Honduran coffee harvest relies on child workers

[Judi Lynn]

Honduran coffee harvest relies on child workers
By Agence France-Presse
Friday, December 24th, 2010 -- 5:37 pm

EL PARAISO, Honduras — Evelyn and Carlos toil for 10 hours a day on chilly mountainsides in Honduras, filling baskets with ripe red coffee beans for a handful of dollars: they are six and eight years old.

"Sometimes I fill up to seven baskets a day," said Evelyn, deftly swatting branches out of her way before picking prime Honduran coffee beans and dropping them into a wicker container hanging from her tiny waist.

Evelyn's estimate was likely a bit off since Carlos, two years her senior, said he only managed four -- Evelyn could easily be forgiven as she had just started school and was still learning basic arithmetic.

The children probably manage to pick about 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of coffee beans a day. Their rich produce sold this week at market for 2.34 dollars a pound -- a daily haul, therefore, worth roughly 150 dollars.

More:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/honduran-coffee-child-workers/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Honduras: Women’s Rights Under Seige After Military Coup

Honduras: Women’s Rights Under Seige After Military Coup
Posted on 03 December 2010

23 of 217 registered cases (10%), women have declared that they were victims of groping, being bashed in the breasts and vagina, being subject to sexual violence, insults and torture/humiliation.There have been 12 cases of rape by police/soldiers reported after protests or during curfews or who had been targeted for kidnapping for their participation in the resistance.

I read on a website that women made up 70% of the (to date, non-violent) Popular Resistance – the broad movement of people organising courageously in opposition to the coup and towards a National Constituent Assembly. Unfortunately, as I try to look up this reference, the website is currently down due to targeted virus attacks – a common occurrence for media outlets reporting the truth about Honduras

4 women have been killed in protests/for participating in the resistance: Wendy Avila and Olga Osiris Ucles were both killed by tear gas soon after President Zelaya’s entry into the Brazilian Embassy. In February 2010, Vanesa Zepeda, a vocal unionist and participant in the anti-coup movement has recently been killed and dumped on the street dead, leaving young children. Also in February 2010, Claudia Brizuela, an active resistance member and daughter of a prominent activist, was shot dead in her home in front of her young children, when she opened her door. Several women reported death threats the day Claudia was killed.

When I was in Honduras as a human rights observer some of the most inspiring and brave actions I witnessed were of women in resistance. In one moment I saw how one woman journalist witnessed police covering over their number plates (to be unidentifiable for when they commit human rights crimes), this woman was jotting down the number plate and someone inside the vehicle took her photo and threatened to kill her. Instead of being scared, she got angry, talked back and ripped off the piece of paper that covered one of the number plates and reported the number on her mobile to a human rights organisation. Another woman journalist showed no fear toward the lines of soldiers that barricaded the Brazilian Embassy; she approached them and took photos of the soldiers. A mother protested as the military took one of her sons away during curfew one evening; they knocked her to the ground, but they did not silence her.

More:
http://inewp.com/?p=5862

[Judi Lynn]

2. Honduran Army Evicts Farmers in Aguan Valley

Honduran Army Evicts Farmers in Aguan Valley

TEGUCIGALPA - Army and police members evicted on Wednesday dozens of Honduran farmers, who blocked a road demanding solutions to the land conflict in Aguan Valley.

Nearly 500 troops took part in the operation launched in the road linking Tocoa and Trujillo municipalities, in northern Colon department, where farmers from the Unified Peasants Movement of Aguan (MUCA) had been blocking the road for eleven days to demand the demilitarization of the area and compliance with agreements reached with the Government in April.

~snip~
"We need every farmer to have a plot of land to make a living, said MUCA member Agustin Calix, who denounced that 35 farmers have been killed for fighting for a piece of land.

Honduras is one of the countries in the region with the highest social inequality, with only one percent of producers holding a third of the most fertile land.

http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynews/2010/december/16/centralamerica10121602.htm

[Tripod]

3. I wish it wasn't so.

My emotions conflict with what is going on here... But that is what it is all about. Money, for her or his family? I don't know. Thank you for posting this, so I know... so sad.