[PEN-L:28231] HONDURAN COMPESINOS NEED YOUR SUPPORT

[Nancybrumback@xxxxxx]

>From nandl@xxxxxxxxxxx  Fri Jul 12 12:39:36 2002

HONDURAN COMPESINOS NEED YOUR SUPPORT

We are circulating a letter in solidarity with the campesinos
murdered by guards working for Standard Fruit, a Dole subsidiary, in
Honduras on March 28.

The letter is first; more info about the struggle follows, which is
condensed in the letter.

You can return this letter via email, with signature, to the Chicago
solidarity group, La Voz de los de Abajo, at lavoz@xxxxxxxxx They
will compile all the letters and mail them to Dole and Honduran
government officials.

Please circulate.

THANKS for your support.

--Chicago News and Letters Committees

--------------------------


LETTER SUPPORTING 1 DE OCTUBRE CAMPESINOS IN HONDURAS:

24 Abril de 2002

Lic. Ricardo Maduro
Presidente de la Republica de Honduras
Casa Presidencial
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Distinguido Se=F1or Presidente Maduro:

Respetuosamente me dirijo a Usted para expresar una profunda
preocupaci=F3n por la masacre de cuatro campesinos el 28 de Marzo de
2002 en Belfate, Colon, por parte de vigilantes de la Standard Fruit
de Honduras, quien seg=FAn testigos fueron los responsables de la
masacre, bajo la direcci=F3n de su jefe, Celio Zelaya. Solicitamos la
investigaci=F3n del caso, la captura y el juicio debido de los
responsables. Adem=E1s, estamos sumamente preocupados por las amenazas
sufridas por los distintos sectores de la sociedad civil que buscan
la resoluci=F3n pacifica de los conflictos de tierra en todo el pa=EDs.

Exigimos la resoluci=F3n pacifica de los conflictos por medio de la
adjudicaci=F3n tierras nacionales a los campesinos quienes las habitan.

Exigimos que se aplica su pol=EDtica de Cero Tolerancia en contra los
responsables de este crimen contra campesinos que solo buscan medidas
de sobrevivir.

Atentamente:

[signatura]


cc: Lic. Jose Erasmo Portillo, Director, Instituto Nacional Agrario
Ambassador Frank Almaguer, US Embassy in Honduras
David Sesi, Chairman and CEO of Dole Bananas
David H. Murdock, President of Standard Fruit de Honduras
Honduran Campesinos Murdered By Standard Fruit/Dole Guards

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

by Kari Lydersen 4:27pm Mon May 20 '02

article#10750

karilyde@xxxxxxx

=46our campesinos were murdered by guards working for Standard Fruit, a
subsidiary of Dole Foods, on March 28 as they walked to work on
unused land they had reclaimed from the company. The battle to get
justice for the victims and to get the truth out continues.

Almost a century ago Honduras earned the nickname "Banana Republic"
because of the way U.S. fruit companies, namely United Fruit and
Standard Fruit, essentially ruled the country with an iron fist,
exploiting cheap labor in the desperately poor country to make
billions in exporting  bananas, coconuts and other tropical fruit.

Though the term "Banana Republic" is now connected more with the
trendy clothing store than Central America, the tradition of violence
and exploitation by U.S. fruit companies in Honduras continues.

On March 28, four campesinos in the Empresa Campesina 1 de Octubre
organization were murdered by guards working for Standard Fruit of
Honduras, a subsidiary of Dole Foods, as they walked to work in the
Lis Lis area in the Colon province. While Dole maintains the
campesinos were killed in a mutually armed confrontation with the
guards, witnesses say the campesinos were all unarmed and were
ambushed by 17 or more guards lying in wait for them with AK-47s.

"At 7:30 that morning, the guards surprised about 40 farmers as they
emerged into a clearing," wrote human rights activist Marguerite
Pigeon in an April 6 report from the scene. "People ran in all
directions, many taking cover in a nearby creek as bullets flew by
indiscriminately, lodging in trees and leaving dead Manuel De Jesus
Reyes, 30, Feliciano Orellana Pacheco, 45, and Catarino Morales, 55."

Another man, Santos Lopez, later died from his injuries. A bitter
struggle had been going on between the 76 campesino families who make
up the 1 de Octubre organization and the fruit company for months.

The Lis Lis land, rich forest and farmland on the coast, was never
actually bought by Standard Fruit but was given as a concession to
the U.S.-based company at the turn of the century. During the
agrarian reform movement in 1975, the concession was ended and the
land reverted to the National Agrarian Institute. But in typical
convoluted fashion, in a country ranked one of the most corrupt in
Latin America, Standard Fruit of Honduras claimed to still have title
to the land.

Under the agrarian reform laws, if land is not being used it can
legally be "reclaimed" by campesinos who plan to work on it. The
campesinos had first occupied the land, 650 hectares that had
formerly been a coconut plantation, on October 1 of last year.

They were evicted after three weeks when Standard went to the Justice
of the Peace to file criminal charges. The campesinos filed for
ownership of the land with the National Agrarian Institute in
December, a case which is still pending. On March 20 they reoccupied
the land.

"According to several eye witnesses, the guards first arrived the day
before the attack with their boss, Celio Zelaya -- all employees of a
security company called Multiservicios of La Ceiba, Honduras," Pigeon
wrote. "During a discussion with some of the farmers the guards
claimed they would be back the next day with documented proof that
the land was privately owned by Standard Fruit of Honduras. The
guards did come back, but with guns rather than paper and a plan to
kill as many of the farmers as they could."

In a statement, Dole said the farmers responded to the massacre by
threatening to burn and destroy Standard Fruit property. Pigeon
reported that later the same day guards and police came back again
threatening violence.

"After the morning massacre, the guards returned at 1 p.m.
accompanied by Celio Zelaya and 10 more private police brought in
from the nearby city of La Ceiba," she wrote. "They came wearing
baclavas and, according to the farmers, advanced in attack formation
-- crouching, guns aimed."

Land struggles like that in Lis Lis are going on all over the
country; since 1985 at least 39 campesinos from the CNTC campesino
organization (Central Nacional de Trabajadores Campesinos) alone have
been murdered over land reclamations.

Rosalio Murcia Portillo, head of the CNTC, said violence and tension
surrounding land struggles in Honduras has increased this year under
the new administration of president Ricardo Maduro, exacerbated by a
worsening drought, Maduro's courting of foreign investors and his
"zero tolerance" policy based on U.S. models of responding to dissent.

At the behest of campesino and indigenous groups, a government
commission is investigating the murders; meanwhile the seven guards
who originally were jailed for the attack have reportedly been
released and Standard has hired a private defense attorney for them.

Standard has a notorious history in the region, including a long
record of union busting and poor working conditions. In 1998 the
company settled a lawsuit with hundreds of workers who suffered
sexual impotence, sores and other serious health effects from
nocturnal spraying of the chemical Nemagon on the plantations. With
$4.5 billion in profits world-wide each year, Dole, Standard's parent
company, is the largest fresh produce company in the world, joining
Del Monte and Chiquita as the Big Three producers of  bananas,
pineapple, melon and other fruit from Latin America.

The Chicago-based solidarity group La Voz de los de Abajo is
collecting signatures on the above letter to send to the Honduran
government and Dole's U.S. offices. Supporters can copy the letter,
add their signature, and paste it in an email to La Voz at
lavoz@xxxxxxxxx For more information, contact La Voz at
lavoz@xxxxxxxxx

-Kari  Lydersen