develop over the need for land to grow monocrops such as pineapple or palm oil, as is the case in the Aguán Valley. These types of land disputes exist all over Honduras, in part because the country's mountain terrain limits the amount of available farmland. Olancho, Copan and Atlántida have all seen conflicts like this occur, just perhaps not the same extent.
It's also important to note that this recent battle, in which hundreds of armed individuals participated also has some suspected ties to the drug war currently plaguing Central America. The state of Colon serves as an important conduit on "the road of death, the cocaine trafficking route which begins at the border with Nicaragua, in the Caribbean province of Gracias a Dios, and which runs along the coast through four other departments before arriving at this border with Guatemala." Among them is Atlantida (where I live), the most violent province in Central America.
In the meantime Honduras continues to fall behind it's southern neighbors. While there is a lot more that goes into this map from The Economist, it is a pretty good summation of this isthmus' conundrum.
I promise one of these days I'll be writing a positive review of Honduras. It's just so much easier to write about the bad (I think now I understand media in the US).
Supporting Articles
At the End of Honduras' 'Road of Death"-Insight-Organized Crime in the AmericasTroops deployed to northern Honduras after clashes leave 11 dead-CNN International
(About as good as CNN is going to get, which is still not very good apparently.
The tormented isthmus-The Economist
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)