Two community radio reporters to be tried for “disobeying the authorities” (Honduras)

[Judi Lynn]

Two community radio reporters to be tried for “disobeying the authorities”
Published on 27 December 2010.

Reporters Without Borders condemns a decision by a judge in the southern town of Amapala to try community radio reporters Elia Xiomara Hernández and Elba Yolibeth Rubio on charges of disobeying the authorities and “taking part in demonstrations that obstruct public services.” The trial is to take place on 11 January.

Hernández and Rubio, who work for radio La Voz de Zacate Grande, were arrested on 15 December while covering a protest by a family being evicted from land it had occupied in the locality of Coyolito on the southern island of Zacate Grande.

At the moment of their arrest, they produced documents showing that they are journalists. They were nonetheless held illegally for 36 hours without being told the charges and without being allowed to make any phone calls. They were hit and they were denied medical treatment. Their equipment was also confiscated. And they are currently prohibited from leaving the districts where they live.

“We deplore the decision to prosecute two journalists who were just doing their job and committed no crime, and we urge the authorities to drop all the charges,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Covering a protest is not the same as participating in it. We also demand that they be compensated for the suffering resulting from this arbitrary arrest. And those responsible for the violence against them must be called to account.”

More:
http://en.rsf.org/honduras-two-community-radio-reporters-to-27-12-2010,39161.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. This is the situation the reporters were covering until they were seized:

A State of Siege in Northern Honduras: Land, Palm Oil and Media
Written by Peter Lackowski
Tuesday, 30 November 2010 18:42

Palm oil is a convenient source of biodiesel, and oil palms grow very well in the valley of the Bajo (Lower) Aguan River of northeastern Honduras. This valley is the home of some of the poorest people in one of the poorest countries in the Americas. Their poverty is due, in large part, to the fact that most of the land in the region has been appropriated by powerful corporations controlled by members of the Honduran oligarchy, led by one of the richest and most ruthless of them all, Miguel Facusse.

Facusse owns massive tracts of land throughout the country, much of which he has obtained by fraudulent deals made possible by the corruption of government officials. In the early 1990's, 5000 acres in the Bajo Aguan was awarded to peasants after the closure of a military base on which personnel were trained by the USA in the use of torture and other methods of repression. Facusse bribed "community leaders" to make deals to sign this and other land over to him for bargain prices. He also employs hundreds of heavily armed "security" personnel who are used to intimidate and murder those who stand in his way, so any peasants who objected to this process were "neutralized." (resistenciahonduras.hn November 16)

One of the reasons that President Manuel Zelaya was deposed on June 28, 2009 was the fact that he was actively carrying out a program of land reform, implementing laws that were on the books but never enforced, actively investigating and rectifying cases of fraud and corruption that had deprived campesinos of their land. Miguel Facusse was a prominent supporter of the coup, along with other members of the oligarchy who opposed Zelaya's land reform, his raising of the minimum wage, and various other things he was doing to benefit and empower the popular classes. Zelaya's ouster put an end to these efforts.

With or without the help of president Zelaya, the peasants of the Lower Aguan were living in such extreme poverty that they had no choice but to continue with their struggle for land. Around the beginning of 2010 they began invading the land in question and planting subsistence crops. Facusse's thugs moved in and began killing and beating peasants and destroying their property. But the current president, Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo, who came to power in an election tainted by repression, censorship, and massive abstention, was faced with the task of obtaining diplomatic recognition for his post-coup de facto government, and this did not look good to international observers. So Lobo began negotiating with Facusse and the campesinos to use public funds to buy him off. Meanwhile, he moved thousands of Honduran troops into the region to set off fears of a massacre that might be carried out under the cover of clearing out "illegal squatters." The clear intention was to motivate the campesinos to accept the terms of whatever deal he struck--or else. Of course the troops were said to be there in the interest of public safety, to prevent acts of "terror" by those lawless, land invading peasants. In April 2010 Lobo announced a deal according to which the campesinos would get a lot less land than they were demanding, with the added requirement that half of that land would have to be used to grow palm oil, and that the palm fruits would have to be sold to Facusse for processing.

More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/2800-a-state-of-siege-in-northern-honduras-land-palm-oil-and-media

~~~~~
Honduras: Campesinos Expelled Like 'Vermin'
Written by Giorgio Trucchi, Translated by Peter Lackowski
Wednesday, 15 December 2010 21:59

Soldiers and police armed to the teeth violently evict defenseless peasant families. The presence of human rights organizations and national and international journalists prevents, this time, a new blood bath in the Bajo Aguan.

The dawning of Thursday, December 9, brought terror to dozens of campesino families of the Bajo (Lower) Aguan River Valley. Several contingents of soldiers and police, armed to the teeth, evicted them without any judicial order, nor the presence of an administrative judge, from the settlement of Paso Aguan, on the left bank of the Aguan River.

The delegation of human rights organizations and national and international journalists arrived at the place just as the the repressive forces of the state were finishing their "work."

Dozens of troops, armed with M16 rifles and even with an M60 machine gun were forcing men, women, and children to abandon the place that they had recovered some months ago from the hands of Miguel Facusse, a wealthy landholder who grows oil palms.

More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/2820-honduras-campesinos-expelled-like-vermin

http://www.latribuna.hn.nyud.net:8090/web2.0/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/miguel-facusse.jpg

Miguel Facusse, landowner, etc.

Google translation:
Miguel Facusse landlord accused of the murder of 14 peasants
Morazánican Network Information

Tegucigalpa December 10, 2010. The President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Honduras CODEH, Andrés Pavón, Miguel landowner criminally accused Facusse, for the murder of 14 peasants in the Lower Valley area Aguán.

The action was filed with the Public Ministry (MP), the International Day of Human Rights at a time when Honduras is experiencing one of its worst crisis in the protection of civil and political rights, as a direct result of the coup of State.

~snip~
According to Pavon, in the murder of peasants in the Valley have been observed Aguan three special figures, "the murder by hired killers, hate crimes and crimes premeditated or planned massacres."

CODEH is the criterion that the attack on the peasants in the "Hacienda el Tumbador" was made by the landowner under an assassin's thesis that the best defense is attack. "

The organization said that the conflict over land tenure have been no clashes as the police has said, "that there are massacres of peasants", the proof is that it only records a policeman dead.

~snip~
Facusse is a powerful businessman who intends to seize large tracts of land, which the INA National Agrarian Institute, are public lands owned by the State of Honduras, for purposes of agrarian reform after having been purchased from individuals

http://hondurasenlucha.blogspot.com/2010/12/codeh-acusa-al-terrateniente-miguel.html
(Graphic photos.)

[Peace Patriot]

2. It's interesting to see what stories Reporters With CIA Borders picks out to focus on.

It's interesting to see what stories Reporters With CIA Borders picks out to focus on.

I have no doubt at all that the fascists in Honduras are persecuting these Honduran journalists, as they say. But I don't trust this organization, Reporters Without Borders, at all. Not even a little bit. I think their "causes" are vetted and approved by Langley.

So that raises the interesting question of CIA policy under its new Director Leon Panetta. I think he's a subtler "player" than the Bush Junta CIA Directors and operatives. The CIA became divided and erratic under the Rumsfeld-Cheney assault, and tried to pull off some downright silly escapades, like that "suitcase full of money" caper out of Miami (meant to slander/damage the leftist presidents of Venezuela and Argentina), the "miracle laptop" (a Rumsfeld-smelling plot meant to slander/damage the leftist presidents of Venezuela and Ecuador) and their raw coup-mongering in Venezuela and Bolivia. One of Panetta's jobs, I think--probably assigned by his associate Daddy Bush (he was a member of Daddy's Bush's Iraq Study Group)--is to heal the wounds of the Rumsfeld-Cheney war on the CIA, especially Pentagon vs CIA wounds. I think they did real damage to CIA operations and we're now seeing a much more coordinated effort to achieve U.S. multinational corporate/war profiteer objectives in Latin America, which I would characterize as more realistic and thus more achievable. We're seeing Bushwhack diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies in Latin America which just spout utter nonsense--like the one I just read a report of, on Bolivia, saying that Morales stole the Bolivian election. No wonder every objective of the Bushwhacks failed in Bolivia and in numerous other places. You can't get what you want by being just plain stupid about a given situation--ignoring reality, ignoring facts, ignoring the Carter Center, the OAS, the United Nations and the European Union, all of whom certified Bolivia's election as honest and aboveboard. You have to start with what is REAL.

And that's the difference in what I'm seeing and guessing about, as to Panetta policy. For instance, he jettisoned Alvaro Uribe in Colombia. Uribe was/is filthy dirty on rightwing death squads, bribery, illegal domestic spying, drug trafficking and other crimes. Colombian prosecutors were going after him. He was also trying to trigger a war with Venezuela, prematurely. Panetta is protecting him from prosecution in Colombia and is coddling him, but I'm pretty sure he nixed a Uribe coup d'etat attempt (to stay in power) and firmly ousted him from his position as president of Colombia, to be replaced by Uribe's former Defense Minister who, among other things, immediately invited Chavez to a peace pow-wow. So now there is peace and TRADE between Colombia and Venezuela once again. The borders are open not just to trade but also to infiltration. Chavez is not an easy leftist leader to overthrow, as has been proven time and again. It will take time--and subtlety. An open border can help with subtler plans such as destabilizing border areas with death squads and drugs and weapons trafficking and moving the malefactors further into Venezuela, and sending in other on-the-ground spies and operatives. I expect better set-up's of Chavez and members of his government than the "suitcase full of money" or the "miracle laptops." The set-up's have to be believable to other Latin American leaders as well as to Venezuelans. Serious financial plots are also easier with an open border. Indeed, many sorts of anti-Chavez plots can be aided by this "peace."

Panetta may not approve of the Honduran coup. The raw, bloody repression will only drive people further left and fuel their desire for independence and for decent government. The situation is explosive, with the rightwing government propped up by the Honduran and U.S. militaries. It all could blow up in their faces. Panetta might have preferred to see President Zelaya set up for more real-seeming charges and put on trial--rather than being roughly ousted by kidnapping at gunpoint with absurd lies leveled against him. That is what I mean by subtler. The Honduran coup unfolded only six months into the Obama administration and I think Panetta had only been in office as CIA Director for a few months. (--can't remember when he was confirmed; the coup might have even occurred before he was confirmed). The coup had all the marks of Bush Junta thuggishness and Stalinist "Big Lie" techniques about it--possibly unfolding when it did to embarrass Obama and force him to change his stated policy of "peace, respect and cooperation" in Latin America--to harden his policy, which he did. This has had serious repercussions in U.S. relations with other Latin American countries, most notably Brazil. Important as it undoubtedly was, to our multinational corporate/war profiteer rulers, to keep Honduras as a U.S. client state and as a base of operations against Honduras' leftist neighbor governments, I don't think Panetta would have gone about it that way, raising so many hackles throughout the region, and hardening opinion against the U.S./Obama right back in their faces.

All of this is to say that Panetta/the CIA might be behind this "Reporters Without Borders" report on the harassment of these journalists by Honduras' illegitimate fascist regime or at least may have okayed it. It may also be a pressure tactic--like the stories that we occasionally see in the corpo-fascist press about the horrendous fascist violence in Colombia, while the U.S. shovels $7 BILLION of our tax dollars to the very factions committing the violence. Basically, the U.S. is now doing the same thing in Honduras--shoveling money to the fascists who are killing and harassing opponents--but trying to make it look like we are somehow promoting democracy. The U.S. has to pretend to be against such violence and repression. It's part of the psychosis of our national leadership and those whom they answer to, that the world should perceive the U.S. as "well-meaning." This "should-be" is completely out of touch with reality. The world now expects war, lawlessness and Big Lie propaganda from the U.S., not justice. The Bush Junta utterly shattered the reputation of the U.S. as "well-meaning," for any who still believed in it. And the world-at-large has not seen anything from Obama to indicate a serious break from Bushwhack policy. But U.S. policy proceeds on this notion, nevertheless (that the U.S. is "well meaning"). They also have U.S. "free trade for the rich" to sell to its victim states, to Congress and to us. This requires bullshit about the U.S. "promoting democracy" and frowning on death squads and other repression in its client states (meanwhile running death squads of its own, with lots of "collateral damage," in Afghanistan and other places).

In short, Panetta is charged with "cleaning up the image" of U.S.-installed/supported fascist regimes. This is why he would okay this RWB story--to pressure the Honduran fascists to not be so obvious about their repression, and to uphold the pretense that U.S. is a good influence. The Bushwhacks didn't bother much with this kind of subtle manipulation. To them, it didn't matter much what anybody thought as long as they had control of the biggest war machine ever to be created on earth and the powers of the U.S. government to bludgeon others into submission. Their policy was creating a dark storm of opposition abroad, in every direction. Panetta and Obama have tried to anneal that opposition without any significant change of U.S. policy which serves multinational corporations and war profiteers.

In fact, this is what Lula da Silva was complaining about, in his last speech as president: the U.S. has NOT changed. They may mouth platitudes about Honduras, for instance (a particular concern of da Silva's), but their purpose is to keep this illegitimate, fascist, violent government in place there.

[social_critic]

3. Are there any other CIA agents hiding out there?

Do you think Liu Xiaobo is a CIA agent?

What about Marios Vargas Llosa?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101011/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_nobel_prize_reax

[Peace Patriot]

5. Don't be naive, dear. The CIA covertly runs all sorts of organizations. Where have you BEEN? nt

[friendly_iconoclast]

4. Yeah, the reporters should have been charged with disrespecting government authorities

I mean, if such a law is good in Venezuela, why isn't it good in Honduras?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=4666146

Chavez's congressional allies are considering extending the "Social Responsibility Law" for broadcast media to the Internet, banning messages that "disrespect public authorities," "incite or promote hatred" or crimes, or are aimed at creating "anxiety" in the population.