Honduras Vertical blindness and the Anteroom to a War  http://alainet.org/active/36783&lang=es

In La Prensa daily’s March 4, 2010 edition, there appeared several articles against the Bajo Aguán peasant community (the estimate could be made that more than 100 thousand lempiras –almost five thousand dollars- were spent in that edition for that purpose).Among these articles the Investigation Series (an interview with Melvin Sauceda, Police Sub-Chief for Tocoa Colón) stands out. Let us start by analyzing the headline: “We Police and FFAA [the Armed Forces] have been too passive.”  

First we can ask ourselves, With whom the police and military forces have been complacent? How have they behaved regarding the crimes against and violations of human rights committed by mining, banana, oil palm (for biofuels), and the oligarchy who maintain hired guns and veritable paramilitary armies? What was the basis for the military policy of destroying the Isletas peasant company? What national interests have they protected and defended in Yoro, Atlántida and Colón? Why are they silent concerning the Soto Cano (Palmerola) military base in Comayagua, which violates our national sovereignty?

Why were the Armed Forces involved in CREM (Regional Military Training Center), which trained Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Guatemalan and Honduran troops, following Pentagon orders, which was the headquarters not only for assaulting our brethren, the peoples of Central America, but also to train torturers and the perpetrators of the crimes on our people’s grassroots and students leaders.  

"Passive"? Yet, historically, police and military forces have been extremely active in violently evicting peasant organizations, local residents, indigenous peoples, Garifunas and now are doing just that in the Bajo Aguán. Suffice it to remember Tacamiche, Isletas, El Nuevo Amanecer, El Mochito, Las Vegas and the banana zones. The crimes against members and leaders of the National People’s Resistance Front are the best evidence of this.