The Honduran peasant organization delivered the proposal to Congress on October 11 in the country’s capital Tegucigalpa and it hopes it will be passed as soon as possible. Under Porfirio Lobo’s administration, successor of the dictatorship imposed in a coup d’etat staged by Roberto Micheletti and the Armed Forced on June 28, 2009, the region of Bajo Aguan has witnessed the murder of nearly 40 peasants with total impunity.

The State’s repressive apparatus as well as the paramilitary groups and hired assassins paid by big land owners in the area are the main causes of the crimes, claim the peasant organizations and leaders of the Honduran resistance. Palm oil producer Miguel Facussé, one of the most powerful men of Aguan and close to the dictatorial regime is especially pointed as one of the responsible.

On October 11, before submitting the bill to Congress, La Via Campesina Honduras held a Climate Change forum with the participation of experts. The forum dealt with the extreme violence in the Honduran countryside. Peasants from different parts of the country participated. Researcher Camila Montecinos, of GRAIN international organization and Juan Almendares of Madre Tierra-Friends of the Earth Honduras were some of the speakers.

Photo: http://nicaraguaymasespanol.blogspot.com