Central American News
Archive: 2010-2012

Marching Towards the Past in Guatemala  12/30/2011 Counterpunch: "In Guatemala, former military officers and their supporters have filed legal charges against human rights activists, journalists, and surviving victims of State repression, even as a former general, Otto Perez Molina – himself implicated in Guatemala’s genocide – prepares to assume the Guatemalan presidency on January 14, 2012! Moreover, Perez Molina has named high ranking trainers of the brutal Kaibil forces to the top three military command positions. Kaibil’s were directly implicated in the very worst of the State repression and genocide of the 1970s, 80s and early 90s, and some today have direct links to the Mexico-based “Zeta” narco-trafficking cartel."

Honduras: Falleció la Madre de la Canción Tigarigu Nanigui  12/27/2011 Legado Afro: "Prensa ODECO – La organización de desarrollo étnico comunitario desde La Ceiba, Atlántida, Honduras, manifiesta su pesar por la desaparición física de la Señora Andrea Amaya Rochez (Doña Dade) y declara días de duelo en su honor."

Honduras: Asesinato de Guillermo Norales Herrera sigue en la Impunidad...  12/22/2011 Legado Afro: "Por tercera vez el tribunal de sentencia de la ceiba aplaza celebración de juicio oral y publico en caso del pescador garífuna Guillermo Norales herrera, asesinado por miembros de la fuerza naval el 24 de septiembre de 2008."

US Supported Honduras’ Ascent in the Cocaine Business Chain: Putting 2 & 2 & 2 Together  11/1/2011 Boiling Frogs: "Long an impoverished backwater in Central America, Honduras has become a main transit route for South American cocaine.”Honduras is the number one offload point for traffickers to take cocaine through Mexico to the U.S.,” said a U.S. law enforcement official who could not be quoted by name for security reasons. A U.S. State Department report released in March called Honduras “one of the primary landing points for South American cocaine.”

Drug Trafficking in Honduras (Crime Part III)  10/21/2011 La Gringa

WikiLeaks Honduras: US Linked to Brutal Businessman  10/21/2011 The Nation: "New Wikileaks cables now reveal that the US embassy in Honduras—and therefore the State Department—has known since 2004 that Miguel Facussé is a cocaine importer. US “drug war” funds and training, in other words, are being used to support a known drug trafficker’s war against campesinos…. Miguel Facussé’s power base lies in the lower Aguán Valley, where campesinos originally settled in the 1970s as part of an agrarian reform strategy by the Honduran government, which encouraged hundreds of successful campesino cooperatives and collectives in the region. Beginning in 1992, though, new neoliberal governments began promoting the transfer of their lands to wealthy elites, who were quick to take advantage of state support to intimidate and coerce campesinos into selling, and in some cases to acquire land through outright fraud. Facussé, the biggest beneficiary by far of these state policies, now claims at least 22,000 acres in the lower Aguán, at least one-fifth of the entire area, much of which he has planted in African palms for an expanding biofuel empire."

Post-2009 Coup, Honduras a 'Narco-Storehouse'  9/23/2011 In Sight: "With the state's focus fixed elsewhere and crucial support from the U.S. missing, criminal groups took advantage of the disorder. During Micheletti's brief time in office, up to 1,000 tons of cocaine may have traveled through Honduras by land, sea or air, according to analyst James Bosworth."

Court Pleadings Point to CIA Role in Alleged “Cartel” Immunity Deal  9/11/2011 NarcoNews: "The fingerprints of the CIA have surfaced in a controversial federal criminal case pending in Chicago against Jesus Vicente Zambada Niebla, an alleged kingpin in the Sinaloa “drug cartel.” ...“That is a very reasonable conclusion [that the CIA is likely involved in this case in some way],” says a former federal agent familiar with national security procedures. “Seeking CIPA protection, yup, there is hot stuff to hide.” Zambada Niebla, extradited to the US in February 2010 and now facing narco-trafficking charges in federal court in Chicago, claims in pleadings in his case that the US government entered into a pact with the leadership of the Mexican Sinaloa narco-trafficking organization that supposedly provide its chief narcos with immunity in exchange for them providing US authorities with information that could be used to target other narco-trafficking organizations."

The Sweet Deal With ‘El Narco’  9/7/2011 Counterpunch

Revelan lazos de magnate hondureño con el narco  9/3/2011 Dick Emanuelsson: "Obviamente, si bien Facussé tiene varias preguntas incómodas que responder a partir del contenido de este cable, los Estados Unidos harían bien en explicar cómo, si durante más de ocho años han tenido acceso a esta información, nunca actuaron sobre ella."

DRUG PLANE BURNED ON PROMINENT HONDURAN'S PROPERTY  9/3/2011 Wikileaks: "Post's JIATF-S TAT provided information to the HAF March 14 about a known drug trafficking flight with a 1,000 kilo cocaine shipment from Colombia, which resulted in a fruitless air interdiction attempt. Separately, a law enforcement source provided information that the aircraft successfully landed March 14 on the private property of Miguel Facusse, a prominent Honduran, who is one of the nation's wealthiest individuals, leading industrialist, and uncle of former Honduran President Carlos Flores Facusse."

Honduras: killings continue as Aguán becomes "new Colombia"  8/30/2011 WW4 Report: "African oil palms have replaced bananas as the main commercial crop in the valley, and tensions increased as landowners like Facussé saw the potential for the palms in the biofuel business, which could attract carbon credits and international financing. To maintain their estates, the landowners have hired private guards and supplied them with arms. Campesino groups consider the guards paramilitaries and blame them for most of the 51 killings of campesinos that they say have taken place in the past two years. Meanwhile, narco traffickers and other criminals have reportedly moved into the area."

Honduras: Cumbre mundial de Afrodescendientes contra la exclusión  8/25/2011 La Guarura: "Del 18 al 21 de agosto se realizó la Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes en la ciudad de La Ceiba, que congregó a representantes de 44 países de América, África, Europa y Asia, junto a organizaciones españolas que participaron como afrohispanos y África activa. El cónclave fue convocado por la Organización de Desarrollo Étnico Comunitario (Odeco), con sede en La Ceiba, bajo el auspicio de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU)."

Are Foreign Criminal Gangs Driving Honduras Land Conflict?  8/24/2011 Honduras Weekly: "Drug traffickers are certainly a powerful presence in Colón, but other reports have tied them to palm oil plantation owners, rather than to the peasant movements. The state, located on the Caribbean coast close to Nicaragua, is a key transit location for trafficking groups moving drugs from South America towards Mexico and the United States. A statement released by representatives of the Catholic Church in Honduras said that drug traffickers are in the process of becoming big landowners in the region, and that they dominate Bajo Aguán, flaunting their wealth. Similarly, the palm oil landowners have themselves been accused of using foreign firepower, with allegations after a series of killings in November 2010 that Facusse had hired 150 Colombian paramilitaries to form a private army and attack the peasant movements. Land conflicts in other parts of Latin America, driven by the accumulation of land to grow monocrops such as palm oil, have tended to feature organized criminal groups on the side of big landowners, rather than on the side of the peasants. In the 1990s and 2000s Colombia saw mass displacements carried out by paramilitary groups, who would remove peasants from their land on behalf of big agribusinesses like palm oil."

World Summit Celebrates People of African Descent in the Americas  8/24/2011 US State Department: by Zakiya Carr Johnson. "Summit participants included civil society, government, and international organizations from more than 30 countries. I headed the Department of State's delegation. The U.S. delegation also included several staff from the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs and U.S. Agency for International Development, as well as officials from the U.S. Embassy in Honduras. Participants in the opening ceremony included President Porfirio Lobo of Honduras, President Alvaro Colom of Guatemala, Vice-President Alfio Piva of Costa Rica, ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps in Honduras, central government ministers, the mayor of La Cieba, representatives of 34 international delegations, and the local community. President Lobo stressed, "Racial and ethnic discrimination in whatever type is intolerable…There is no exception."

More Narco airplanes land in Honduras  8/21/2011 Canal 10

A propósito de la cumbre mundial afrodescendiente en Honduras  8/20/2011 Matriz del Sur: Por Pedro de la Hoz - "Pero sucede que tanto el lema como la agenda están viciados desde el mismo punto de partida. El reconocimiento de las contribuciones de la diáspora forzada de las poblaciones africanas tiene que pasar por la admisión de la deuda histórica contraída por las antiguas potencias coloniales con los esclavos y la consecuente reparación de los daños físicos y morales infligidos por la infamante trata. La valoración de las culturas originarias y las que nacieron de complejos procesos de transculturación y mestizaje deben trascender las márgenes espurias de la exhibición folclorizante y la explotación turística. Las políticas de inclusión, formalmente establecidas en algunos casos de la región, se contradicen y anulan en el contexto de las democracias representativas que no toman en cuenta la real participación ciudadana."

Honduras instala I Cumbre de Afrodescendientes  8/18/2011 El Heraldo, Honduras: "Más de 800 representantes de 40 naciones iniciaron el jueves en Honduras la Primera Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes para combatir el racismo y la discriminación y hacer prevalecer los derechos milenarios de ese grupo étnico. La cita fue inaugurada por el presidente Porfirio Lobo en la sede de la Universidad Nacional en La Ceiba, 450 km al norte de Tegucigalpa. En su discurso, el mandatario hondureño abogó para que la Cumbre, que definió como "un evento histórico, el primero de su tipo de la ONU" logre "importantes avances en las reivindicaciones de los pueblos indígenas y afrodescendientes".

Drug Trafficking: Central America’s Dark Shadow  8/17/2011 Honduras Weekly: "Drug-related corruption has thoroughly infiltrated Central American governments and business elites. Cartels have penetrated key state institutions throughout Central America, including the police, army, executive branches, and judicial systems."

A drug trafficker's paradise  8/15/2011 Al Jazeera: "When cameraman Alfredo DeLara and I travelled to Colon, Honduras, we were surprised to see what this rural province has become. Everyone is armed: we saw drug dealers with AK-47s and revolvers in Toyota cars, farmers with submachine guns and gunmen in trenches within the perimeters of the palm oil plantations."

Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes  8/14/2011 Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes: "La Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes se realizara del 18 al 21 de agosto de 2011, y es convocada por la Organización de Desarrollo Étnico Comunitario, ODECO, que tiene su sede en la ciudad de La Ceiba, Honduras, Centroamérica."

Pueblos negros de Honduras Denuncian Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes por excluir comunidades  8/10/2011 Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular: "Lideres y lideresas de unas veinte organizaciones de los pueblos negros de Honduras rechazaron hoy que la “Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes” sea representativa de los pueblos negros, por excluir a representantes de las comunidades garífunas, al mismo tiempo que anuncian la celebración entre el 18 y 21 de agosto del Foro “Acaparamiento de tierras y territorios en África y América Latina”. Miriam Miralda, Coordinadora de la Organización Fraternal Negra de Honduras (OFRANEH) dijo que el Foro sobre “Acaparamiento de tierras y territorios en África y América Latina”, paralelo a la Cumbre Mundial, tiene la clara intención de darle la palabra a los excluidos del evento internacional organizado por la Organización de Desarrollo Étnico Comunitario (ODECO), una ONG que recibe financiamiento estatal, y el gobierno de Porfirio Lobo Sosa."

¿Que hay detrás de la Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes de Honduras?  8/5/2011 Blog Fosforito: "Primero, específicamente sus dos o tres líderes visibles, buscan el beneficio personal y han vendido su alma al diablo. Segundo, el imperialismo norteamericano a través de USAID, la NED, Open Society y la derecha rancia europea, saben que 150 millones de afro en América Latina es un capital político importante para planes futuros de endeudamiento económico a través de la Banca internacional y sobre todo la desestabilización política hacia los avances progresistas en nuestros países. Tercero, la derecha hondureña intentará tapar sus crímenes con el golpe de estado apoyado por USA., Aquí en Colombia algunas veces los árboles lloran sangre y la Ceiba no escapa de esa mitología."

Honduras Catches First Narco-Sub  7/15/2011 In Sight: "Honduras' Navy intercepted a semi-submersible vessel, containing between three and five tons of cocaine, in the Caribbean Sea. The drug trafficking craft was spotted off the Mosquito Coast, close to the border with Nicaragua. The military gave chase, but the crew reportedly abandoned the semi-submersible and tried to sink it to destroy the evidence."

Honduras: Narco-trafficking threatens Plátano River Reserve  7/15/2011 InfoSur

Primera Cumbre Mundial de Afrodescendientes. La Ceiba, Honduras, 18 - 21 Agosto 2011 .  6/30/2011 Facebook

InSight gets it wrong, again  6/17/2011 Quotha: "InSight, based (sadly) at my university (where I love working, but fear I am rapidly losing my shot at tenure), recently published a piece by Jose Luis Flores called Honduras Mass Grave Found, Amid Gang's Peace Offer, in which great weight is given to government claims that the mass grave recently found in La Lima is a Mara 18 burial ground for its victims. InSight further authoritatively states that this undermines Mara 18's attempts at negotiations with the police. Anything InSight publishes, as well as any claims by Security Minister Oscar Alvarez, should be viewed with deep suspicion, if not discarded out of hand as pro-neoliberal crime control propaganda. A large part, if not a majority, of so-called "street violence" in Honduras is perpetrated by the police force and military, which regularly orchestrate massacres that are then blamed on gang members (and in which the victims are posthumously blamed for their deaths for having been involved in gangs or drugs themselves, when this is more often than not patently false)."

Honduras Re-Admitted to the OAS: 3 killed; 2 kidnapped in the Aguan  6/16/2011 Honduras Human Rights: "There are reports that approximately 400 private security guards, employed by African palm producers in the region, are being trained in the Rio Claro base in Tocoa, Colon , home of the 15th Army Battalion. The security guards reportedly are from the Orion security company, employed by the Exportadora del Atlantico, and others are employed directly by the Dinant palm oil and derivatives company. The trainers wear Honduran military uniforms, and rarely leave the base though they have been reported to participate in forced, illegal evictions. During these evictions security guards have been reported to change into military uniforms; close collaboration between police, military and security guards has been reported. Local informants claim the trainer’s accents, stature and coloring lead people in the region to believe they are not Honduran. Many suspect they are Colombian. In October 2009, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the use of Mercenaries, Private Security and Paramilitaries reported the Honduran African palm producers were recruiting security forces in Colombia particularly among former AUC members – a right-wing paramilitary group. There have also been reports of Chinook helicopters flying to and from the Rio Claro base, which leads many to believe US troops maintain a presence on the base. On January 8, 2011, Juan Chinchilla, a Honduran land rights activist, was kidnapped and tortured. Able to escape the evening of January 9, while being moved from his illegal detention center, Chinchilla reported that participants in his torture spoke English and another language he was not able to identify." [Israeli?]

Miguel Facussé Blinks  6/11/2011 Honduras Culture and Politics: "His recent actions suggest he has reached the end of his rope. In short order, he has sued prominent critics; taken out self-promoting newspaper ads, including one in which he sought to unilaterally renegotiate the terms of a settlement with the Honduran government over disputed land in the Bajo Aguan; and continued his campaign of seeking police enforcement of judicial orders against campesinos living on land he refuses to cede."

Zelaya ya está en Honduras  5/28/2011 Cuba Debate

Negev Security, NED, the misuse of culture within the FNRP, & more  5/26/2011 Qotha: "NED was the organization that financed, organized, and sent the bulk of "observers" to legitimize the illegitimate and fraudulent 2009 elections — since the EU, UN, OAS and Carter Center had declared them illegal and thus prevented the legal possibility for the presence of international monitors."

Honduras en el laberinto  5/3/2011 ArgenPress: "El reciente encuentro del presidente de Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, del presidente de Venezuela Hugo Chávez Frías, y del continuador de la política golpista hondureña Porfirio Lobo, ha sido una decisión que todavía trata de ser interpretada en las filas de la Resistencia Hondureña y de los movimientos populares colombianos, pero también por quienes hacemos del latinoamericanismo y del internacionalismo nuestra particular manera de estar en este mundo."

Predators: Miguel Facussé Barjum, businessmen and landowner , Honduras  4/15/2011 Reporters without Borders: "A community radio station launched on 14 April 2010 in a fertile region coveted by the “oil palm magnate,” La Voz de Zacate Grande has been the constant target of physical attacks, censorship and persecution by private security guards in Facussé’s pay, with the police and army acting as accomplices. The same goes for the Afro-Honduran Radio Coco Dulce, a community radio station on the Atlantic coast. Ten journalists were murdered in Honduras in 2010. A probable or proven link to the victim’s work as a journalist exists in three of the ten cases. All are still unpunished."

Drug Trafficking in La Ceiba, a Honduran Caribbean City  3/7/2011 CoLab Radio: "The core area of drug trafficking is indeed the Department of Colon and the Mosquito Coast area, east of La Ceiba. There, the landing of Colombian avionetas transporting cocaine is common, as are 4X4s and SUVs."

With Increased US Aid, Honduras Militarises Anti-Drug Fight  2/22/2011 Upside Down World: "Javier Aguirre, a young man from Juticalpa, told IPS that things there are tense. "The traffickers walk about freely, flaunting their weapons and their bodyguards, and there are places where you can't go after 8:00 at night, because they shoot you if they don't know you. "The problem is that there is complicity between the police and the 'narcos'. Leaders of the cartels can often be seen going into the police station to 'fix' things with the police, using drugs or money," he added. The stories coming out of Olancho are shocking. For example, after the frequent shootouts and killings, groups of heavily armed thugs often show up before the forensic experts can identify the bodies, to burn the corpses so they won't be recognised. But such incidents are rarely covered by the press. A journalist from that area who spoke to IPS under condition of anonymity said reporters there engaged in self-censorship because they would not be "the first killed for talking."

Honduras Human Rights Abuses Worse One Year After President Lobo Took Office  1/27/2011 Common Dreams

Nombran jefe de las Fuerzas Armadas al general que capturó a Zelaya  1/26/2011 Aporrea: "bo, cumplió este jueves un año de gestión en medio de protestas contra su gobierno y nombró jefe de las Fuerzas Armadas al general René Osorio Canales, quien dirigió la captura y el destierro del mandatario constitucional Manuel Zelaya durante el golpe de Estado del 28 de junio de 2009."

Denunciation of Facussé and el Cardemal  1/15/2011 Quotha: "That in July 2009 we presented a formal complaint to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor requesting an investigation and determination of whether the ex-President, Carlos Roberto Flores Facusee and Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez were responsible for Abuse of Authority and diversion of public funds, because, through an executive agreement in December 2001, the ex president authorized payment of 100 thousand lempira to the office of the cardinal monthly and permanently. This executive agreement was published in the newspaper La Gaceta and the Cardinal has publicly acknowledged that the money was received at least once by the archdiocese of Tegucigalpa."

Sus captores hablaban en inglés e idioma que Juan Chinchilla no reconoció  1/11/2011 Dick Emanuelsson: "Según la primera declaración de Chinchilla, los secuestradores eran guardias de Miguel Facussé, que incluso hablaban en inglés y en un idioma que no reconoció, posiblemente israelita que son expertos tanto en “consultoría de terrorismo estatal” como en ejecutar “acciones especiales” al servicio a los Poderes Facticos del mundo, pero siempre por un buen precio."

Interview with Juan Ramón Chinchilla, MUCA  1/11/2011 Quotha: [Israeli Mercs] - "On the afternoon of Sunday the 9th. They got me up and showed me a table with torture instruments on it. They began talking among themselves. They said, “What are we going to do first? Are we going to pull out a fingernail or burn him? Then they began to strike me in the face. They burnt my hair. They told me they were going to pour gasoline on my head and burn me. They beat me on the back with a club. There were several foreigners. Some spoke English and another spoke a language that I was not able to understand."

Pro-Coup Lobbyist Lanny Davis' Game Plan For Honduras  1/3/2011 NarcoNews: NarcoNews publisher Al Giordano is allergic to any discussion of the Israeli role in Honduras, this article does not discuss the fact that Davis is a Zionist neocon.

Organized Crime in Central America  12/14/2010 Wilson Center: "According to consultant James Bosworth, Honduras, like El Salvador and Guatemala, has experienced the effects of organized crime in Mexico, especially with respect to illicit trafficking. In recent years, the country has recorded one of the highest (if not the highest) homicide rates in the world, upwards of 60 murders per 100,000 inhabitants. Honduras has also become one of the world's most dangerous countries for journalists. However, Bosworth said, what distinguishes Honduras from its Central American neighbors is the 2009 coup against President Manuel Zelaya. The coup facilitated the expansion of organized crime in the country and demonstrated to the international community the incompatibility of goals of democracy promotion and public security."

Zacarias dirigió el asesinato de tres diputados ARENA que viajaban con $5 millones  11/17/2010 Contrainjerencia: "Jean-Guy Allard.- El venezolano Victor Rivera Aguaje, alias “Zacarias”, viejo colaborador de la CIA y socio de Luis Posada Carriles , fue parte de la estructura criminal que mató a los tres diputados salvadoreños asesinados en Guatemala en febrero de 2007, revela la investigación que también descubrió que los representantes del partido ARENA llevaban consigo cinco millones de dólares."

Honduras: Asesinados 640 jóvenes durante el régimen de Lobo  11/12/2010 Aporrea

U.S. ratchets up Contra War II against Nicaragua  11/3/2010 UniverCIA22: by Wayne Madsen

Honduras: Indigenous Peoples Ready to Mobilize Against Hydro Dams  10/29/2010 IntercontinentalCry: "Indigenous and Black Peoples from across Honduras have said they are ready to mobilize against 41 dam concessions which they say violate their rights, threaten the environment and endanger their communities. Representatives from several organizations and members of the Tulupanes, Pech, Miskito, Maya-Chortis, Lenca and Garifuna Peoples met from October 2-3, 2010 to discuss the current state of human rights and the environment in Honduras."

Narcotraficante Villela Meza, hermano de Armida de López contreras y cuñado de Federico Álvarez, será extraditado a EE.UU.  10/18/2010 Vos el Soberano: "Miguel Ángel Villela Meza es hermano de la lidereza de la fascista Unión Cívica Democrática UCD Armida Villela Meza de López Contreras, esposa del Canciller de la dictadura michelettista Carlos López Contreras. Así mismo, el capo de la droga y también traficante de armas, es cuñado del Supernumerario del OPUS DEI en Honduras, el costarricense Federico Álvarez, analista estrella del Diario La Tribuna."

Partners in Crime: The U.S. Secret State and Mexico's "War on Drugs"  9/17/2010 Global Research: Good links.

Honduras since the coup: Drug Traffickers’ Paradise  8/31/2010 CIP: "In his book El Narcotráfico en América Latina (English: Drug Trafficking in Latin America), Adalberto Santana indicates that in the seventies and eighties, during some of which time Honduras was under military rule, the Central American country became a US ally against communism in the isthmus. Santana states that the US tolerated drug trafficking that even the highest ranks of the military government were involved with. The author cites a report – “El Narcotráfico en Honduras 1982-1988” (English: Drug Trafficking in Honduras 1982-1988) – from the Honduras Data Centre, according to which drug trafficking there between 1982 and 1987 made revenue of 12 billion dollars."

Arming Aid: Costa Rica, the US Military and the Ongoing “War” on Drugs  8/17/2010 Upside Down World: "The US will begin sending warships to Costa Rica as early as August 20 despite the fact that the Costa Rican Supreme Court agreed to hear a case challenging its constitutionality. The court will hear the challenge to the Costa Rican legislative assembly's decision to permit the US to move 46 warships (with the capacity to carry 7,000 troops and 200 helicopters) into Costa Rican territory. While initially there were reports that the court’s agreement to do so would delay the arrival of US military personnel at least until they ruled, the US will begin to utilize the permission unabated."

Honduran Peasant Leader Assassinated  8/13/2010 Upside Down World

Who Is Behind the 25,000 Deaths In Mexico?  7/23/2010 The Nation: "Yet the daily torrent of local press accounts from Ciudad Juárez makes it clear that most of the murder victims are ordinary Mexicans who magically morph into drug cartel members before their blood dries on the streets, sidewalks, vacant lots, pool halls and barrooms where they fall dead, riddled with bullets… General Jorge Juárez Loera, the first commander of the Joint Operation Chihuahua, put it this way: "I would like to see reporters change their articles and instead of writing about one more murder victim, they should say, 'one less criminal.' "

Honduran women reject US military presence  7/16/2010 Prensa Latina: "Honduran women rejected the increased US military presence in the country and the installation of two new bases in the Caribbean Wednesday. “There are clear intentions by Washington to continue extending its operational range and to demonstrate from our territory its hegemony to wage a war that the peoples, do not want,” warned the Visitacion Padilla Movement of Women for Peace."

Washington Strikes out on Honduras  7/2/2010 Scoop: "President Obama’s Latin American policy scarcely differs from President Bush’s and his regional team has had few successes in rehabilitating Washington’s flawed image throughout the hemisphere."

Mexico's Gaza  6/15/2010 Counterpunch: "Today, nearly a quarter century after the initial Amnesty International report, the death toll in the Triqui region has mounted to over 400."

Statistical Analysis and Visualization of the Drug War in Mexico  6/15/2010 Diego Valle-Jones: "While the first joint army operations in 2006 and 2007 lowered the homicide rates in Michocán and Guerrero, later military operations in Chihuahua, Durango, Nuevo León, Veracruz and Durango have coincided with increases in homicides and attempts by the Sinaloa cartel to take over drug trafficking routes from rival cartels."

El Paso 'Cat and Mouse' Turns Fatal  6/12/2010 Consortium News: "One eyewitness told El Diario from Juarez, “I was at the flagpole on the [Paso del Norte] bridge waiting for my wife, and I suddenly saw the boys entering the American side. Immigration agents chased them, as they returned back. The boys were on the Mexican side, and an immigration officer or a police officer on a bicycle shot at the boys.” Another eyewitness, 53-year-old Bobbie McDow, was walking across the Paso del Norte bridge as well. She paused to watch the young men crossing back to Mexico. She said that the border patrol agents arrived and detained two men, but the others escaped back to Mexico. McDow said the 14-year-old teen was slain on the Mexican side of the border and was not throwing stones."

U.S. Military has Special Ops "Boots on the Ground" in Mexico  6/12/2010 NarcoNews

Human Rights in Cuba and Honduras, 2010: The Spring of Discontent  5/19/2010 Cuba L Analysis

Commentary: Growth of prominent Garifuna village in Belize will be doomed  5/15/2010 Caribbean Net News: "Due to the beautiful beaches that Hopkins possesses, rich Belizeans and foreign nationals have been buying up lands in the village and surrounding areas to open up tourist resorts. Many residents of Hopkins have and are migrating to the United States to join their family members, pursue higher education or to improve their economic situation. While this is occurring, there is a significant drop in the population growth among the Garifuna people and an increase in the population of the newcomers. A majority of the government land is being sold by the government and private landowners for residential and commercial purposes. When some members of the village experience economic hardship, they lean to sell their properties to foreigners for a huge amount of money."

Commentary: Investment in the southern part of Belize is long overdue  5/8/2010 Caribbean Net News: "How come suddenly they are interested in coming to live in the south not only from the northern part of our country but also from the neighboring republics? This is a question that I am grappling with every day of my life and sometimes I am wondering whether it is happening by design or accident. The industrialization of the south can only occur when the government decides to give this region its fair share of revenues that it has been deserving for years due to the amount of people that now reside in the south. Dangriga town is in need of about four factories in the immediate vicinity, to supply employment to its unemployed citizens. If we can help to provide these industrial facilities for our citizens, it will reduce the burden on the government."

Out of the Past, a New Honduran Culture of Resistance  5/3/2010 NACLA

Something fishy in Seine Bight?  4/27/2010 Amandala: "Amandala has received multiple reports from residents of Seine Bight, Stann Creek, alleging that the business of land transactions in the Garifuna fishing village has been riddled with irregularities: for instance, a lot being sold to one party when another party holds the lease for it; double issuing of leases for the same lot; and the issuance of lease land where a house built as a part of a community project now sits."

Activist speaks on human rights violations  4/15/2010 Bay State Banner: "In 2007, Luther Castillo was part of a team of Cuban-educated doctors who opened a hospital in Ciriboya, a community of Garifuna — the descendants of Africans and Arawak and Carib Indians that live on the Atlantic coast of Honduras. Things went well for the first two years, as the hospital grew and treated 378,000 patients in the impoverished coastal area. Then, a day after the June 2009 right wing coup in which the country’s military ousted democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, soldiers broke down the doors of Castillo’s hospital, stole medical supplies and intimidated doctors, most of whom left."

Genocidal pressures  4/13/2010 Amandala: "Two hundred years ago the black forestry worker was a prized commodity in the forestry–dominated economy of the settlement of Belize. It was around the same time that the Garifuna people had experienced genocidal pressures in Balliceaux and Roatan after waging war against the British and the French on St. Vincent. In Belize, the black forestry worker was indispensable to the mahogany trade, and therefore that worker enjoyed a certain status, although many such workers were technically still slaves. Meanwhile, the Garifuna people had been humbled by their genocidal experiences in St. Vincent, Balliceaux and Roatan, and they were no longer interested in a direct confrontation with white supremacy. They were seeking other ways to survive. Today on the Southside of Belize City, the descendants of Belize’s forestry workers have been drastically marginalized and they are experiencing genocidal pressures. As a result, we are seeing gang battles being fought by young boys and young men armed with automatic weapons and grenades. In some areas of the old capital, just to grow up on a certain street will mean that you are gang-affiliated, or viewed as such, especially if you are a healthy male. The gang battles in the old capital have been going on for more than two decades, and they have reached the point where “civilians” in certain areas have become fair game."

Honduran physician speaks here tonight  4/13/2010 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "Luther Castillo, a Honduran physician now leading a large international health mission in Haiti, will speak tonight (April 13) at 7 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church, 639 N. 25th St."

Disappearing the Truth in Honduras - "National Reconciliation" & the "Truth Commission" Provide Cover for Repression Aimed at Destroying the Demand for a New Constitution  4/9/2010 NarcoNews: "While the US and Canadian governments, corporate lobbyists in Washington and even WOLA (Washington Office on Latin America), a Washington based human rights NGO, assist the Honduran government in creating the illusion of “reconciliation,” death squads assassinate journalists, teachers and unionists."

Honduras: el peligro de informar la verdad  4/9/2010 PL: "Con cinco reporteros asesinados en el último mes, Honduras encabeza hoy la lista de países más peligrosos para el ejercicio del periodismo, sector fuertemente golpeado desde la ruptura del orden institucional en junio pasado. Las víctimas pertenecen a diferentes medios de prensa y a disímiles regiones del país y el único punto en común hasta ahora es que todos los crímenes permanecen impunes."

Report condemns Honduras violence  3/9/2010 CNN: "An Organization of American States commission condemned Monday the slayings last month of three Honduran political activists opposed to a military-led coup that removed the elected president in June. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights also said it deplores the kidnappings, arbitrary detentions, torture, sexual violations and illegal raids that the panel maintains other members of the political resistance have suffered since the June 29 coup."

III Congreso Mesoamericano de Areas Protegidas  3/8/2010 ODECO

Clinton Seeks Better Honduras Ties in Central America  3/5/2010 Bloomberg: "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on her first trip to Central America since the June coup in Honduras, announced the U.S. is restoring aid to the country and urged its neighbors to normalize ties following the election of a new president. The U.S. backs moves by President Porfirio Lobo “to promote national unity and strengthen democracy,” Clinton told reporters today in Guatemala City ahead of a meeting with five Central American and Caribbean leaders."

Honduras After the Coup: Fear and Defiance  3/4/2010 Inside Costa Rica: "I learned that a group of international volunteers were helping to rebuild a community radio station, so I took a bus north to spend a few days helping. There I met Alfredo Lopez, a leader of the Garifuna community along the north coast of Honduras. Alfredo was imprisoned for seven years on a false drug charge, because of his work in opposing developments of luxury vacation resorts that threaten to destroy communities and disperse the Garifuna people. Now, Lopez is back in his community, organizing a string of community radio stations that have a key role in informing and mobilizing the struggle against the well funded developers who covet their beautiful beaches."

Brasil en contra de pronta normalización de relaciones con Honduras  3/3/2010 Granma

Bicentenario Garifuna +13, Mes de la Herencia Africana en Honduras 2010  3/3/2010 ODECO

Thousands of Zelaya Supporters Renew Protests in Honduras  2/27/2010 Global Research: "Tegucigalpa -- Thousands of supporters of ousted Honduras president Manuel Zelaya took to the streets of the capital Thursday for the first time since President Porfirio Lobo took office last month, AFPreported. Lobo, who was elected in controversial polls held under the de facto regime, took power on January 27 and granted Zelaya safe passage to the Dominican Republic. Zelaya, a centrist who swung to the left while in office, had spent several months holed up in the Brazilian embassy after secretly returning to the Central American nation. Thursday's protesters called for reform of the constitution and denounced corruption and rights abuses since Zelaya was ousted last June. Some 10,000 people set off from the capital's main university but were blocked by soldiers from nearing the presidential palace and diverted to the parliament in the city center instead, according to organizers."

Sepultada Claudia Larisa Brizuela..  2/26/2010 ODECO: "El día ayer en horas de la tarde fueron sepultados los restos mortales de la sra. Claudia Larisa Brizuela, asesinada por desconocidos el pasado miércoles. La solidaridad y la indignación fue multitudinaria, la exigencia de justicia y la demanda de captura de él o los asesinos fue unánime por parte de los cientos amigos, amigas, dirigentes del movimiento popular y miembros de la Resistencia Nacional que hicieron acto de presencia acompañando a su Padre Compañero Pedro Antonio Brizuela. Queda pendiente la honesta, ágil y oportuna actuación de la Policia Nacional, así como de los órganos de justicia, para que el asesinato de Claudia, no sea otro caso mas que quede en la impunidad."

Photos of yesterday's massive march by Mario Ardón Mejía  2/26/2010 Quotha: "The first massive march to reject the continuation of the coup d'etat in Honduras. The golpistas are still in power. There is no one in the government who is not a golpista. Primera marcha multitudinaria para rechazar la continuidad del Golpe de Estado en Honduras. siguen los golpistas en el poder. No hay nadie en el gobierno que no sea golpista."

Congreso español rechaza reconocer de forma expresa las elecciones hondureñas  2/25/2010 El Libertador

In Solidarity with Pedro Brizuela in Honduras  2/25/2010 NarcoNews: "Yesterday afternoon between two and three o’clock gunmen knocked on the door of the home of Claudia Larisa Brizuela in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. When she answered the door, they assassinated her on the spot. Claudia, 36, was a member of the civil resistance movement in Honduras, and the daughter of Pedro Brizuela, union organizer, political strategist, radio host, columnist and good friend and collaborator of Narco News."

ROHRABACHER CODEL  2/24/2010 Cablesearch.org: "Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) visited Honduras January 31-February 2 and called on Hondurans to "turn the page" on the political events of the summer. Congressman Rohrabacher commended the Honduran people for their commitment to democracy and said he would urge the U.S. government to re-instate revoked U.S. visas. Congressman Rohrabacher expressed concern that establishment of a "truth commission," as called for by the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord, would have the effect of continuing to divide Hondurans. Congressman Rohrabacher, who was accompanied by several American businessmen and investors, endorsed US investment and particularly lauded the benefits of the development of biofuel industry in Honduras. He enthusiastically promoted a start-up biofuel company, SG Biofuels... In his conversation with President of Congress Juan Orlando Hernandez on February 1, Congressman Rohrabacher told Hernandez that he was an emissary of Honduras' friends in Congress, in particular member of Congress Ileana ROS-LEHTINEN."

Garifuna Collective Returns from Performance at Winter Olympics  2/22/2010 7 News Belize: "The Garifuna Collective and Umalali Singers flew into Belize today after a two week North American tour. They crisscrossed the west coast of the United States with stops in Seattle, Washington, San Diego in California, and the jetted across to the east coast for shows in Boston and New Hampshire. But the highlight of the tour was a performance at the Cultural Olympiad as part of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, Canada. We met the band at the airport this morning and got their reaction to the tour – where – strange as it sounds - for the first time they got to play to audiences who were sitting down. Desiree Diego told us how the Women’s Collective got them to stand up."

Empresa Hidroeléctrica en Sambo Creek  2/22/2010 ODECO: "El día de ayer se celebró una importante reunión entre las Juntas Directivas de los Patronatos, las Juntas de Agua Sambo Creek y Corinto con los miembros de la Sociedad Hidroelétrica La Ensenada, con el propósito de establecer una aproximación sobre las eventuales consecuencias positivas y/o negativas derivadas de la posible implementación de un Proyecto Hidroeléctrico sobre los rios Cuyamel y Sambo Creek."

Pepe Lobo appoints his daughter as Central American Bank Honduras Director  2/21/2010 Quotha

The Honduran Dam Controversy and Micheletti’s Legacy  2/20/2010 America's Quarterly: "Just before relinquishing power, Micheletti and the Congress rushed to approve a $160 million contract to operate and improve the José Cecilio del Valle Dam (better known as the Nacaome Dam). In January, the Honduran Congress sped through the process of granting the contract to a Honduran-Italian consortium. Then-President of the Congress, José Alfredo Saavedra, argued that Congress had recently fast-tracked laws, including the general amnesty passed in January, so the contract should not raise concerns. After the congressional vote, Roberto Micheletti signed the contract into law in his last cabinet meeting. Almost immediately after Micheletti left power and Congress changed hands, however, the contract came into question. Only days after President Porfirio Lobo took office, the new government placed a hold on the publication of the decree in the country’s official newspaper, La Gaceta. Two weeks later, however, it became clear that La Gaceta had published two versions for January 22, 2010, with the same issue number. One version contained 16 pages, with no mention of the dam contract; the other included an additional 16 pages covering the dam contract and the creation of a new government office of criminal investigation. To make matters worse, the office in charge of publishing La Gaceta, Empresa Nacional de Artes Gráficas (ENAG), apparently only published 20 copies of the second version, and then denied publishing them at all once these copies had disappeared."

Organismos de derechos humanos pide a Presidente Lobo revierta la violencia desatada contra Resistencia  2/18/2010 El Libertador

Colombia's Uribe Signs Security Pact with Honduras' Lobo  2/16/2010 Latin American Herald Tribune: "He added that both Honduras and Colombia are harmed by drug trafficking and terrorism, scourges that destroy “morality and ethics” while creating in society “an attitude of contempt for the law.”" [Uribe was cited in a DIA memo as a close personal friend of Pablo Escobar.]

Julio Funes Benítez, another resistance member assassinated  2/16/2010 Quotha: "Just hours ago on this Monday February 15th, our compañero in resistance JULIO FUNES BENITEZ, of the Union of Aquaduct and Sewage Workers SITRASANAA, was murdered. The assassins shot at him in a cowardly fashion from a taxi, near the Brisas del Norte colonia [neighborhood] of Comayagüela."

Alleged Kidnap Plot Shows Intel Chief's Hostile Intent,  2/9/2010 Cablesearch.org: "On February 2, Vice President Varela told Ambassador that Alfaro had complained to Martinelli that the Embassy had not provided any help in the kidnap investigations. Alfaro believed this demonstrated that the USG is not a reliable security partner. As a result, Varela said, Alfaro had moved to bring in Israeli security consulting firm GLOBAL CST to advise on setting up a new protective detail for Martinelli. Senior GOP leaders had previously engaged GLOBAL CST in late 2009 to conduct a security study, but disengaged from the company after being advised of the USG's experience with GLOBAL CST in Colombia and Ecuador (ref B). "

Pepe Lobo, Imperialism and the Resistance - Consolidating the Coup in Honduras  2/5/2010 Counterpunch

Central American News Archive: 2010-2012

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Central American News
Archive: 2010-2012