Farmers Under Fire Worldwide

Land activist killed in Brazilian Amazon

2010-04-04T17:14:00.000-07:00

A Brazilian land reform activist has been killed in the Amazon state of Para amid ongoing land disputes in the area.

Police said two men on motorbikes shot Pedro Alcantara de Souza five times in the head as he was riding a bicycle.
Mr Souza, the head of a union of landless farmers in Para, had led the occupations of large farms by peasants.
American nun Dorothy Stang was killed in the same region in 2005, after she had spent three decades working with peasants and small farmers there.
Contract killings
Mr Souza was the president of the small farmers' union in the town of Rendencao and had previously served for 14 years as the city councillor.
The police say his killing was carried out by hired gunmen, the BBC's Paulo Cabral reports From Sao Paulo.
No arrests have yet been made.
Mr Souza was shot just hours after the trial was delayed of the landowner accused of ordering the murder of Dorothy Stang, 73.
Vitalmiro Bastos Moura was originally convicted for the killing in 2007. The verdict was overturned a year later, but he is now due to face a third trial.
There were 20 documented killings in 2008 linked to land issues in the Amazon, a survey by the Catholic Church showed.
Brazil's agrarian reform laws state that unused farmland can be taken by the government and distributed among landless farmers.
There have been some improvements in recent years, but severe inequality persists - government figures show that nearly half the arable land in Brazil belongs to just 1% of the population.

Settlers Attack Farmers At Different Locations In The West Bank

2010-03-23T17:02:00.000-07:00

Tuesday March 23, 2010 18:24 by Ghassan Bannoura - IMEMC News & Agencies

Armed Israeli settlers attacked on Tuesday Palestinian farmers in different locations in the occupied West Bank.

Settler spraying a Palestinian Muslim woman with wine at Hebron old city market southeren West Bank – file 2009

In the village of Qauit, northern West Bank, settlers prevented dozens of farmers from reaching their land. Witnesses said that settlers used guns and threatened to open fire at the farmers should they try to reach their lands.

In central West Bank, armed settlers attacked farmers from Sinjel village, while working in their lands.

The famers said that they were plowing their lands when the settlers attacked them. Soldiers arrived at the location, and moved the settlers away but forced the villagers to leave their lands.

There are 500,000 settlers living in West Bank settlements. According to international law all Israeli settlement in the West Bank, including those in Jerusalem, are illegal.

Israeli attack on farmers threats life of sick boy

2010-02-24T16:31:00.000-08:00

extracts from PCHR weekly report 18/2-23/2/10

Saturday, 20 February 2010

At approximately 09:00, IOF moved into Safa village, north of Hebron. They fired tear gas canisters and sound bombs and chased Palestinian farmers to prevent them from accessing their agricultural lands. Israeli troops fired tear gas canisters at a number of houses, which threatened the life of 8-year-old Nasser Bassam 'Aadi, who suffers from several chronic diseases. According to his mother, a tear gas canister was fired at the house, which forced her to take him from the house to his uncle's house, as he faced extreme difficulties breathing.

Philippines: Farmer killed by soldiers in Maguindanao

2010-02-02T17:38:00.000-08:00

ZAMBOANGA CITY: A government soldier was wounded after a farmer whom he tried to arrest for carrying a sickle near a checkpoint attacked him in the southern Philippines.
Other soldiers also manning the checkpoint fatally shot the farmer in Maguindanao’s Datu Piang town. The military blamed the country’s largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, in the weekend attack. It said the man was a member of the MILF, an accusation strongly denied by the rebel group.

“The MILF has nothing to do with the attack. The reports we have received said the soldier was trying to arrest the farmer and confiscate his sickle, which he was using in his farm. Apparently an altercation ensued and for a still unknown reason, the farmer attacked and wounded the soldier. The farmer was later killed by soldiers,” said Eid Kabalu, a senior MILF leader.

Military officials could not be immediately reached to comment on the reports.

Maguindanao, one of five provinces under the Muslim autonomous region, is under a state of emergency after the brutal murder of 57 people, including at least 31 journalists on November 23 in Ampatuan town.

Al Jacinto

source: Manila Times

Zapatista Communities Evicted For ‘Ecotourism’ Centres

2010-02-02T15:54:00.000-08:00

February 2, 2010 by glasgowchiapassolidaritygroup

Zapatistas denounce the eviction and destruction of an indigenous

community and accuse the government of aiming to set up ecotourism

centres.

'Reforestation' is the pretext used by the authorities to perform the

operation against the EZLN support bases.

Hermann Bellinghausen, La Jornada Sunday 31 January 2010, p. 7, originally

published in Spanish.

San Cristobal de las Casas, Jan 30. The Good Government Council (JBG) 'the

way ahead' (el camino del futuro), based in the Caracol of La Garrucha, on

Friday denounced the eviction and destruction of the indigenous community

of Laguna San Pedro, in the autonomous municipality of Ricardo Flores

Magon, which took place on 22nd January. The government's explicit

intention is to "reforest" the area and establish private ecotourism

centres in the Montes Azules, within the area of the biosphere reserve.

While they were burning the houses of the indigenous people, the JBG

relates, the Zapatistas were forced to board official helicopters to be

transferred to the city of Palenque, where they endured "hunger and cold"

in a hostel until they received attention from independent civil

organizations.

As has happened before, the raid was preceded by an opportune

"application" on behalf of the Lacandon authorities based in Lacanjá

Chansayab, the legal owners of six hundred thousand hectares of the

forest, who are habitually pressing for the expulsion of the inhabitants

of Montes Azules.

Before the eviction, forces sent by "the bad federal and state (PRD)

Government of Juan Sabines Guerrero, and the municipal president of

Ocosingo, (PAN), Carlos Leonel Solórzano, conducted an operation using

federal police, accompanied by officials of the Federal Procurator of the

Environment (Profepa)" who with four helicopters flew over the village of

Laguna San Pedro "to terrify the population", said the JBG.

They state that state and federal police, army troops, government

officials, cameramen and journalists participated in the action. Once

arrived, the officials "talked with the men and women while the police

took the opportunity to burn the houses of the Zapatista support bases".

How is it possible that "the bad government speaks of dialogue while their

police and army burned the belongings of the compas," questions the JBG

from the Caracol of 'Resistance towards a new dawn' (Resistencia hacia un

nuevo amanecer). "How is it possible that the bad government evicts

indigenous people of Chiapas and Mexico while occupying their land for the

construction of ecotourism centres for the use of people from other

nations."

It should be mentioned that, after the eviction, the state government

announced that in coming days they were going to evict the population of

six more villages, including 6 de Octubre, another Zapatista community, as

well as Nuevo San Gregorio, Rancheria Corozal and Salvador Allende, among

others. They will join el Suspiro, Buen Samaratino, Nuevo Salvador Allende

and the aforementioned Laguna San Pedro, which the government call San

Pedro Guanil.

The former PAN governor of Yucatan, Patricio Patron Laviada, head of

Profepa, visited Chiapas in recent days and agreed to these actions with

the Secretary of Government of the state, Noe Castanon Leon, who on

Tuesday, 26th published the agreement to "reforest" and establish an

ecotourism centre within the Montes Azules biosphere reserve, presumably

to be undertaken by settlers from Nueva Palestina, secondary members of

the so-called "Lacandon community" and unpunished perpetrators of the

massacre at Viejo Velasco Suarez in 2006, also in Montes Azules.

The "ecotourism development" is part of the investment projects of the

businessman Moises Saba, who died weeks ago in a helicopter crash outside

Mexico City. Another project of his was the production of biodiesel on a

thousand hectares of rainforest. It appears that his projects are going

ahead, at least through the agency of the state and federal government.

According to Castanon Leon, they will promote the "sustainable uses" of

natural resources with projects of "community development" (for the

Lacandon and their partners), "environmental education and tourist

circuits of the Mayan route (la ruta maya)".

The JBG accuses the government of "lying and cheating, while Indian homes

burn," while the newspapers talk about the relocation of the Zapatistas of

Laguna San Pedro, they have their homes destroyed, their cooperative store

looted, and suffered the loss of their fruit trees, corn, beans, clothing

and tools of work. The material damage amounted to 585 thousand pesos, in

addition to the loss of their land, which, as the Zapatistas usually say,

is priceless.

Palestinian farmers are being treated like criminals

2010-02-02T07:23:00.001-08:00

Amira Hass

By Amira Hass, Haaretz Correspondent

Under the cover of the incessant noise from the roads in the Hebron district, an anonymous Arab is perpetrating a serious crime: With a small hammer, he is digging a cistern so he can collect rainwater on his rocky land. Other such criminals have other methods of carrying out their evil schemes - which is to say, to prepare their land for cultivation of vegetables, grain, grapevines or almond trees.

"When someone builds a terrace on his land, he does it by taking a stone from the ground and adding it to the supporting wall once a month or once a week at most, so that it will be hard to discern the change," a Hebron resident said, explaining one of the methods.

Experience shows that if you use heavy equipment to rehabilitate the land, it immediately attracts Civil Administration inspectors and local settlers, and is followed shortly afterward by stop-work injunctions.

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In the spirit of the popular saying along the lines of "Give a man a fishing rod rather than a fish," the European Union has been devoting attention and money to Palestinian farmers in recent years. These projects are designed to increase the income of poor agricultural families by allowing them to reclaim their land and expand the area under cultivation. The logic of "Give a man a fishing rod" also meets the need to return to traditional, environment-friendly agricultural methods and to heritage crop species, while making the best use of the water - thus also fighting desertification.

"And we were actually convinced that the Palestinians and Israel have a common interest: developing Area C, which supports the Palestinian economy, and projects that suit both sides in terms of the environment," said a European diplomat - who discovered he was mistaken.

Over the past two years, the Civil Administration in the Hebron area has issued dozens of stop-work orders to Palestinian farmers trying to reclaim, rehabilitate and prepare the land on their property. That is how European officials, representatives of the donor nations, discovered that Palestinians "are not allowed to move a stone or plant a tree or collect rainwater on their land without the approval of the Civil Administration," as one of them told Haaretz.

The Palestinians have several veteran agricultural associations that have been in operation since the early 1980s; they did not need the Europeans to invent the wheel for them. But they do need financial support.

The system works like this: The Europeans transfer the money to international non-governmental agencies, which have connections with the local organizations. One of these is the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, one of the oldest non-governmental Palestinian organizations. This organization received 2.25 million euros from the EU for a three-year project to reclaim and rehabilitate 2,000 dunams of agricultural land in the Hebron district. This means removing rocks and stones, leveling the ground, building terraces and stone fences, digging cisterns, and improving the access roads to the plots. The project involves several hundred families, all of which agreed to one of its main conditions: They pay for 25 percent of the cost of the work on their land.

About 70 percent of Palestinian agricultural land is located in areas that Israel has defined as Area C, under full Israeli control. Therefore, for the non-profit organizations, reclaiming the land is part of the political, popular struggle against its annexation to Israeli settlements and outposts. But for the farmers themselves, this battle also involves many risks, which many prefer not to take.

In the wake of the flood of stop-work injunctions that arrived in 2008 , said the European official, fewer farmers were willing to join the land reclamation project in Area C. Some borrowed money in order to pay for their share of the work. Then came the injunctions. The work was stopped, but their debts remained or their savings went down the drain. In several instances, the heavy equipment leased for the work was confiscated by the Civil Administration. This equipment requires a permit, because using it is considered "construction." Their owners were left without a source of income for several months. Some digger operators were arrested for several days. The Union of Agricultural Work Committees confirmed: Some of those who were signed up for the project changed their minds.

Ordered to stop

Nobody wants to experience what happened four months ago to the family of Rabi'a Jaber . In October, Israel Defense Forces soldiers and the Civil Administration raided the family's dry, rocky 10-dunam plot, southeast of Hebron. An IDF bulldozer scattered the stones of the terraces, turned over the ground and destroyed the cistern.

The work on the very rocky plot on the mountain slope opposite the Jaber home began in May 2008. A large Palestinian digger removed and split rocks, and dug a cistern for collecting rainwater; a smaller digger broke the split rocks into smaller stones and began to form terraces on the slope. The family - four brothers, 35 people - planned to plant grapes, olives and almonds, all crops that do not require irrigation. But in October 2008, when the work was almost complete, stop-work injunctions arrived.

According to the injunctions, it turns out that the Civil Administration had decided that they were invading land that was not theirs, even though the Jabers had documents indicating that taxes were paid on the land from the time of Jordanian rule, and even though not only they, but their neighbors too, owners of the adjacent plots, have always known that this is their land.

The demolition made waves after written and filmed reports appeared on pro-settler Web sites. The latter also enthusiastically made a point of identifying the partners in this invasion of the homeland's lands: the EU and Oxfam (Belgium).

Khader Shibak of Halhoul received his stop-work injunctions in August 2008, four days after he had begun work. Up until 10 years ago, he and his brother had land planted with grapevines and almond trees. In late 2000, a military camp was set up on the mountain peak. That, and the travel restrictions during the intifada that began late that year, prevented the family's access to both the vineyard and the orchard. In 2008 the army camp was removed, and the family decided to reclaim and rehabilitate its land - and to plant new trees.

Both the Jabers and the Shibaks - both beneficiaries of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees project - were asked to show the Israeli authorities the documents proving their ownership of the land and their right to cultivate it. That is an expensive and time-consuming process that involves fees, a lawyer, trips to the Beit El headquarters of the Civil Administration, and digging through archives, with results that often do not satisfy the Israeli authorities, with their very flexible definition of state land and private land. Both families got stuck in the middle.

Hani Zema'ara of Halhoul, 56, wanted to reclaim three dunams of his land. His work was also stopped. Zema'ara's land, incidentally, was cultivated before 1993, but his crops were destroyed when the Hebron bypass road was paved. He actually brought all the necessary documents to show the Israelis that he is the owner of the land - including a detailed area map and plan sketched by a surveyor especially for him. He invested NIS 3,500, which he doesn't have, in obtaining all the necessary papers. More than a year has passed, and he is still waiting for a permit. The almost completed terraces on his plot stand out in their aridity, on the slope of the mountain. "For Israel, when we work on our land, it's as if we killed an Israeli," is how a member of the Union of Agricultural Work Committees puts it.

European officials who are involved in the funding process are convinced that the Civil Administration has become more stringent in recent years in acting against Palestinian farmers, under pressure from the settlers in general and from the Regavim association in particular. Regavim, which calls itself "the movement for preservation of the nation's lands," is steadily expanding its work of detecting Palestinian "violations" in Area C.

A Regavim spokesman told Haaretz that the organization "is taking a very serious approach toward the illegal takeover by Arabs of lands in Area C in Judea and Samaria, including by means of agricultural cultivation designed only for this purpose.

"Regavim is following with concern the increasing involvement of foreign countries and entities in establishing facts on the ground unilaterally, while violating the laws of the State of Israel and brazenly undermining its sovereignty ... Regavim calls on the Foreign Ministry to convey an unequivocal message to the international parties, and state that Israel is very upset by their behavior and demands that they immediately desist.

"The Regavim movement is pleased to hear that the Civil Administration has responded to its demands and has been enforcing the law in an egalitarian manner, among Arabs as well."

At the time of publication, the Civil Administration had not responded to Haaretz's questions.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1144286.html

Philippines: Farmer dies in grenade blast in Aurora

2010-01-18T19:10:00.000-08:00

By Dennis Carcamo (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx/Article.aspx?articleId=541818&publicationSubCategoryId=200) Updated January 18, 2010 02:01 PM

MANILA, Philippines – A farmer died after a grenade exploded in a tobacco plantation in Aurora province this morning, police reported today.
The victim, Rolly Galiciay, 38, suffered several shrapnel wounds after the explosive device went off at the tobacco fields in Brgy. Villa Fugu, Aurora.
Initial report disclosed that Galician was about to install a water pump around 6:45 a.m. in the area when the blast happened.
Police are now looking into how the grenade ended in the place.

Argentina: Campesino land taken by force

2010-01-14T18:42:00.000-08:00

Intercontinental Cry

Campesinos are demanding recognition of their rights and calling for an end to logging and violence after a family was violently evicted from their land, two weeks ago, in the Argenine Province of Juyjuy.
According to a statement from the family, employees from the company KRAM SA, which is owned by a relative of the Argentine Ambassador to Bolivia, illegally evicted them to make way for a new transgenic soy plantation on their land.
During the eviction, Gloria Mamani, an 80 year-old Campesino (farmer), was beaten and dragged across the ground.
Gloria’s son, Juan Mamani, tried to stop the employees from carrying out the eviction by firing a warning shot into the air. However, police from the nearby town of Palma Sola were called in. “Instead of defending the lawful owners of the land,” the police arrested Juan; Gloria; Gloria’s husband; and Armando Ortega, Juan’s Uncle.
The four family members were all later released: Juan was held for a period of four days, until January 4; and the rest of the family was released the day after the eviction, on December 31.
“They killed our animals, they shot them[...], they disposed of the whole ranch of cattle, horses and goats, the pigs, they shot everything. They poison[ed] our water, we don’t have drinking water” says Gloria’s granddaughter. “We are trying to organize to see how we can stop them.”
The Mamani family, along with other Campesinos near Palma Sola in the Argentine province of Jujuy, also say the government’s land use plan, which approved the logging of 1,000 hectares in Juyjuy, is fraudulent because it was “enacted by decree of the provincial executive when it should have been made by the legislature by law.”
The government also failed to hold public hearings, and did not consult local stakeholders including Campesinos and Indigenous communities in the region.

Killing civilians triggers demonstration in S Afghan province

2009-11-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

Xinhua

An Afghan man accompanies a dead Afghan boy as the vehicle heads to Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009. Villagers in southern Afghanistan claimed an overnight air strike by international forces killed several civilians, including children. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq)

November 5, 2009

KABUL, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- A crowd of Afghans came to the streets of Helmand's provincial capital Lashkargah in south Afghanistan Thursday and denounced what they described arbitrary killing of civilians.

"Around 100 people carrying some dead bodies in Lashkargah Thursday morning accused NATO-led forces of killing nine civilians and calling on the government to investigate and punish those responsible," a protestor and demonstrator Hajji Hafizullah Khan told Xinhua.

He added that a NATO plane dropped a bomb on a family who were busy harvesting corn in their land in Babaji area outside Lashkargah, killing nine persons, including three children.

Meantime, spokesman of provincial administration Daud Ahmadi in talks with Xinhua confirmed the incident but said that all those killed were Taliban insurgents.

Taliban purported spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi in talks with media via telephone from undisclosed location claimed that all those killed in the bombardment were not Taliban fighters.

A similar incident, which claimed the life of a civilian in the eastern Khost province, also took hundreds of people to the street on Thursday.

:: Article nr. 59766 sent on 05-nov-2009 15:31 ECT
www.uruknet.info?p=59766

NATO strike kills nine civilians in Helmand (Photogallery)

AP

LASHKARGAH , Nov 5, 2009 : The body of a teenager killed by a rocket attack of the NATO-led soldiers lies in a vehicle after the residents of Babaji brought the body to the provincial capital, Lashkargah, as a protest against the killing of nine civilians. PAJHWOK/Zainullah Astanakzai

LASHKARGAH , Nov 5, 2009 : Two civilians killed by foreign troops in southern Helmand province late Wednesday night. Relatives of the victims brought the dead to provincial capital as a protest. PAJHWOK/Zainullah Astanakzai

The dead body of a local civilian lies in a civilian vehicle after he was killed in a rocket attack in the southern Helmand province late Wednesday nigh. PAJHWOK/Zainullah Astanakzai

An Afghan man accompanies a dead Afghan boy as the vehicle heads to Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009. Villagers in southern Afghanistan claimed an overnight air strike by international forces killed several civilians, including children. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq)

Afghan men peer into a car carrying a dead Afghan man in Lashkar Gah, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Abdul Khaleq)

www.uruknet.info?p=59762

Mexico must investigate torture of two peasant farmers

2009-10-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

Amnesty International

28 October 2009

The Mexican authorities must carry out an impartial investigation into the torture of two members of a peasant organization in Chiapas State, after they were arrested without a warrant, Amnesty International has said.

Roselio de la Cruz González and José Manuel de la Torre Hernández , who are currently held in a state prison, were blindfolded, bound and beaten during their interrogation, their lawyer said.

Roselio de la Cruz was beaten and threatened with death, while officials held a plastic bag over the head of José Manuel de la Torre until he almost suffocated. He was then forced to inhale water until he passed out.

Both men were forced to sign papers which they were not allowed to read.

Amnesty International also expressed its concern for a third member of the same organization, José Manuel Hernández Martínez, who is being held 2,000km away, where he is unable to see his lawyer and family.

All three men are accused of illegally occupying land in 2005.

Roselio de la Cruz González and Manuel de la Torre Hernández were both detained by Chiapas state police on 24 October.

The arrests took place during a raid in the Venustiano Carranza municipality on the homes of several members of Organización Campesina Emiliano Zapata (“Emiliano Zapata” Peasant Organisation, OCEZ).

José Manuel Hernández Martínez, a fellow OCEZ member, was arrested on 30 September.

On 16 October he was moved to a federal prison 2,000 km away. This is too far for his family and lawyer to visit him, meaning he is effectively held incommunicado.

Amnesty International has urged the Mexican authorities to:

guarantee that Roselio de la Cruz and José Manuel de la Torre will not be tortured further or otherwise ill-treated;
conduct an impartial investigation into their torture, with those responsible brought to justice;
ensure that the two men are either released immediately, or charged promptly with a recognizably criminal offence and tried fairly according to international standards, with any evidence obtained through torture ruled inadmissible;
ensure that José Manuel Hernández Martínez has immediate access to his family and lawyer.

Venezuelan Farmer Activists March Against Killings by Estate Owners

2009-10-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

Published on October 4th 2009, by James Suggett - http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4838

"With Chavez, Homeland, Socialism, or Death," reads a banner at Thursday's march (FNCEZ website)

Mérida, October 3^rd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- Thousands of farmer rights advocates marched in Guarico, Venezuela on Thursday to demand an end to impunity for the killings of 220 farmer organizers since the 2001 Land Reform Law was passed. The march was sparked by two recent attacks presumed to have been planned and paid for by large estate owners against well-known land reform activists.
Just outside the state headquarters of the National Land Institute (INTI) on September 11^th, two unidentified men on a motorcycle shot José Pimentel, a leader of the Simon Bolivar National Farmers Front, in the body and the head, placing Pimentel in critical condition in a hospital emergency room.
Two weeks later, eight armed men attacked a group of 28 families who had collectively occupied idle sections of a large estate and were in the process of obtaining legal land titles from INTI. The assailants beat several people, destroyed property, shot one leader of the group twice in the legs, and ordered the group to leave the estate, according to a report by the Ezequiel Zamora National Farmers Rights Front (FNCEZ), which is named after the legendary 19th Century land reform fighter.
Since 2001, the government has redistributed more than two million hectares (5 million acres) of idle or underused land to small farmers and state-owned enterprises for food cultivation, for the most part by opening up state-owned land and also by expropriating some idle privately owned land.
During this process, however, hundreds of prominent land reform organizers have been attacked, illegally detained, or killed, in what appears to be a campaign led and financed by large estate owners to exterminate those who challenge their privilege and dominion in rural areas.
Following the September attacks, the president of the Farmer Federation of Venezuela, Miguel Moreno, declared that his organization and many other national farmer organizations were in a state of emergency, and remain on 24-hour vigil to protect the lives of their comrades.
Moreno praised the government's efforts to redistribute land, but criticized the judicial system, saying only a handful of investigations of the attacks against farmers have proceeded, and there have been no convictions thus far.
"We accompany the commander and president [Hugo Chavez] in his policy against the large estates," said Moreno. "We do not want to move toward an open confrontation or war in rural zones... we firmly believe in the institutions, we believe in our government [...] But we are tired of being the ones who die."
National Assembly Legislator Braulio Alvarez, who is also a national farmers' rights organizer, connected the killings of farmers to the infiltration of paramilitary groups from Colombia into Venezuela. "We denounce with revolutionary morale the paramilitary activities and hired killings," he said in a press conference in the Foundation for Training and Innovation to Support the Agrarian Revolution (CIARA).
Alvarez also demanded that the Ministry of Justice and Internal Affairs and the Attorney General's Office open a special investigation and provide protection to farmer rights activists. "How long is the flagrant impunity going to continue?" Alvarez asked.
Officials from INTI, CIARA, the Agriculture and Land Ministry, and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), as well as all major farmers rights fronts echoed his demand.
The Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) also called for "an exhaustive review of the proceedings on the farmers' cases, through the agrarian courts," but warned that the "opposition sectors" which are responsible for the crimes are in some cases "embedded in the structures of the state." These culprits "utilize police functionaries from the [national investigative police] CICPC," said Eduardo Linarez, the National Secretary for Agrarian and Farmer Affairs of the PCV.
In addition to demanding action by the state, several farmer rights fronts have gradually united forces on the regional and national level. With the support of national PSUV officials, including Agriculture and Land Minister Elias Jaua and Guarico Governor William Lara, these new federations plan to hold a series of assemblies and form armed militias in order to organize and defend themselves against attacks.
"We already have our own organization. What we're going to do now is grassroots reinforcement in the communities and rural settlements," said Argimiro Berroterán, a spokesperson for the National Farmers Front in Miranda state. "The idea is to travel around the whole country to discuss the concerns expressed by different farmer groups, in addition to re-launching this front as an organizational tool in defense of our achievements and for the deepening of the revolutionary process," he added.
Minister Jaua, who is also a regional vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), spoke to the crowd at Thursday's march. "We must consolidate popular strength in rural Venezuela and among the fishers... in order to prepare the conditions for the formation of a great popular and revolutionary organization in the National Fishers and Farmers Front, to concretize the deepening and construction of the Bolivarian Revolution," said Jaua.
According to Jaua, farmer militias may be formed as early as this December for the purpose of farmer self-defense in rural Venezuela. "The Bolivarian government is willing to confront the oligarchy and the large estate owners by way of the law... but if they insist on continuing to act on the fringes of the law, violating our Bolivarian Constitution and murdering farmers, then there will be an armed response," said the minister.
Many farmers' fronts, including the FNCEZ, have advocated armed self-defense for years. The invitation to Thursday's march that the FNCEZ posted on its website calls for, "THE PEOPLE IN ARMS, conscious popular power organized into farmer militias and coordinated by the National Bolivarian Militia and directed by our Bolivarian Armed Forces, in socialist patrols directed and coordinated by our PSUV... with the indisputable leadership of our partner, President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias."

MEXICO: Farmer murdered, family is accusing a group afiliated to the PRD party

2009-09-19T22:42:00.000-07:00

Farmer and landowner of a small piece of land Manuel Cadena Gonzáles, 35 was assassinated on the 14th of September. His family and the People's Front of Anahuac are accusing the group Fransisco Villa Popular Front, (FPFV) which is affiliated to the moderate leftist Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD). Four days earlier his mother was injured during an attempt of the FPFV to occupy the piece of land.
Following the assassination there were protests against the PRD government of the Federal District.

Farmers Under Fire (Worldwide)

sources: indymedia mexico [2] , Enlace Zapatista

Loliondo is Burning

2009-09-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

Loliondo is Burning provides documentary evidence, testimony, and background information surrounding the recent eviction of Massai in Loliondo, northern Tanzania. This is a two-part video.

In July 2009, during one of the worst droughts in recent Tanzanian history, the government of Tanzania began to forcefully evict the Maasai from their traditional lands. Eight villages were burnt to the ground, along with crops and traditional places of worship. As a result, some 3,000 people were left without any shelter, food or water.

As Loliondo is Burning explains, the evictions were carried out on behalf of the Ortello Business Company (OBC) and the Royal Family of Dubai, who claim the Maasai land as their own. Employees of OBC reportedly took part in the eviction.

Several abuses were also reported to have taken place, including the rape of Masaai women. Overall,

More than 200 bomas (homesteads of extended families) have been totally burnt.
Food stores and maize fields have been burned.
It is estimated that up to 3,000 people have been made homeless without food and shelter.
Several maize farms, which were ready for harvest, were set ablaze exacerbating an already alarming hunger situation.
More than 50,000 cattle have been pushed into areas hit by extreme drought with no water and grass. Some cattle have been lost and some burned to death.
Property worth millions of Tanzania Shillings has been destroyed.
Other women who were chased from their homes have had miscarriages.
Many people are now suffering from psychological traumas.

It should be noted that the eviction is ongoing. Other burnings have reportedly taken place since July. Further, more than two dozen Maasai have been arrested, some as recent as 7 days ago.

More information

For more information on the current situation, please read the report “Gross violations of human and citizenship rights in Tanzania” by the Feminist Activist Coalition. You may also want to see:

What You Can Do

If you would like to speak out in support of the Masaai, send an email to:

President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, United Republic of Tanzania – State House Luthuli Road, Box 9120, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 00 255 22 2 116 898 / 22 2 116 899 00 255 22 2 113 425 info@ikulu.go.tz
Private Secretary to Mizengo Pinda, Prime Minister of Tanzania, Email: pm@pmo.go.tz; privatesec@pmo.go.tz
Mr. Yacoub El Hillo, UNHCR Representative to Tanzania, elhillo@unhcr.org
Tanzanian Embassy in your country: http://www.embassiesabroad.com/embassies-of/Tanzania

Thanks to Derek Wall for his reporting on Another Green World

West Papua Photo News Shocking images Indonesian military burnt down Papuan Village in Bogolame.

2009-09-14T01:13:00.000-07:00

By WPNews Bolgolame
Sep 8, 2009, 22:59

Intervew by WPNews
WPNews Good morning Mr. Yugum could you tell us about situation in Bogolame?

Yugum Tabuni : thank you very much situation in Bogolame today my peoples are all hiding in the juggles mostly Children, woman, elderly and man all hiding in the juggles because military burnt down our village.

WPNews Can you tell us how many houses burnt down by Indonesia Military?

Yugum: I need to tell you today that 25 houses burn down and 5 pig kill by indoensia Military.

WPNes : How important your house and pig

Yugum : as you know we all Papuan house and Pig is part of the our live. Because Pig is very important value in West Papuan Economic and House is were we live time to time year to year we don’t have any thing else here in the village but the house is most important then any other.

WPNews: can you tell us how many peoples been kill by Indonesia military?

Yugum : until today peoples still hiding in the juggles so very difficult to tell you military still patrol the area. but we found lot of bullet from Indonesia Military when they shooting to the peoples.
I will tell you how many peoples are been kill because all the road blocked by military very difficult we are dangerous.

WPNews : How the peoples in the juggles could survive especially children, woman and elderly peoples.

Yugum: we need help because there is no food, no medicine, and our garden already been destroy by military. we can not go back to our house or garden peoples are hiding.

WPNews: what you expecting peoples outside world specially international community.

Yugum: only one We want Independence from Indonesia. If we still with indoenesia they destroyed our rice from this planet so before to late peoples help us. Tell peoples in Europe, United Kingdom , America, Australia and Pacifica we need support put pressure to Indonesia to stop operation in Bogolame and Tinginambut.

This is my message to you to tell them we need help.

WPNes Thank you very much for your time speaking to us Mr. Yugum.

West Papua Bogolame Interview Exclusive and Photo News Before the Indonesia Military and Police Attack.

WPNews: Can you tell us what happening in your village

Yugum Tabuni : I need to tell you that today Indonesia Military and Police about 400 Personnel from Wamena and tolikara come to our Village with heavy weapon Attack our Villager.

WPNews: who are the come to your village

Yugum Tabuni: this Military and Police are come from two direction Wamena and Tolikara about 400 personnel they bourn our Village we still hiding in the Juggles.

WPNews : why the Military and Police attack your Village

Yugum Tabuni: they attack our Village because we rising morning star flag in Our village peacefully and we not disturb Indonesia Militari and Police we rising in Our village not Indonesia Land.

WPNews How many Peoples been kill and how many village are bourn

Yugum Tabuni : today I can report to you but because Military still surrounding us I will report latter but I sow from mountain that one Village call Munak already bourn down on the ground. We still hiding so I don’t know how many peoples are kill.

WPNews: why you rise morning star flag in the Village

Yugum Tabuni: we raise the morning star Flag in the Village because this is our identity and our national Flag. So we could raise any were we like we not go to Indonesia land and raise but this our land to raise the morning star but now Military and Police attach. We need international community to help us because they if not they will continue to kill many of us like what happen in 1977 here some district hundred thousand kill.

We need now very urgently need help put pressure to Indonesia Government please.

Thank you for your time Mr. Yugum Tabuni
Interview directly from WPNews United Kingdom
================================================

BRAZIL: Landless peasant worker assassinated

2009-08-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Landless peasant worker Elton Brum da Silva was murdered by policemen of the "Brigada Militar" during the evacuation of landless farmers that had occupied the farm Southall in Santa Casa, São Gabriel, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Farmers Under Fire (Worldwide)

source: MST

Police face murder charges in killing of indigenous protesters in Peru

2009-08-17T16:25:00.000-07:00

mongabay.com
August 16, 2009

A federal prosecutor in Peru filed murder charges against two police generals and 15 other officers over the deaths of indigenous protesters at a roadblock in June, reports the Associated Press. The Indians were protesting new rules that would have made it easier for foreign developers to exploit oil and gas, timber, and minerals in Peru's Amazon rainforest. The skirmish left 23 police and at least ten protesters dead.

The charges come several weeks after dozens of civilians, including indigenous leaders, were charged with homicide over the deaths. Some are expected to be arrested once they are discharged from hospitals were they are recovering from injuries suffered during the protest.

The protests

Oil and gas blocks in the western Amazon. Solid yellow indicates blocks already leased out to companies. Hashed yellow indicates proposed blocks or blocks still in the negotiation phase. Protected areas shown are those considered strictly protected by the IUCN (categories I to III). Image modified from Finer M, Jenkins CN, Pimm SL, Keane B, Ross C, 2008 Oil and Gas Projects in the Western Amazon: Threats to Wilderness, Biodiversity, and Indigenous Peoples. PLoS ONE 3(8): e2932. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002932

Indigenous groups have fiercely opposed what they see as encroachment on their traditional lands. In May thousands of protesters blocked roadways and rivers in opposition to a set of presidential decrees that would have made it easier for foreign firms to develop Amazon land. President Alan Garcia responded by sending in federal police, quickly leading to a heated standoff that ended in bloodshed — in addition to the deaths, at least 82 protesters were suffered gunshot wounds and another 120 were injured. The escalation was widely condemned by human rights groups and environmentalists.

Garcia has since rescinded two of the most controversial decrees and shuffled his cabinet. But the government has since indicated in public statements that it intends to move forward on oil and gas development despite the controversy.

Green groups and indigenous rights' organizations say the rainforests slotted for oil and gas exploration is home to a wealth of biodiversity and "uncontacted" tribes. The Peruvian government maintains there is but a single isolated tribe and that development will bring vast sums to the treasury.

http://catapa.be/en/north-peru-killings

High resolution versions of these images can be requested at info@catapa.be

2 farmers killed so far by Honduras' dictatorship

2009-08-17T12:23:00.000-07:00

Ramon Garcia was member of the National Confederation of Agricultural Workers (Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo). He was assassinated in Callejones, Macuelizo, Santa Bárbara on Saturday evening the 11 of July 2009, by military forces who boarded a bus he was riding in Santa Barbara and forced him off, subsequently shooting him and wounding his sister.

sources: HablaHonduras, Monthly Review

On August 2, Pedro Pablo Hernández , farmer was shot by the Honduran military while driving after reportedly not responding to a signal to stop at a military checkpoint.

sources: HablaHonduras, YVKE mundial , La Prensa Grafica , Monthly Review , La Haine

Farmers Under Fire Worldwide

AUTOPSY: COP SHOT MAPUCHE IN THE BACK

2009-08-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

Friday, 14 August 2009

Unrest Continues In Chile Despite President’s Call For “Dialogue”

An initial autopsy on the body of Jaime Mendoza Collío, a Mapuche man who died early this week during a confrontation with police, suggests the 24-year-old activist was shot in the back.

The findings cast doubt on claims by Chile’s Carabineros (uniformed police) that officer Patricio Jara Muñoz shot the victim in self
defense. Carabineros claim Jara Muñoz was ambushed and struck by buckshot before dispatching his weapon. A witness interviewed by El Austral offered a different version of the story, saying Mendoza Collío and his companions carried sticks but no firearms (PT, Aug. 13).

The victim was part of a group of some 50 Mapuches who early Wednesday morning tried to occupy a Region IX farm over which they claim ancestral ownership. According to news reports, heavily-armed Carabineros – under orders to remove the Mapuches – advanced onto the property at approximately 3 p.m. The shooting took place soon after.

Jara Muñoz is currently in military custody. Because the Carabineros are a branch of the armed forces, disciplinary matters are handled internally, by military tribunals rather than civilian courts. Military prosecutors have five days to decide whether to charge the officer for using unnecessary force resulting in death.

The killing has escalated already heightened tensions between Chilean authorities and Mapuches, the country’s largest indigenous group.

Early Thursday morning a group of individuals, presumably Mapuches, burned three sheds on a ranch near Pailahuén, also in Region IX. Later in the day, some 30 hooded individuals briefly occupied a ranch in Cañete, Region VIII. In nearby Concepción, students held a demonstration in support of the Mapuches. Carabineros arrested 15 of the protestors, the daily La Tercera reported. Protests also took place in Santiago, Valdivia (Region XIV) and in the Region IX capital of Temuco.

In Santiago, President Michelle Bachelet addressed the situation by calling for dialogue, which she said is the “only way to resolve the legitimate demands of the Mapuche people.” She described Mendoza Collío’s death as “something painful and regrettable.”

But on Friday, indigenous spokesman José Naín, who represents some 20 different Mapuche organizations, said the situation is already out of control.

“We’re powerless,” he told Radio ADN. “This is now out of hand. As leaders, we no don’t have control of the situation any more. Obviously people are going to do what their emotions tell them to do, which is certainly dangerous.”

Mendoza Collío, a former Army conscript who leaves behind a wife and four-year-old daughter, is the third Mapuche to die at the hands of Carabineros in the past six years. In November 2002, 18-year-old activist Alex Lemún was shot in the head during an attempted land occupation. He died five days later. Police killed 22-year-old Matías Catrileo under similar circumstances in January 2008 (PT, Jan. 3, 2008).

By Patagonia Times Staff
http://www.santiagotimes.cl/santiagotimes/
index.php/2009081416887/news/political-news/
autopsy-cop-shot-mapuche-in-the-back.html

Mapuche Activist's Death Heats Up Conflict

Daniela Estrada

SANTIAGO, Aug 14 (IPS) - The lack of opportunities for dialogue and participation and the struggle for control over land and natural resources in Chile are hurdles to a solution to the Mapuche Indians' century-long conflict, which claimed a new victim this week: a 24-year-old activist shot by the police while taking part in an occupation of land claimed as indigenous territory.

Jaime Mendoza Collío, who was killed Wednesday in the community of Angol in the southern Chilean region of Araucanía, was the third indigenous activist killed since the restoration of democracy in 1990, when the Mapuche launched a strategy of land occupations aimed at recovering their ancestral territory.

The first was 17-year-old Alex Lemún, who was shot in the head by a police officer in 2002, under the government of socialist President Ricardo Lagos. The military court that tried the case ruled that the police officer had shot in self-defence, even though no evidence was found in the investigation that anyone other than the police had opened fire.

And in January 2008, a member of the Carabineros (military police) shot 23-year-old university student Matrías Catrileo, whose death is still being investigated by the military courts.

"The latest incidents are the natural result of a long-standing policy that has been intensified in recent weeks by the government, with regard to the conflicts over land in the region of Araucanía," José Aylwin, co-director of the Observatorio Ciudadano, a local NGO, told IPS.

That policy includes the strengthening of police presence in areas plagued by land conflicts, and crackdowns on communities that are demanding the return of their ancestral lands, said Aylwin, a lawyer who specialises in the rights of indigenous people.

The backdrop against which the government policy has been implemented includes excessive delays in resolving land claims and a lack of political will to engage in real dialogue, he argued.

Mendoza's death coincided with Planning Minister Paula Quintana's visit to Geneva this week, where she reported to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on the situation in Chile.

After an unsuccessful attempt to meet with socialist President Michelle Bachelet in Santiago, a group of traditional indigenous leaders or "loncos" launched a new wave of land occupations and protests in Araucanía on Jul. 23.

But in addition to the occupations of land, there have been violent incidents in which small groups of hooded activists threw stones at and painted graffiti on a passenger bus and set fire to two trucks. A radical Mapuche group, Coordinadora Arauco Malleco (CAM), claimed responsibility for the incidents.

At the same time, an anti-Mapuche paramilitary group in Araucanía that calls itself the "Hernán Trizano Commando" announced that it would become active again, and issued death threats against Mapuche leaders.

The centre-left government says that since 1994, more than 650,000 hectares of land have been transferred to indigenous communities - 35 percent since Bachelet took office in 2006.

It also argues that the country does not have the financial resources to resolve all of the pending indigenous land claims at once.

The authorities say that only a small minority of Mapuche communities are involved in the protests and land occupations. But indigenous associations say the activities are widespread among the Mapuche people.

Aylwin provided more precise information regarding the government's arguments. The more than 600,000 hectares of ancestral land returned to indigenous communities by the state include the country's nine native ethnic groups, not only the Mapuche (by far the largest group, who number around one million in this country of 16 million people).

Of that total, said the lawyer, only 140,000 hectares were actually purchased on the market. "The rest involved formal transfers of land that the state considered to be publicly owned, but which was ancestral indigenous territory, or the regularisation of property that had already been distributed to indigenous communities and had been recognised as their own," he said.

Events have shown that "the budget earmarked for indigenous policies overall, around 0.3 percent of GDP, is insufficient," he maintained.

Aylwin also said the state sends an "ambivalent message" to native communities, promoting a multicultural policy on one hand while providing incentives for investment by corporations - such as logging companies - on their ancestral lands on the other.

Asked about the underlying causes of the delay in resolving the long-simmering conflict over land, which dates back to the end of the 19th century, the indigenous rights lawyer responded that "there is no doubt that there are very powerful economic interests in those territories."

The Mapuche lost much of their land in the late 19th century when it was occupied by the state in a process known as the "pacification of Araucanía".

"Chile's insertion in the global market is based on exports of natural resources, which are essentially found in the territories of indigenous peoples: mining in the north, forests in the south, and salmon farming in the southern rivers and lakes," Aylwin said.

The preliminary autopsy results show that Jaime Mendoza was shot in the back and killed instantly while the police were evicting a group of native people from an estate that they claim as their own.

According to the government and the Carabineros, the policeman who shot Mendoza, Miguel Jara, was acting in self-defence in response to alleged pellet gun fire. But a Mapuche eyewitness who was not participating in the land occupation said the young men were unarmed.

The witness also said the police did not provide Mendoza with medical attention. In the midst of the clash between the protesters and the police, in which both indigenous people and journalists were injured, local residents attempted to reach the young man's body, but were driven off by the police.

Jara is in custody while the military justice investigation continues.

In Chile, the military courts have jurisdiction over crimes committed by armed forces personnel and Carabineros police while they are on duty.

In 2005, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the Chilean state to reform the military justice code, because it contravenes several basic rights. But Chile has not complied with the ruling.

Mendoza's death has led to heightened tension in the region, with new land occupations and violent attacks. In the community of Ercilla, unidentified individuals set fire to privately-owned warehouses in the early hours of Thursday morning, causing millions of dollars in damages.

Mapuche organisations have called protest marches and issued statements repudiating the killing of Mendoza.

Expressing her regrets for the young man's death and condolences for his family, President Bachelet said Thursday that "nothing justifies the violence in Araucanía, and it must be understood that dialogue is the only path to a solution to the legitimate historical demands of the Mapuche people."

"We will continue working so that all of the commitments that we adopted in our new policy towards indigenous people are lived up to. We hope the investigation will clarify what happened. But I want to reiterate that nothing, absolutely nothing, justifies the violence," the president said.

Government spokeswoman Carolina Tohá announced that a government delegation would visit Araucanía next week to strengthen the emphasis on dialogue.

But indigenous people question the government's willingness to sit down and talk, given that the delegation that visited Santiago to try to meet with Bachelet in early July was turned away.

For years, the Mapuche people have complained about judicial persecution and police brutality in response to their claims to their ancestral land.

Dozens of complaints of abuses at the hands of the police were documented in January 2007 by an international mission convened by the non-governmental Observatory for Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, with representatives from groups like Amnesty International, Norwegian People’s Aid and the Argentine Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS).

Members of Mapuche communities said the police storm violently into their homes, sometimes without a warrant, destroy household utensils and objects of cultural value, mistreat elderly people, women and children, do not hesitate to use lethal weapons, and hurl racist epithets.

Aylwin said the implementation of International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, as of Sept. 15, will offer a chance for reaching lasting solutions to the problem.

"The Convention establishes clear guidelines in a number of areas, including the rights of indigenous peoples to determine their own priorities in terms of development, and the right to prior consultation with respect to investment projects or public measures that affect them," he said.

It also establishes "a right that has been largely lacking in Chile: the right to participate in bodies that make decisions that concern them," Aylwin added. (END/2009)

Attack against offices of Vía Campesina

2009-08-12T11:38:00.000-07:00

Via Campesina web page

Wednesday, 12 August 2009

August 12th 2009

Last night at 11:23 pm, during curfew which began at 10pm, unknown individuals driving a cream colour Toyota Turismo with the license plate PCA1981 fired bullets at the office of Vía Campesina located in the Alameda neighbourhood of Tegucigalpa, Honduras which is coordinated by Rafael Alegría. The act was a clear attack against our social organizations and leaders who are part of the National Front Against the Coup. In addition to the recent attack on Vía Campesina, a bomb capable of killing 15 people went off in the building of the Beverage Workers Union (STIBYS, by its Spanish initials) on July 26th 2009. Both organizations are part of the National Front Against the Coup.

We condemn this incident given that the activities of Vía Campesina and the National Front Against the Coup are completely peaceful. It is important to mention that during curfew only police are permitted to be in the street. Vía Campesina of Honduras calls for support from national and international human rights organizations to remain attentive and to continue following attacks taking place not only against these organizations and their leadership, but also against the human rights of the entire Honduran people and all those who have been protesting in the streets against the coup for the last 46 days. Rafael Alegría comments, “People's rights are being violated and it's a truly unfortunate situation at the moment. People have been wounded, jailed and killed.”

According to a preliminary report from lawyers assisting the National Front Against the Coup today, hundreds of people were wounded and more than forty people detained following violence occurring after a peaceful mass mobilization in the capital city on Tuesday. The group of lawyers is seeking the liberation of those arrested through Habeas Corpus. The leadership of the Front insists that the disturbances were carried out by people who were not part of the protest, but rather infiltrators interested in provoking confrontations and disparaging the peaceful protests that the Front has been mobilizing. The people detained are accused of rebellion, terrorism and treason among other
crimes.

Alegría emphasizes that “The National Front Against the Coup is not responsible for these incidents. On principle the front supports peaceful marches, peaceful demands and peaceful mobilization. At no point do we use or call for violent acts. It appears that these incidents are the responsibility of groups interested in ruining the social mobilization and they have taken it upon themselves to provoke this situation for which we categorically deny any responsibility.”

Given what has taken place in the last 24 hours, Vía Campesina of Honduras calls out to the entire Vía Campesina network, social movements, as well as national and international human rights organizations to send messages or delegations in solidarity with the resistance against the coup and for the defence of human rights in Honduras, and to assist in bringing about an end to so much injustice and violence against the Honduran people.

Please send complaints and messages of solidarity to the following addresses:

State Secretary of Public Security
Coronel Jorge Rodas Gamero
Fax: (504) 237-9070/ 220-55-47
E-mail: sseg.06@hotmail.com

Special Prosecutor for Human Rights in the Attorney General's Office
Lcda. Sandra Ponce
Fiscal Especial de Derechos Humanos
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Fax: (504) 221-3656
E-mail: ponce10s@yahoo.com.ar

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights (CODEH)
President Andrés Pavón
E-mail: andres@codeh.hn, codeh@codeh.hn

The Committee of Relatives of People Detained-Disappeared in Honduras
(COFADEH)
Coordinadora Bertha Oliva
E-mail: mail@cofadeh.org

Vía Campesina of Honduras
E-mail: laviacampesina@cablecolor.hn

Comunicaciones Via Campesina en Honduras

Mexico: 5 farmers arrested during DF police operation

2009-08-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

Translated from the EZLN Committee of the 6th declaration webpage

Aug 6, 2009

We reject and we condemn the actions of stealing of land and repression of the Government of the Federal District against coop members and peasants of Tláhuac.

The signatories we reject the repression against members of the Front of Villages of the Anáhuac during the operation ordered by the government of the Federal District this August 5, 2009, in the village of San Francisco Tlaltenco, Tláhuac, Mexico City.

Despite of having legal resources that protected them, farmers and coop members were violently ousted of their own land by an impressive operation of grenadiers and mounted police, taking prisoners 5 people, including a minor.

The GFD intends to legalize the stealing of lands, ignoring the environmentalist organizations warning calls, the refusal of the neighbors of Tláhuac and of many other citizens that we understand the importance that Tláhuac has as nature reserve because of its productive cooperatives of indispensable food for Mexico City and as a zone producing the 30% of the drinking water supplied to the city.

The line 12 of the Metro does not mean necessarily development or progress. It forms part of an ambitious urbanization plan of the southern-east part of the city, of which businessmen and politicians intend to obtain benefit. It's indispensable a public debate on the nature, reason, effects and environmental and social costs of these megaprojects.

We protest energetically against this action of stealing of land, we require the immediate liberty of the persons under arrest and we support the coop members and residents of Tláhuac that are opposed to the megaproject.

Consejo de Ejidos y Comunidades Opositores a la Presa la Parota (CECOP), Coordinadora Regional de Autoridades Comunitarias (CRAC) Consejo Autónomo Regional de la Zona Costa-Chiapas , Consejo Indígena Popular de Oaxaca-Ricardo Flores Magón, Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra (FPDT), Frente Popular Francisco Villa Independiente-UNOPII, jóvenes en resistencia alternativa, Red Ecologista Autónoma de la Cuenca de México, Red en defensa de la Ciudad de México, Ecomunidades, Regeneración Radio, Resistencias Enlazando Dignidad Movimiento y Corazón Zapatista, Voces Oaxaqueñas Construyendo Autonomía y Libertad, Unidad Obrera y Socialista (UNIOS), Unión Cívica de los Pueblos de la Montaña y Costa Chica de Guerrero, Asociación Cívica Nacional Revolucionaria, Círculo Autónomo Feminista, Cooperativa 666, Taller Integral Arquitect@z, Cooperativa Libertas Anticorp, Casa de la Cultura Independiente Benito Juárez, Materu Kurhinta.

MEXICO: Assassination of indigenous farmer, member of the Other Campaign

2009-08-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

Translated from the website of the Greek magazine Resistencias

One killed and four injured, among them one seriously, is the result of the attack that suffered farmers of the ejido Mijiton, in the municipality of San Cristobal, by other farmers that refuse to participate in the communal works. Ejido Mijiton participates in the zapatistan Other Campaign and opposes the plans for the expropriation of its lands in order to construct a highway linking San Cristobal with Palenque. According to an article in the Indymedia Chiapas, the perpetrators are members of an evangelist religious organization called "Alas de Aguila" (Wings of the Eagle), which is functioning as a paramilitary organization called "Ejercito de Dios" (Army of God) and have borrowed slogans from the Guatemalan Kaibiles, that had perpetrated the worst massacres in the neighbor country. [This information is not mentioned in the statement of the residents of the ejido, though]. In any case as leader of the perpetrators is accused Carmen Diaz Lopez, who in 2002 was expelled from the ejido, accused of trafficking paperless immigrants, when 65 Central American immigrants were found at the yard of his house. The authorities of the ejido had delivered them to the official authorities along with Diaz Lopez, but he was released. Furious then, the residents of the ejido had burnt his house and had expelled him. Diaz Lopez tried to present the incidents as part of a religious conflict and managed to polarize the evangelists on his side.

According to a denouncement of the ejido, the recent attacks begun in the afternoon of 19^th of July when residents of the ejido tried to measure fields in the area of Chixtetik but were prevented by 40 men of Diaz Lopez that arrived in 11 vehicles, armed with machetes, wooden sticks and stones. Worth to mention that in the same area Diaz Lopez had pale and cultivated land, while this is the spot to be expropriated for the construction of the highway. The residents of the ejido were forced to withdraw under the threats of Diaz's group. Meanwhile, in the morning of the same day, a resident of the ejido was kidnapped and transferred to the house of an evangelist priest, member of Diaz's group.

In the evening of 20^th of July, 8 masked men on a pick-up truck, shot against another pick up truck belonging to another resident of the ejido. In the morning of 21 of July a group of residents from the ejido, responsible to watch the fields, was attacked with wooden sticks and stones by a group of 60 people that are refusing to participate in communal works. In the meantime, the same pick up truck, without number plates arrived, with 5 persons, among them 2 armed with R-15, that shot twice. Then, driving in high speed they hit and killed the 31-year-old member of the ejido Aurelio Diaz Hernandez. Another 5 people were injured from the attack of the pick up truck and the blows of the perpetrators, having fractures at the arms and legs and wounds in the head.

Behind the supposed to be religious clashes in Chiapas, there are hidden the existing problem of land (worsened by the rapidly increasing population and the fact that the agricultural production has not been modernized, resulting insufficient), and major economic interests, like the ones hidden behind the construction of the San Cristobal - Palenque highway. And of course, the attempt of the government to divide the indigenous people and to use some paramilitary indigenous groups, instead of the army, against the most radical ones (Zapatistas, Other Campaign).

G.K.

sources: Indymedia Chiapas, La Jornada, CIEPAC

COLOMBIA: Combats and heavy bombings in countryside of Tame (Araucan)

2009-08-01T14:42:00.000-07:00

by the Farmer Association of Arauca Friday, Jul. 31, 2009 AT 11:08 p.m.

Towards the noon of Thursday 30 of July, in the village Philippine, jurisdiction of the municipality of Tame, department of Arauca, combats between the guerrilla and the National army occured for about two hours, approximately. As a result of the confrontations, the public force carried out heavy bombings and strafings from helicopters and airplanes KFIR, which hit on several farmers' properties . Particularly the estate of Mrs. Maria Camila Benavides Durán was affected, since ten animals of their property died because of the bombings. In a public official notice released in recent days, the Farmer Association of Arauca denounced that from the 25th of June the National army occupied the Philippine small village and held the civil population as human shield, since the soldiers were located in the houses without the consent of their inhabitants. This attitude puts in risk the life of the settlers of the Philippines and represents an infraction of the International Humanitarian Law, that forces the combatants to exclude the civil population of the armed conflict.

www.prensarural.org

Indonesian military attacks PNG villages. Jakarta forced to apologise to PNG government

2009-07-30T01:55:00.000-07:00

posted on infoPapua

By The National PNG
Jul 30, 2008, 16:45

1) Indons give word of no repetitions (The National PNG)
2) Students protest border incursions (The National PNG)
3) PNG to Formally Protest Indonesia Border Incursions (Pacific Magazine)
4) Indonesia to apologise for PNG border incursions: report (ABC)
5) Indonesians promise to apologise (The National PNG)
6) Indonesians raid village (The National PNG)
7) Border post in bad shape (The National PNG)

--------------
1) Indons give word of no repetitions

The National PNG 28/7/08

THE Indonesian government has assured PNG that there would be no repeat border incursions into PNG by its soldiers.

The assurance was conveyed to Foreign Affairs, Trade and Immigration Minister Samuel Abal by his Indonesian counterpart, Hassan Wirajudi, in Singapore last week.

There had been a number of alleged border incursions by the Indonesians in the last three months. PNG had protested through a diplomatic note conveyed through the Indonesian embassy in Port Moresby.

The apologies from the Indonesians blamed the incursions on “new recruits deployed to the border region”.

Reports said appropriate instructions had been issued to commanding officers in the border areas to deal with those responsible and ensure such incidents do not occur again.

Mr Wirajudi was also grateful that the PNG Government “exercised restraints” although these incidents do cause serious concerns.

Mr Abal told his counterpart that should occurrences of border incursions persist, PNG would seek to raise them in other forums such as Asean, Pacific Islands Forum and the United Nations.

“With our border areas developed and properly managed and secured, we can expect people from either side to live and enjoy normal lives,” Mr Abal told his Indonesian counterpart, referring to his recent statement in Parliament on the creation of a border development and management authority.

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

2) Students protest border incursions

The National PNG 28/7/08

By JEFFREY ELAPA

A PEACEFUL protest march was held in Madang on Saturday by Divine Word University students over the alleged border incursions by Indonesian soldiers.

More than 500 students and Madang residents walked with placards through the town to the Bates oval where speeches were made.

The march was organised by international relations students at the university.

Protesters chanted and carried placards expressing concerns that the incursions were a violation of territorial integrity and national sovereignty.

They accused the Government of being silent, slow and indecisive over the incursions.

Speakers said the continuous incursions by the Indonesian soldiers and terrorising of PNG citizens was a threat to national security and an abuse of human rights.

Student leaders said the act of unprovoked aggression by the Indonesians should be totally condemned and shamed. No more apologies and excuses must be accepted.

They said monies like the US$40 million in an MP’s account in Singapore should be used to improve PNG’s security and surveillance along the border.

The students also called on the Government to immediately sack PNG Defence Force commander, Peter Ilau, for not advising Cabinet well on national security issues affecting the country.

They said that the Defence White Paper policy of downsizing the force was of poor judgment and must be abolished. Instead, PNGDF numbers must be increased so that enough men are stationed at the border.

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PACIFIC Magazine

3)PNG to Formally Protest Indonesia Border Incursions

By Tereni Kens in Port Moresby

Friday: July 25, 2008

The Papua New Guinea government will be making a formal protest to the Indonesian government over the recent border incursions made by members of the Indonesian armed forces.

That’s the word from PNG Minister for Foreign Affairs, Trade and Immigration Samuel Abal, who spoke with Pacific Magazine before departing for Singapore yesterday to attend the annual ASEAN ministerial meeting and regional forum.

Abal said PNG-Indonesia bilateral relations in recent years had been cordial and he was concerned that the incursions could undermine relations between the two countries.

Whilst in Singapore Abal said he will take this up with his Indonesian counterpart Dr N. Hassan Wirajuda to express his concern and seek an explanation.

A joint ministerial commission meeting at the foreign minister level will be convened later this year as a means to maintaining closure dialogue between the governments of the two countries.

The National reports a confidential PNG Defense Force report on the incursions provided to the government last week highlighted seven instances of incursions by Indonesian soldiers into PNG territory in May, June and July.

On May 27, eight Indonesian Army soldiers who were inside PNG were ordered back by police, the report said.

On June 9, eight soldiers crossed into Wutung and defaced monument marker 1.

On June 13 two patrols (18 armed men) crossed over. Two TNI (Indonesian Army) soldiers crossed again on June 23.

His report further revealed that on June 28, company strength of armed TNI soldiers was intercepted by PNG Defense Force soldiers, who ordered them to retreat.

On July 5, six TNI crossed over and intimidated a retired policeman while, on July 6, four TNI soldiers crossed 7 km into PNG and fired shots at Bungon village, Skotchiau.

Concerned about the incursions, Forest Minister Belden Namah and Housing Minister Andrew Kumbakor visited the border area, and learnt of the incursions first hand on July 13.

The report said after they flew out in the Kumul aircraft that evening, an Indonesian military aircraft flew over Vanimo at about 7 p.m., violating PNG airspace.

Meanwhile, Abal will also be speaking with Australian foreign minister over the recent criticisms raised against PNG ministers by AusAid Minister Counsellor, Margareth Thomas.

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Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) News July 21, 2008

4)Indonesia to apologise for PNG border incursions: report

Pacific correspondent Campbell Cooney

The Indonesian Government has reportedly agreed to make an official apology to Papua New Guinea for a least a dozen border incursions in the past three months.

Media outlets in Papua New Guinea are reporting claims that in the past three months there has been a number of incursions by Indonesia's military - based in its province of Papua - burning down at least 10 houses in one village and physically attacking locals in the region.

Last week Indonesia's Ambassador to Papua New Guinea was summoned before the acting Foreign Affairs Secretary, Kila Karo, and the national newspaper is reporting he has acknowledged PNG's concerns.

It is reported the ambassador has claimed the incursions were made by new recruits from Central Java unfamiliar with the PNG-Indonesian border boundaries and that any future incursions will be dealt with under Indonesian military law.

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The National PNG 21//08

5) Indonesians promise to apologise

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK

THE Indonesian government will make an official apology on 12 border incursions between May 27 and July 13 next week.

Indonesian Ambassador to PNG Bom Soejanto was summoned before the acting Foreign Affairs Secretary, Kila Karo, in Port Moresby last Thursday and conveyed his government’s position on the issue.

Foreign Affairs officials yesterday said PNG’s serious concerns on the alleged border crossings by Indonesian troops into Vanimo, Sandaun province, will be conveyed to his superiors in Jakarta this week.

Mr Soejanto said the incursions were made by new recruits from Central Java who were not familiar with the PNG-Indonesian border boundaries.

He said any future border incursions will be dealt with under Indonesian military rules.

Government officers said they would act on reports about the burning down of 10 houses, affecting about 100 Kwara villagers in Western province once official reports are received.

South Fly police commander Insp Peter Philip claimed last Thursday that Indonesians soldiers at Sota had crossed over into PNG territory on July 9 while in pursuit of a Papua New Guinean working at the Weam station.

They did not find the man and allegedly set some houses on fire, and gun-butted three Medapor villagers.

A joint border meeting will be held in Jayapura next week. Security issues are among matters for discussions.

The National PNG 18 July 2008

6) Indonesians raid village

By CLIFFORD FAIPARIK
ABOUT 100 villagers in Western province are displaced and homeless after Indonesian soldiers allegedly raided their village and burnt houses, police in the province said yesterday.
The raid was staged by a platoon-sized group of Indonesian soldiers, and police described it as an act of unprovoked aggression on PNG citizens living in Kwara village close to the PNG-Indonesian border last Tuesday.
South Fly police commander Insp Peter Philip said yesterday a platoon strength (about 25) of armed Indonesian soldiers crossed the border in search of an officer attached to the Weam district administration and burnt down 10 houses.
“The next day (July 9), a section strength (about 10) of armed Indonesian soldiers met three Medapor villagers in PNG territory and assaulted them with gun butts.
“The villagers, with traditional border crossing permits, were on their way to the Indonesian border station at Sota when they were assaulted,” Mr Philip said.
He said the officer the Indonesians were after was based at the PNG border station of Weam.
He had allegedly gone across to Sota early this month, got drunk with Indonesian officers, and behaved unruly.
Indonesian border security officers locked him up at their police station. However, he was released from the station with the help of some Indonesian friends but without the Sota’s Indonesian military commander’s permission.
“When the commander discovered what had happened, he sent soldiers across the border searching for the officer, and destroyed houses in the village,” Mr Philip said.
There is only one policeman at the Weam station, but he has no communication with Daru or Port Moresby.
Mr Philip said that the Indonesian soldiers’ action is uncalled for as the villagers were not involved with that officer.
“There was a similar situation early this year when Indonesians soldiers raided a village and killed a pig.
“During the border liaison meeting in Jayapura last May 26 -27, I had raised this issue about Indonesian soldiers’ unruly behaviours along the border.
“Indonesian officials had assured me that no such incidents will happen again. But the recent incidents showed that the Indonesians still have a long way to go in controlling their soldiers,” Mr Philip said.
Meanwhile, the National Executive Council has instructed the Foreign Affairs Minister to protest strongly to the Indonesian government over incursions into PNG by its troops.
Deputy Prime Minister Dr Puka Temu, during question time in Parliament, said Cabinet had been fully briefed on the matter and was very concerned.
“The Government has directed Foreign Affairs Minister and Secretary to send a diplomatic note on the continuous border incursions.”
Dr Temu said Defence Force commanders from both PNG and Indonesia have met over the issue.
He said the issue will also be raised at the joint PNG-Indonesia border liaison meeting scheduled for either August or September.
He said the PNG Government had moved to upscale its activities along the border with the Prime Minister giving directions for Treasurer and Finance Minister Patrick Pruaitch to take charge of the border programme.
He said Mr Pruaitch had put together a border development package to be brought before Cabinet for endorsement and implementation, which include improving monitoring and surveillance along the border.
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7) Border post in bad shape

By HARLYNE JOKU in Vanimo
GOVERNMENT officers including PNG Defence Force personnel and police manning the PNG-Indonesian border post in Vanimo, Sandaun province, are facing chronic systematic problems.
Only two weeks after reports of an incursion by Indonesian military and the defacing of a PNG border monument, Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs Secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc and Sandaun administrator Joseph Sungi visited the border post on Wednesday.
They conducted interviews with government officials on site who revealed that they were faced with a chronic shortage of manpower. Defence, police and government officials manning the Wutung border post and Customs office all expressed similar sentiments.
There is no constant power and fuel supply.
A government official said PNG Defence Force soldiers at Wutung had to sell raffle tickets occasionally to raise enough money to pay for fuel.
Others said they had to wait for up to between two weeks and a month for cheques to be processed at the Waigani and Lae offices, resulting in delays and inconsistent supply of logistics.
In the nights when the Indonesian side of the border lights up like a city, the PNG border is in total darkness.
Seven people work at the Customs office at Wutung processing and checking about 200 people travelling to and from Indonesia a day. The Indonesian station is manned by more than 100 officials a shift.
“Ours is incompatible to the Indonesian side.
“They are serious about their presence at the border.
“Ours is more like a rural outpost.
“It is no surprise that their soldiers can wander onto our side of the border and do anything at will,” a PNG official said.
“The Indonesians are indirectly telling us that they can walk into our country anytime,” he said.
The Wutung post is serviced by one vehicle and, at most times, there is no fuel to run it. Officers had to catch PMVs to make a 50km trip into Vanimo town.
The Defence Force personnel on the ground number 18 instead of the required 32 soldiers. They have no vehicle.
Mr Zurenuoc said it was time the Government seriously considered decentralising funding and administrative powers.
He said the current system was handicapped where IRC, provincial affairs, quarantine, and police personnel and soldiers on the ground depend on their own offices for direction and funding.
Mr Zurenuoc wants to see that officials on the ground are authorised to make decisions regarding access to funding and logistics.
__________________________________________________________

Honduras: Rafael Alegria has been released

2009-07-25T01:53:00.000-07:00

Telesur, 25 July 2009

http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/54707-NN/rafael-alegria-es-liberado-y-continua-en-la-lucha-por-la-democracia/

The Via Campesina’s leader in Honduras, Rafael Alegria, was freed last Saturday night in the Honduran town of Danli (south). He was hold detained for over 6 hours due to a supposed break of the curfew imposed by the de facto government who promoted the cup d’etat in the Centro-American country.

In an exclusive interview with the special correspondent of TeleSUR in Honduras, Madeleine Garcia, Alegria stated that he was moved from Posta, in the El Paraiso department (border with Nicaragua), to Danli, where he was arrested.

"They lock me in a cell with 45 other comrades detained (since earlier than myself) for the same reason. We had violated the curfew. Regardless, I told them that it was illegal (the measure taken) and that we could not accept it", said the leader who has stand on the struggle for longer than 28 days on a row for the return of the democracy and the legitimated President, Manuel Zelaya.

About the other 50 people “they already were imprisoned since the morning”. There were children and women amongst them.

Alegría specified that, while he was detained, several journalists from different international media arrived but they did also suffer different forms of repression from the police.

"We now by fact that while they were trying to get an interview from a 5metres distance, when the comrades (detainees) shouted ‘freedom’, they were pushed away and they messed up with their equipment. The Venezuelan media, which they were closely covering everything happening there, were also hassled, Alegria denounced.

“The release of the demonstrators happened thanks to the assistance of a human rights worker who intervened and freed us” the leader of Via Campesina confirmed.

In this sense, there has definitively been a violation of our human rights (…) they arrested us without a judicial warrant and we were imprisoned.

Linked to this statement, Rafael Alegria insisted about the illegality of the curfew imposed by the cup government. Right after, the leader said he would keep contact with his comrades who are with President Zelaya in the border area of Las Manos “to asses the situation and check over the different possibilities".

"We will stay on the struggle” affirmed Alegria, who said that “the co-ordination raised the fact that its crucial to keep up the resistance, both today and tomorrow (Sunday)".

Furthermore, he denounced the presence of hundreds of armed military forces at the border with Nicaragua. “To reach the village where he was detained (Posta), we crossed five roadblocks. It was not easy to get there. The road was jammed because of the high military presence around the Nicaragua and Honduras border”.

Later on, Madeleine Garcia interviewed Inspector Molina, from Danli’s police department, who repeated that “we are arresting people that breaks the rule (curfew). We are not out breaking peoples rights, this is a decree and it’s the law which has to be obeyed” said.

Regardless the wounded, or even the confirmed death of a citizen arrested in El Paraiso, the Inspector said that “we care for the security of all the Hondurans and we seek their cooperation with us”. “A curfew has been established. We have to understand it and enforce its compliance. We do not want to violate nobodies’ rights, but it is every Honduran duty to comply” concluded.

(activist translation by Viatransla)

COLOMBIA: Assasination of farmers' leader, member of the ANC and the Minga Popular Resistance

2009-07-02T15:20:00.000-07:00

Thursday, Jul. 02, 2009

JOSE Betancourth ANTONIO LOPEZ from the Association of Peasants of antioquean Bajo Cauca (ASOCBAC)

With anger and pain in the world today we denounce the vile assassination of farmers' leader JOSE ANTONIO LOPEZ Betancourth member of the Association of Peasants of antioquean Bajo Cauca (ASOCBAC) who was missing since Tuesday June 30 at 6 : 15 pm approximately, when he was going in a taxi from the town of Taraza Antioquía to El Doce.

Versions say it was down by men who tied him, took him away and was found today, July 2 in the morning buried near the aqueduct in the village of Piedras completely dismembered.

The comrade Jose Antonio was a spokesman for the marches by coca farmers, and on several occasions in which they signed agreements with national and departmental governments which were never fulfilled.

The comrade Jose Antonio arrived with the intention to unite efforts in the struggle, resistance and permanence in the territories.

Also he was member of the Political Committee of MINGA SOCIAL AND POPULAR RESISTANCE in which he actively participate in scheduled meetings, ans also in meetings with delegates of the national government.

He leaves behind his wife and 3 children grieving for his loss and claiming justice, he leaves behind a process of peasant struggle and resistance and a legacy of sacrificing his life in defense of the peasantry, and the message of unity, solidarity and resistance.

These facts are presented in the framework of democratic security policy of the president Alvaro Uribe Velez, in an area of military and paramilitary control, only 10 minutes from a checkpoint of the Army of Colombia and with presence of Police in urban areas.

We confirm once again that the government does not care about solving the problems of Colombian peasants and all of us who dare to demand we are branded as terrorists, brought to courts, killed or disappeared.

We appeal to the national and international sister organizations to demand from the Colombian State to clarify the facts, punish those responsible for his murder shall not remain in the impunity that reigns today in Colombia.

We send a warm and fraternal solidarity hug to the family of Jose Antonio, as well as to the comrades of ASOCBAC expressing our commitment to continue the struggle, resistance and following the example of our comrade and leader

National Agrarian Coordinator of Colombia CNA

Bogota, July 2, 2009

source: Colombia Indymedia

Philippines: Body of slain farmer-leader laid to rest, search for justice continues

2009-06-26T00:38:00.000-07:00

Renato Penas (Ka Rene)

AFA wishes to thank all of you who sent your generous expressions of sympathy and solidarity for PAKISAMA and the family of our beloved and esteemed farmer-leader, Renato Penas, who was murdered last June 5.

AFA joined the activities of PAKISAMA last June 6-12 in honor of Ka Rene when his body was brought to Metro Manila. Together with many farmers, NGOs, students, and other supporters of the agrarian reform movement in the Philippines, we joined the memorial services, masses, and marches for Ka Rene; as well as solicited financial assistance for the bereaved family. We also printed out and handed over your messages to his wife and children. His body was brought back to Mindanao and buried last June 16.

The search for truth and justice continues. A multi-sectoral body aimed at conducting an independent Fact Finding Mission (FFM) to be able to gather evidence and other information that could help surface the motive behind the killing of Ka Rene Peñas was launched. PAKISAMA welcomes any donation to cover the expenses of this investigation.

Philippines: Sumilao peasant leader shot dead in Bukidnon

2009-06-06T00:07:00.000-07:00

06/06/2009 | 10:02 AM

GMANews.TV

MALAYBALAY CITY, Philippines – The peasant activist who led his fellow farmers in walking all the from Sumilao, Bukidnon in Mindanao to Manila in 2007 to seek justice was shot dead Friday midnight, police and the victim's family said on Saturday.

Rene Peñas, 51, and two others were riding a motorcycle on their way home when they were fired at by an unidentified assailant using a shotgun, said SPO4 Rey Vasquez, acting police chief of Sumilao town.

Peñas, a barangay (village) councilman in San Vicente, died of a gunshot wound on his left chest, Vasquez said.

His two other companions, Eliezer Peñas and Samson Dollete, also suffered injuries but both were sent home after being treated at the Provincial Hospital in Bukidnon.

"The assailants were on the left side of the road. Peñas tried to crawl but he was again shot," Vasquez told GMANEWS.TV.

Noland Peñas, the victim's eldest child, said the trio were shot when they were driving along the darkest stretch going to his father's farmhouse to drop off Eliezer, a relative and caretaker of the farmhouse.

Noland said that two men allegedly were seen running away after the shooting. He said the police had already conducted crime scene investigation.

When asked of the motive of the killing, Noland told GMANEWS.TV on a mobile telephone interview that his father's death was probably related to a land issue he currently handled.

"My father had recently been consulted by CLOA holder beneficiaries in another land claims here. Perhaps, this is a possible motive of his killing," Noland said without elaborating so as not to hamper the police's investigation.

A CLOA is a certificate of land ownership award given by the Department of Agrarian Reform to farmer-beneficiaries of the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP).

Rene Peñas was one of the participants in the 1,770-kilometer “walk for land, walk for justice" of Sumilao farmers in October 2007 to prod the government to award the land long denied them due to the manipulations of a landlord.

He was also one of the pioneers of the Mapalad hunger strike in 1997, and one of the leaders of the community organizers of the 444-kilometer walk of Banassi farmers in Ula, Camarines Sur.

When the CARP Extension with Reform (Carper) bill was passed in the lower house on Wednesday his son Noland said his father was already in Sumilao.

"He came home on May 30 and was so jubilant when the Carper has been passed on Wednesday and quoted his father saying "Nidaug na ta!" (We have won!).

Last March, Peñas was elected as national vice president of peasant organization Pakisama.

Peñas' remains were brought to a funeral home in Impasug-ong town, the wake will be later held in his home in San Vicente in Sumilao town.

Balaod Mindanaw, a non-government organization helping farmers on legal matters, will send a team to investigate the death of Peñas, according to lawyer Noemi Batula, the organization's managing director.

"We condemn the death of Rene. It is so painful to lose a great farmer leader who aggressively push forward the Carper and the other land campaigns which he strongly advocated. We demand justice for his death, we are holding our own investigation to his death," Batula said.

Batula said she was surprised to hear Peñas' death since he was in Manila before he came home on May 30. "I only knew that he was back home when I heard the news that he was shot dead Friday midnight," Batula said.a

Rene left behind his wife Evangeline, 55, Noland, 27, Wopsyjenn, 26, Jerald, 24, Realynme, 16 and his two-week old grandson. - GMANews.TV

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PAKISAMA leader ambushed! (updated)

Renato Penas, Vice-President of PAKISAMA, was ambushed dead by unidentified gunmen at 11:00 PM yesterday, on the way to his farm in Sumilao, Bukidnon.

He was 51.

His 2 companions are in the hospital nursing gunshot wounds.

It was a high price to pay for selflessly dedicating himself to the agrarian reform movement.

He is one of the most respected, trusted farmer-leaders, and whose creative, dynamic ideas have fired the spirits of many farmers to make the agrarian reform program truly work in the country.

Ka Rene, a recognized leader of the Sumilao farmers and presently Vice-President of PAKISAMA, recently led various campaigns in Congress to help enact CARPER (Comprehensive Agrarian Reform with Extension and Reform).

He led to victory the 1,700-kilometer Sumilao and the 444-kilometer Banasi farmers’ marches in 2007-2008.

His last text message about CARPER was “Panalo na tayo!” (We won!).

Ka Rene is the third PAKISAMA leader gunned down in the last 7 months, in what are apparently agrarian-related and politically motivated killings. They were all from Mindanao.

He has attended AFA events before, such as the 3rd General Assembly in Korea in March 2008, and the IFAD final negotiations for the medium term cooperation program in May this year.

Ka Rene is survived by his wife Evangeline (55), and 4 children, Noland (27), Wopsyjenn (26), Jerald (24) and Realynme (16).

Please pray for them and his soul that they may have justice and peace.

We ask you to also pray for our country as well.

Justice for Ka Rene! These brazen, senseless killings must stop!

Related stories published in newspapers today:

Sumilao farmer slain

Sumilao farmer leader gunned down

Afghan farmers complain 'Canadians' shooting at them while they work

2009-06-03T15:41:00.000-07:00

posted on Yahoo News Canada

Wed Jun 3, 9:47 AM

By The Canadian Press

PANJWAII DISTRICT, Afghanistan - Some Afghan farmers are complaining Canadians soldiers are shooting at them while they work their fields after dark.

They say unless the shooting stops, they will be forced to leave their village homes nestled in the heart of the insurgent badlands of southern Afghanistan. But the Canadians are adamant the firing isn't coming from them.

They believe soldiers from Afghanistan's army may be firing at people suspected of planting roadside bombs.

In one recent case, Canadian solders did kill a man relaying their movements to insurgents.

The incidents highlight the difficulty Canadian forces face dealing with an enemy that blends with the local population, and villages caught in the middle.

Mexico: Rural leader murdered in Sinaloa

2009-05-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

Translated from La Jornada

Pedro Lugo used to walk in the mornings; wife and children found his corpse shot.

The PRD condemns the crime; requires the state and federal governments to take measures against violence and impunity

Javier Valdez Cardenas, Correspondent

Culiacán, Sinaloa, 16 of May. Unknown gunmen shot to death the rural leader Pedro Lugo Rivera when he was near his house, in the community of Ocoroni, municipality of Sinaloa, reported the ministerial police of the state.

The leader used to go for walking in the mornings but this Saturday he got unusually late. His children and wife they went to seek for him and they found him a few kilometers from the house, with bullet wounds in thorax and abdomen.

Lugo Rivera was a leader of the Peasant National Confederation of the PRI. Then he entered at the front of Defense of the Agricultural Producers, next to various leaders perredistas, and recently he worked in the region along with Juan Figueroa Sources, local representative of the PRD.

Ramón Lucas Lizárraga, perredista state leader, condemned the murder and he demand the state and federal governments to adopt measures to fight the violence and to put an end to the impunity. "Every act of this nature is reprehensible", maintained.

Also he deplored that the violence reign in Sinaloa and recalled that besides Lugo Rivera, they were murdered Rogelio Zamora and another militant in the municipality of Narrowness on November 14, 2008. "The government should apply the necessary measures so that these cowardly murders don't remain unpunished", demanded.

The rural leader of Ocorini also collaborated with the National Union of Autonomous Rural Organizations in the movement against the farm chapter of the NAFTA, and he fought for changes in the social politics of the government.

In October of 2004, along with other leaders and rural organizations of Sonora, Michoacán, Puebla, Guerrero and Sinaloa, he participated in a protest in front of the Office of the secretary of Agriculture, Stockbreeding, Rural Development, Fishing and Alimentation (Sagarpa) in the Federal District, to demand endorsement to their farm projects.

On that occasion, Lugo Rivera said that the coop members of Ocorini continued expecting the lands of irrigation that they were promised 26 years ago in exchange for donating 5 thousand 400 hectares for a dam. "They despoiled us and 350 families lost their plots", denounced at that time.

He exposed that beside that the coop members carried a five-year period requesting to the federal government works of irrigation and a project of farm development for the region, but the Sagarpa asked them 50 million pesos –the half of the cost– to get to work. And he asked: "¿From where are we going to raise that money?"

Venezuelan Rural Activists and National Land Institute Workers Arrested for Occupying Estate

2009-04-21T18:21:00.000-07:00

Published on April 21st 2009, by James Suggett – http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4381

Farmers in Portuguesa state (MINCI).

Mérida, April 21^st 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) - Police in Portuguesa state, Venezuela, forcibly evicted more than sixty landless farmers and three National Institute of Land (INTI) workers on Friday from a section of a privately owned estate that the INTI had marked for re-distribution.
The eviction is emblematic of the clash between powerful landed elites and the government of President Hugo Chávez, whose 2001 land reform law permits the state to forcibly purchase idle sections of large private estates for re-distribution as a means to spur agricultural production.
Last week, officials from the INTI and the Socialist Agrarian Fund (FONDAS) announced they would gradually parcel out 926 hectares (2,290 acres) of underused lands on the privately owned El Rodeo Estate to a group of 86 landless families in Portuguesa state.
While INTI personnel were assisting a group of sixty farmers to demarcate a section of the territory last Friday, state police known locally as the Jungle Police staged an "ambush" and ordered the entire group to lie face down on the ground, according to alternative media reporters who have accompanied the farmers in their struggle for land.
The police briefly detained and then released the INTI functionaries and most of the farmers, but arrested and transferred Carlos Ortega and six other farmer rights leaders to the state capital Guanare to be tried for trespassing. Police and National Guard (GN) forces now occupy the disputed lands.
GN Lieutenant Colonel Gustavo Saluzzo, who commands the Portuguesa State Police, told the local press, "Our idea is to respect the law... while the land reform law says landed estates are not permitted, the law also establishes sanctions for those who invade private property."
According to independent media reports, Saluzzo has repeatedly threatened to jail Ortega, and United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Governor Wilmar Castro has publicly denounced the confrontational land "invasions" promoted by Ortega as a tactic to speed up the process of land re-distribution.
Also, former Portuguesa Governor Antonia Muñoz, who is currently the regional coordinator of the PSUV, created the Jungle Police to be a special force to fight ecological crimes, but the squad has fallen under control of elite regional estate owners and has mainly been used to repress rural activists, according to independent news reports.
On Saturday, a group of eighty allies of Ortega marched to the Portuguesa state police headquarters and demanded the release of the seven arrested organizers, who they alleged had been politically persecuted. The seven activists remain in police custody.
Since the 2001 land reform law was passed, 1,507 small or landless farmers in Venezuela have been arrested as a result of their struggle to gain legal title to lands, according to a growing network of farmers' rights groups nation-wide.
The rights groups, which advocate the reform of Articles 471 and 471 of Venezuela's Penal Code in order to de-criminalize small farmers who occupy private lands, also report that 214 rural activists have been murdered since 2001, most recently Nelson Lopez in Yaracuy state and Mauricio Sánchez in Zulia state in March.
Following the killings in March, several Venezuelan farmer rights groups held a joint conference in Caracas to form a united front against the politically motivated assassinations and arrests of rural activists, and to call for an end to impunity for "the landed oligarchy that is killing our brothers in the rural communities."
Agriculture and Lands Minister Elías Jaua attended the conference and promised to appeal to the Attorney General and president of the Supreme Court to accelerate the investigations of crimes against farmer rights organizers.
In an interview on the state television channel VTV Monday, Jaua said that 90% of the private lands re-distributed by the Ministry, which amounts to almost one million hectares (2.47 million acres), are now producing food, including meat, grains, fruits, and vegetables.
Recuperated lands are distributed either to state-owned Social Production Enterprises or to cooperatively run projects such as the Zamoran Farms, named after Venezuela's legendary farmer rights fighter Ezequiel Zamora, said Jaua. Zamoran Farms are now producing food on 155,000 hectares (383,000 acres) of formerly idle private land, the minister added.
After announcing the launch of the Ministry's "Operation Free Land and Men" aimed at recuperating more land in the states of Barinas, Amazonas, Miranda, and Aragua, Jaua said, "we are making a reality of the dream for which generations of humble farmers struggled: That the best lands of our country... be at the service of food production."

One Papua farmer killed, 4 farmers injured among other civilians by Indonesian Police

2009-04-15T02:21:00.000-07:00

posted on koteka.net

Photos & News of Shot Papuans in Nabire

Written by Administrator

Tuesday, 07 April 2009

Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB)/WPNC (West Papuan National Committe) Camp in Nabire Destroyed, 15 Papuans Arrested, 7 Civilans Shot, One Policeman Shot with Arrow

Indonesian Police in Nabire destroyed and burnt peaceful camp belonging to the Nabire branch of Komite Nasional Papua Barat (KNPB) which had been set-up to celebrate the launching of ILWP (International Lawyers for West Papua).

Indonesian Police arrested 15 Papuans who were preparing banners and posters in preparation for a peaceful demonstration scheduled for 6/4/2008, having duly informed the Indonesian Police previously in writing. "The Police came into where the masses where gathered and blindly opened fire into the crowd," stated a witness who for safety reasons prefered to remain anonymous.

15 Papuans including students were arrested. Jerry Nawipa (18) was shot. The 15 arrested include Agus Pigome (30), Yohanes Agapa (42), Samuale Pekey, Frans Kotouky, Mafras Adii, Amoye Pakage, Yohanes Gobay (25). The identity of the remaining 9 Papuans currently unknown.

The masses scattered from the area to escape the pokice shooting.

The following morning, the masses arrived at the camp to discover it had been destroyed and burnt by the Indonesian Police. The heavy-handed Indonesian Police then fired wildly into the crow, resulting in 7 Papuans currently receiving emergency treatment for bullet wounds in Nabire General Hospital.

A 10 year-old primary school student on his way home from school, Albertus Tagi, shot in hip (see photo); Yonandi Pigome (30), bullet entered back of head and exited front (see photo - condition critical); Ipoo Boga (28), shot left thigh, bullet entered and exited thigh; Roy Singgamui (30), shot left side of chest, bullet entered and exited body (see photo). An Indonesian Police member, Bribda Jejen (24) still hospitalized due to arrow wound. No media allowed to photograph the wounded police member.

Three other Papuans have returned home, namely Yan Yeimo (24) bullet grazed head; Franky Boma (20), shot in right thigh; Hengky Tebay (20), head wound. ***

Albertus Tagi (10 - primary school student, an orphan), shot in hip, bullet still lodged in. condition critical.

Ipoo Boga (28), shot left thigh, bullet entered and exited thigh.

Roy Singgamui (30), shot left side of chest, bullet entered and exited body.

Yonandi Pigome (30), bullet entered back of head and exited front, condition critical.

Update: Yonandi Pigome died 9/4/2008 after 4 days in critical condition in hospital.

Human Rights in West Papua deteriorates with shootings, arrests and orchestrated violence reported in Nabire

April 9, 2009 by ipahr

Human Rights Report 8 April 2009

Human Rights in West Papua deteriorates with shootings, arrests and orchestrated violence reported in Nabire

The human rights situation in West Papua continues to deteriorate before Indonesia? General Election tomorrow. Local people have been shot and critically injured in a operation reportedly organised by Indonesian security forces against West Papuan demonstrators in Nabire on the 6 April 2009.

This report provides details of nine people who are confirmed shot by security forces. A policeman was also wounded by a traditional arrow in Nabire on the 6th April and many other protesters and police are reported to have also suffered injuries.

Paula Makabory from Institute for Papuan Advocacy & Human Rights said today, ?Reports received from Nabire indicate that the violent confrontation that occurred on Monday the 6 April between the security forces and Pro-independence protesters was actually promoted by a Pro-Indonesian militia member and other Papuans working with the Indonesian security forces.? ?The fact that there are reports that the Indonesian security personnel were positioned in the buildings & armed clearly suggests that this confrontation and the subsequent shooting and wounding of civilians was planned & staged by the Indonesian security forces.?

?This incident occurred following two other Pro-Independence rallies by about 15,000 local people in the town of Nabire, and another of 10,000 people in the Wamena district on Friday-the 3 April which the police had attempted to prohibit. Rally organizers ignored the attempted ban claiming their right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.?

The protesters at both these rallies said they were supporting the launch of the group ?International Lawyers for West Papua? [ILWP] and said they would boycott Indonesia?s general elections this year. Protesters also called for a referendum on self-determination. A report containing information about the incidents in Nabire on 6 April 2009 is detailed below.

For further information, including video footage of the protesters contact: Paula Makabory Institute for Papuan Advocacy & human Rights (+61) 402 547 517; or Matthew Jamieson (+61) 418291998;

? 1.0 Events in Nabire from 30 March to 6 April 2009

The KNPB (National Committee for West Papua) set up their tents on 30 March 2009 as a base camp for KNPB in Nabire, under the leadership of Zeth Giay. On Friday 3 April 2009, the KNPB held a large rally with more than 15,000 people involved. This peaceful rally was in support of the launch of International Lawyer for West Papua (ILWP). The rally also called for a referendum in West Papua and a boycott of the Indonesia Election and a demand for Independence for West Papua. One of the organisers of the rally and the chair of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) for Nabire, Zet Giay, said the rally had been the biggest ever in Nabire. ?We support the launch of ILWP in America and we know that we are not Indonesian, we are Papuan, Melanesian, so we will not vote in the Indonesian Public election 2009,? Mr Giay said. He added that the protesters would continue to rally against these attacks by the security forces and in support of the ILWP. The protesters were also calling for investigations into the widespread human rights violations that have occurred in West Papua, and for a review of the 1969 so-called ?Act of Free Choice?, which saw West Papua?s formal incorporation into Indonesia. On Saturday the 4 April 2009, KNPB sent an information letter to the police precinct to let them know about the second rally that was to be held on Monday 6 April. There was no response from the police.

2.0 Raid on KNPB Protest camp

On Monday the 6 April 2009, at around 3am (Papua local time) there was a raid on the KNPB camp in Taman Bunga Bangsa, Oyehe, Nabire. Two tents that had been set up since the 30 March 2009 were burned by the police . The police also searched for Morning Star flags and other political articles. The Nabire Police Precinct under the command of Police Chief AKBP. Rinto Jadmoko, SIK, then arrested 15 people from the KNPB group. One man Jerry Nawipa (Male/ 18 Years old) was shot with a bullet during this police raid on the KNPB camp. The Taman Bunga Bangsa grounds is the location that was used by the West Papua people to raise the Morning Star in a series of flag raising in 1999 and 2000. According to a local KNPB organizer, after the raid the KNPB and their supporters decided to continue the rally and focus their next rally at Taman Bunga Bangsa Oyehe. They decided that the people who were living in each of the regions of Oyehe, Siriwo and Karang Tumaritis would gather and travel together to meet at Taman Bunga Bangsa . The KNPB planned not do a long march to DPRD (Local Provincial Assembly) and to focus their next demonstration at Oyehe. There was some concern reported at that time that their protest was infiltrated by Papuans working as informers for an Indonesian security forces intelligence group (TBO).

3.0 Indonesian militia in Karang Tumartis protest

Later in the morning of the 6 April at about 8am, one of KNPB organizers passed the Karang Tumaritis area and saw that people were blockading the road. A local man, Alipin Pigay, who is recognized as being from a militia group from the Nabire Military District Command (KODIM), was seen clearly encouraging the other demonstrators. Another 6 Papuans who work as TBO (Tenaga Bantuan Operational/ Operational Field Helper) for the Indonesian security forces intelligence organisation, were also seen among the people who were blocking the road. This KNPB organizer told the protesters that he wanted them to clear the road and wait beside the market or in the taxi terminal or by the road at Karang Tumaritis. He told the people that they had to choose to follow the instructions of KNBP or this other party. He asked them to wait for the other KNPB organizers to join the rally from Karang Tumaritis to Oyehe. A local community member who also recognized Alipin Pigay reported that it was Alipin Pigay who encouraged the protesters to block the road and to attack the traffic policemen and the police car. According to this source Alipin Pigay was the first to throw stones at the traffic police and their car. It was reported that Alipin Pigay and the others from TBO encouraged the other people to violently resist the Police and throw stones and then to fire arrows against the traffic policemen. Bribda Jejen (Male/ 24 Years old) a policeman, was shot with an arrow. He was shot during the incident when the police attacked the protesters at Karang Tumaritis. The traffic police had tried to clear the road to allow an army truck from TNI Battalion 753 to pass through. Some people were also arrested by the Nabire police precinct at that time in Karang Tumaritis. An eye witness said that there were casualties on both sides, the Indonesian police and the protesters who were fighting. The police troops were using machine guns and stones against the protesters and the protesters were using arrows and stones against the police. Metro TV has shown footage of this conflict between protestors and police.

4.0 Hidden Security forces and shooting around Karang Tumaritis

According to another local witnesses Indonesian security force intelligence officers with long and short guns were seen hiding in a second floor house in front of the Effata church in Karang Tumaritis and other houses that belonging to non-Papuans around the Karang Tumaritis area before the incident/protest on the road occurred. Those security forces reportedly shot at civilians who were not involved in the conflict & demonstration on the road around Karang Tumaritis. These local people were passing the location of the protest to reach their houses and were shot at by the security forces. Local Human Rights sources reported that while the Police troops were attacking groups protesting on the road and the concealed security forces were shooting as people went past the protest to reach their homes. The shooting in Karang Tumaritis resulted in many civilians suffering server bullet wounds. Reports from Nabire said eight shot with seven of the injured being treated at Emergency Unit (UGD) in the Nabire public hospital. The News Service from Reuters confirms 11 hospitalised in Nabire with serious bullet wounds. It is not clear who the police shot amongst the protesters on the road. Reports provided to IPAHR suggest that 7 people who were shot and injured but were not part of the protest. These people were said to be shot in the vicinity of the protest, amongst this group was an orphaned 4 grade elementary student Albertus Tagi. The shooting of Fritz Singamui and Albertus Tagi had clearly no link to the protest.

Details of victims shot at Karang Tumaritis District, Nabire 6 April 2009:

1. Fritz Samuel Singamui / Roy (Male 30 Years old) is dying in hospital in a very critical condition. He was shot with a real bullet in the left side of the chest, the bullet passed through to his left shoulder blade. He is in a coma in Nabire Public hospital. He was shot when he was trying to take a short cut with his motorcycle to his house. The Indonesian Police members attacked him and pushed him off his motorcycle into the gutter and shot him on the ground. He was not involved in the demonstration. Fritz has been working for an NGO called VCI, which focuses on community service providing clean water, natural disaster relief, promoting health for women and children, and raising awareness of HIV/AIDS. Fritz was reported to be evacuated to Makassar, Sulawesi, for further medical treatment.

2. Albertus Tagi (Male/10 Years old) is an orphan, a 4th grader student at the local elementary school. He is in a very critical condition in Nabire hospital. He was shot with a real bullet in his right ribs as he approached his house after school. He was not in the demonstration. He was sent home early in the morning before the visiting of the Papua Regional Police Chief to the hospital that was planned for the 7 April 2009. According to the medical workers who told activists that as an orphan, Albertus, has no one to look after him in the hospital was sent home.

3. Yunandi Pigome (Male/28 Years old), is a farmer. He is reported to be dying in Nabire hospital. He was shot with a real bullet, the bullet entered his left back skull bone, passed through the front skull and went out above his left eye brow. He was shot on his way to his house. He was not involved in the demonstration.

4. Ipo Boga (Male /28 Years old), a farmer, he was shot with a real bullet in the buttocks and the bullet passed through near his genitals. He went to the local market and bought some rice and was returning home when shot. He was not involved in the demonstration.

5. Hengky Boma (Male/ 25years old), a farmer, was shot in his right thigh. He is supposed to have an operation at Nabire hospital today (April 7, 2009). He was not involved in the demonstration.

6. Alfonse Yeimo (Male/ 22 Years old), a student was shot in the forehead, lost lots of blood.

7. Yafeth Keiya (Male/26 Years old) a farmer, he was shot in the right wrist, he was not involved at the demonstration, he was on his way to market. w

8. Hengky Tenouye (Male/ 20 Years old), a farmer, he was shot on the left side of his chest. He was not involved in the demonstrations.

For further information, including video footage of the protest rally, contact: Paula Makabory (+61) 402 547 517; or Matthew Jamieson (+61) 418291998;

Institute for Papuan Advocacy & Human Rights PO Box 1805 Byron Bay NSW 2481 Australia

Venezuelan Farmer Rights Organizations Unite to Oppose Assassinations by Landed Elite

2009-03-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

Published on March 13th 2009, by James Suggett - http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4293

Farmer rights organizations marched in front of the Venezuela's main chamber of commerce, FEDECAMARAS Monday, in support of government food security policies. (ABN)

Mérida, March 13th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- Several Venezuelan small farmer rights organizations united forces this week to prevent further assassinations of rural community organizers. The groups also marched to demand that the national government end impunity for those responsible for these crimes, and to support the government’s land reform and food security measures.

“This popular front must struggle against impunity, against hired killings, and against paramilitarism,” declared coalition leader Inder Herrera during the founding congress in Caracas on Tuesday.

The new front plans to team up with student activists, community councils, artisanal fisher organizations, and some state security forces to prevent any further assaults on rural community organizers.

Since Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez passed a land reform law in 2001, 214 rural activists have been murdered during their campaigns to carry out the law, according to the Ezequiel Zamora National Farmers Front.

Braulio Álvarez, a National Assembly legislator and the coordinator of the Simón Bolívar Farmers Front, said further investigations could reveal that that the actual number of politically motivated murders of rural organizers is more than 400.

The formation of the new front follows the assassination last Monday of Mauricio Sánchez, who had been leading the struggle for land reform in southern Zulia state, and farmer rights organizer Nelson López, who was shot 15 times in the back two weeks ago in Yaracuy state.

The government has arrested those suspected of having carried out the murders, but the farmers are calling for a national investigation of what they say is a network of large estate owners and private cattle ranchers associations who gave the orders for the crimes.

“We consider it important and transcendental that we investigate to the fullest and without hesitation the landed oligarchy that is killing our brothers in the rural communities,” said Herrera Tuesday.

Venezuelan Agriculture and Land Minister Elías Jaua attended Tuesday’s conference and promised to solicit a national investigation.

“We have come to listen to the proposals of this popular farmers’ movement and to express the government’s commitment not to allow this situation to continue,” said Jaua.

“One of the most atrocious crimes is that somebody dies while struggling for a piece of land, that’s why we are going to ask for an appointment with the Attorney General and the president of the Supreme Court to speed up these investigations,” said the minister.

Over the past two weeks, the Agriculture and Land Ministry and other government entities have taken under public ownership two privately owned rice processing plants that were caught hoarding food and evading price controls, and thousands of hectares of underused or idle land, in accordance with the 2001 Land Law and 2008 Law on Food Security and Sovereignty.

The measures come shortly after a national referendum in which Venezuelan voters approved a constitutional amendment to abolish term limits on elected offices. Following the referendum, President Chávez said his administration will correct its past mistakes by deepening its policies aimed toward the construction of “21st Century Socialism.”

The farmer rights organizations marched through Caracas Monday to support the government’s expropriation of socially irresponsible businesses and private estates, and to demand an end to impunity for those who ordered the murder of farmers.

“We completely support the measures that our Commander Hugo Chávez has taken to occupy rice plants,” said Herrera to the press. “We must deepen the revolution,” he said as the marchers gathered in front of Venezuela’s most powerful private business association and symbol of anti-government activity, FEDECAMARAS.

Minister Jaua recognized the need for the government to work with social movement organizations such as the farmer rights fronts in order for the hired assassinations to cease and the national food security policies to be effective.

“We receive this support from the farmers and we are filled with strength to continue the battle we are waging to guarantee the right to food security to the Venezuelan people,” said the minister.

Murder of Small Farmer Rights Organizer Sparks Protests in Yaracuy, Venezuela

2009-02-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

Published on February 20th 2009, by James Suggett - http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4235

Mérida, February 20th 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- Small farmer rights groups plan to march across the city of San Felipe in Venezuela’s Yaracuy state this Saturday to demand that the hired assassins of Nelson López, a small farmer rights organizer, be brought to justice.

López, who was shot fifteen times in the back last Thursday, is the 213th small farmer (campesino) to be murdered since 2001, the year the government of President Hugo Chávez passed a sweeping land reform law which set the conditions for re-distribution of idle sections of large estates to small farmers, according to the Ezequiel Zamora National Farmers’ Front (FNCEZ), one of the groups convoking Saturday’s marches.

According to Braulio Álvarez, a National Assembly deputy and farmer rights organizer from Yaracuy state, the directors of the National Cattle Ranchers Association and the National Federation of Cattle Ranchers (FEDENAGAS), along with two powerful landowners, were responsible for planning López’s murder.

“How much longer will the murder of small farmers at the hands of Colombian paramilitaries and hired assassins, financed by large estate owners and FEDENAGAS, remain in impunity?” Álvarez asked during a town hall meeting organized by the Unified Regional Agrarian Command (CRAU) in Yaracuy on Thursday.

FEDENAGAS and the other implicated cattle ranchers associations have not issued a response to the accusations.

The FNCEZ, Venezuela’s Culture Ministry, the regional director of the Agriculture and Lands Ministry, three leaders of the small farmer rights movement, and several members of the National Association of Free, Alternative, Community Media (ANMCLA) were also present at the town hall meeting.

These organizations demanded that the Venezuelan Attorney General dismiss Yaracuy District Attorney Alejandro Márquez for having accused Nelson López of being an “invader” of private property, and District Judge Linda Lugo for having served the interests of large estate owners and FEDENAGAS against small farmers in Yaracuy.

The organizations also spoke of the “historical debt” owed to small farmers, based on the oppression experienced by small farmers at the hands of the Spanish oligarchy for several centuries.

Till when the assassination of Venezuelan peasants at the hands of Colombian paramilitaries?

2009-02-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

Office of Culture paraYaracuy Friday, Feb. 20, 2009 at 1:57 PM

Demanding the cessation of killing of peasants in the hands of paid assassins, Fedenaga and landowners.

Until when will be continued the impunity and the killing of peasants in Venezuela, in the hands of paid assassins and paramilitaries in Colombia, funded by landowners and Fedenagas? Aren't enough the deaths of 213 agricultural leaders since 2001, after it was enacted the Land and development Act , and Nelson Lopez being the last victim of this permanent terrorism, when he was shot fourteen times in the back on February 12 in the Bartola in Bruzual Municipality Yaracuy state?

That is what he said the peasant leader and member of the National Assembly at the state of Yaracuy, Braulio Alvarez referring to the deaths on demand, of farmers in this region and across Venezuela during an act of repudiation against impunity and killing on demand, indicating as intellectual responsible the president of the National Association of Cattlemen, Genaro Mendez, Fhandor Quiroga, president of Fedenagas Yaracuy, the landowner Luis Gallo and members of the family of Lecuna Di Battista for the death of the yaracuyano farmer Nelson Lopez.

Death to impunity

During this event organized by the Regional Agrarian Unified Command, this Thursday at the Cinemateca in San Felipe, attended as support for this voice of protest the Legislative Council deputy in the state of Yaracuy, Ivan Aparicio, the leader of the Peasant Movement Jirajara, Joel Pineda, Kamal Hassan representing the Ministry Cabinet of Culture, the regional director of the Ministry of Agriculture and lands, Gabriel Gil, the peasant leader Laura Lawrence and Henry Fernandez of the National Association of Free and alternative Community Media (ANMCLA).

On April 10 -assured Congressman Alvarez - Genaro Mendez was in Yaracuy to meet with local leaders of Fedenagas and proselytizing in favor of NO, and he took the opportunity to launch the following warning "Mr President Chavez, if you do not take measures against criminals and land invaders, then we will take the law into our hands and we will do justice", then two days later they killed Nelson Lopez when he was entering his home.

Historical Debt

Similarly we demand the inhibition of the prosecutor II of the Public Ministry, Alejandro Marquez responsible for the investigation of this crime, for having managed earlier a record against Lopez which still remains open, as of the judge for the National Agricultural Circuit Yaracuy, mrs Linda Lugo, for having promoted on countless opportunities with her flawed decisions the interests of yaracuyanos landowners.

These 213 farmers killed in collusion with Colombian paramilitary forces and Fedenagas only were asking to be the producers in land which in the past was snatched from their indigenous ancestors, for our African ancestors later to be slaves and afterwards to become pawns of the same land, assured at the end of the meeting Braulio Alvarez that also has been once victim of an attack against him.

www.aporrea.org

Bangladesh: Farmer shot by BSF in Chuadanga

2009-02-17T16:20:00.000-08:00

Financial Express

CHUADANGA, Feb 17 (UNB): A Bangladeshi farmer received bullet wound as Indian Border Security Force (BSF) opened fire on him along the Jagannathpur border in Damurhuda Upazila Monday.

The injured was identified as Engrej Ali, son of Bokhs Ali of Jaypur village of Mujibnagar Upazila of neighbouring Meherpur district.

Police abuses in two regions

2009-01-23T04:24:00.000-08:00

Translated from La Jornada

Carlos Garcia and Javier Valdez, correspondents

Lion, Guanajuato., 22 of January. The attorney general's office of Justice of Guanajuato reported that Vicente Palomo Rodriguez, of 54 years, accused of cattle robbery, died suffocated, presumedly by hand of two ministerial police officers that arrested and interrogated him in the installations of the Public Department of the municipality of San Felipe.

According to the department, Palomo Rodriguez was arrested on Tuesday and arrived at 15 o'clock to the Center of Social Retraining of San Felipe, where three hours later died hung.

The Attorney's office of state Justice dismissed and imprisoned the two presumed murderers, initiated a prior inquiry and offered to pay the funeral expenses.

The subcoordinador of the Ministerial Police of the state, José Muñoz; the deputy commander of the corporation, Javier Sandoval, and the delegate of zone, José Rock, they refused to reveal the names of the defendants.

In the meantime, in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Felizardo Flores, father of 23-year-old José Manuel Flores, assured that federal police officers struck the youth to death on Wednesday night, as soon as they detained him for driving in excessive velocity along a road close to the community Costa Rica.

STOP THE STATE CRIMES AGAINST FARMERS MEMBERS OF FENSUAGRO-CUT

2009-01-22T16:04:00.000-08:00

THE FEDERATION OF THE UNITED NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL AND

AQUACULTURAL UNION (FEDERACIÓN NACIONAL SINDICAL

UNITARIA AGROPECUARIA) FENSUAGRO-CUT (COLOMBIA)

denounces the vile assassinations that have victimized various

campesino compañeros who are members of organizations affiliated

with FENSUAGRO-CUT, from the departments of Cauca, Tolima, and

Santander, committed by paramilitary groups and the military.

WHAT HAS OCCURRED

1. THE FIRST OF JANUARY, 2009, at four in the morning, while he was

talking with friends and family, the Communist leader of the district of

Montoso, Municipality of Prado, Tolima, ADOLFO TIQUE, 55 years of age,

father of six children, member of the union of farm workers in Tolima,

SINTRAGRITOL, and of the Polo Democrático Alternativa, PDA (Translators

Note: the PDA is a broad Center-Left coalition political party), was attacked

with a short, sharp weapon. With three stab wounds located in the upper

area of the chest, he was taken to the local Prado hospital, ceasing to live at

six in the morning. The hired assassin, José Vicente Acosta, alias

“Pacheco”, was detained by military units assigned to the mobile brigade

number 2 and immediately put free. The campesino was being constantly

accused by the militaries of being a supporter of the insurgency, including

being held prisoner by these slanderers in the year 2004.

2. THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, JANUARY, 2009, around 8:30 in the evening, in

the moments that they were moving from the urban center of the district of

El Palo to the village of El Alto de El Palo, JULIAN SANCHEZ, the

President of the Pro Constitution Association of the Reserva Campesina

Zone of the Municipality of Caloto, GERARDO BARON AVIRAMA Human

Rights Director for the Pro Constitution Association and member of the

South East Colombian Human Rights Network “Francisco Isaías Cifuentes”,

and JAMES BARON AVIRAMA, member of the Pro Constitution

Association, member of FENSUAGRO-CUT, were arbitrarily detained by a

military group of the Colombian state belonging to the Infantry Battalion

Number 8 “Pichincha Battalion” (under the command of Lieutenant Moreno)

who were in a high grade of drunkenness. In the place where this was

happening, a soldier addressed himself to compañero JULIAN SANCHEZ,

and demanded that he direct himself to a dark place remote from the main

road, to which JULIAN refused to walk. Subsequently, the soldier physically

and verbally attacked him, while the rest of the Colombian State military

unlatched and loaded the arms they were commissioned. Seeing the

situation of brutal aggression on the part of these soldiers, GERARDO

BARON AVIRAMA identified himself as a human rights defender and made

known that, as members of the state forces, they must have the training and

knowledge of the Human Rights material, as much the Military Forces as the

Police. He asked them where they were taking him [JULIAN] and he

demanded that they cease attacking him physically. The soldiers

proceeded to hit him repeatedly in the arms and chests and verbally

attacked GERARDO BARONA AVIRAMA and to say that they were taking

JAMES BARONA AVIRAMA. But finally, after so much verbal and physical

aggression, they let the three arbitrarily detained persons go.

3. SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2009, compañero DIEGO RICARDO RASEDO

GUEVARA, member of the Agrarian Association of Santander—ASOGRAS,

was disappeared from the urban center of Sabana de Torres and found

murdered the 7th

day of January, 2009, in a farm near the Municipality of

Sabana de Torres with a death shot to the head.

4. THE DAY OF JANUARY 8TH, 2009, the woman, GLORIA RASEDO

GUEVARA, mother of DIEGO RICARDO RASEDO GUEVARA, was the

object of various verbal threats from unknown persons, where they made it

know that she must abandon her town unless she wanted to run into the

same luck as her son.

5. WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2009, La Cominera village, La Dominga

farm, Municipality of Palmira, Department of Cauca, around 5:30 in the

afternoon, FRANCISCO JAVIER CAPERA REMISO, with the identity

number of 5.972.550 from Ortega Tolima, member of the Pro Constitution

Association of Reserva Campesina Zone of the Municipality of Corinto,

member of FENSUAGRO-CUT, found himself in the company of his son,

ANDRES CAPERA PRADA, a minor of 10 years of age, undertaking

outdoor work clearing and sowing blackberries. He [FRANCISCO] was hit

by shards from an explosive artifact. Subsequently he was carried to the

municipal hospital and there was remitted to the Valle de Lili Foundation

Clinic, in the city of Cali. He was diagnosed with multiple traumas from the

explosives, with fractures, hematomas, and damage to the facial skin tissue.

He was incapacitated for 30 days. It is fitting to note that in the zone where

these incidents occurred, there is the permanent presence of the National

Army belonging to the Engineers Battalion No. 3 “Augustín Codazzi” and of

a provisional military detachment of the Infantry Battalion No. 8, “Pichincha

Battalion”. The Military groups carry out constant operations.

6. Friday, January 16, 2008, Barrio el Mirador, around 5:30 in the afternoon,

in the moments that the Compañero ARLED SAMBONI GUACA,

identification number 16.932.895 from Popayán, member of the Campesino

Workers Association de Argelia, ASCAMTA, affiliate of FENSUAGRO-CUT,

in the moment that he was receiving a visit from his father, JOSE RODRIGO

SAMBONI, ARLED SAMBONI GUACE went out of his house in the

company of his six year old son to go to a commercial establishment to

make a phone call. ARLED noticed two individuals were following him. He

accelerated his pace and tried to return to his residence, but was

intercepted by the two subjects who were following him, and they shot him

repeatedly with a firearm, hitting him with seven bullets in various parts of

his body. Three shots were to the side of his head, killing him instantly. The

cruelest of all is the drama and the psychological trauma caused to his six

year old son who saw his father brutally murdered. It should be noted that

ARLED, in the month of September, 2008, had been threatened and forcibly

displaced with his immediate family by the Narco-paramilitaries calling

themselves the “Rastrojos” (Translators Note: Weeds). The father of

ARLED, JOSE RODRIGO SAMBONI, who is presently the Financial Officer

of the Campesino Workers Association of the Municipality of Argelia,

ACAMTA, also in the month of September, 2008, was threatened and

forcibly displaced with his immediate family by the Rastrojos. The same day

that ARLED was murdered, in the evening hours, his wife, SANDRA

JIMENA BASTIDAS, received a telephone call in which unknown persons

told her, “It is better that you keep quiet, if you do not want the same thing to

happen to you.”

7. SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 2008, Barrio el Mirador, in the morning hours,

the citizen SANDRA JIMENA BASTIDAS, identification number

34.315.769, from Popayán, received anew a telephone call in which

unknown persons said to her, “It is better that you keep quiet, if you do not

want the same thing to happen to you.” In the month of September, 2008,

she had been forcibly displaced by Narco-paramilitaries calling themselves

the Rastrojos, along with her husband ARLED SAMBONI GUACA and their

two young sons of six and eight years respectively. Now she must confront

this situation alone and see the absurd psychological trauma that they made

for her son to see how he was ripped out of the hands of his father,

murdered in cold blood by criminals who openly parade about in the

presence of the military in this zone.

WE DEMAND THAT THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

1. Immediately initiate the process of investigation of the assassinations of the

compañeros ADOLFO TIQUE, DIEGO RICARDO RASEDO GUEVARA,

ARLED SAMBONI GUACA, who were murdered by unknown persons.

2. Investigate concerning the threats to the victims’ families.

3. Investigate concerning the deeds that have generated displacement,

persecution, threats, and murders of our affiliates, leaders, and directors of

FENSUAGRO.

WE ASK OF THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

1. Call on the national government to guarantee the life, physical and

psychological integrity, and the right to stay in their territory for our leaders and

affiliates, and to freely exercise union and organizational activity.

2. Reject these types of actions that cause the mourning of the social, labor, and

popular organizations, since their goal is to sow terror in the campesino

communities, that are victims of the development and implementation of

“Democratic Security” (“Segurdiad Democratica”)*.

3. Continue following and monitoring the grave situation of human rights violations

that cross through the Departments of Cauca, Tolima, and Santander.

AIDEE MORENO IBAGUE

SERCRETARIA NACIONAL DE DERECHOS HUMANOS

FENSUAGRO – CUT

COLOMBIA

*: “Seguridad Democrática” or “Democratic Security” is the policy being pursued by the

administration of Colombian Pres. Alvaro Uribe to achieve “security” in Colombia through

aggressive military action and repression rather than through good faith negotiations to end the civil

war. The process has led to widespread abuses, including the displacement of millions of farming,

indigenous, and Afro-Colombian communities, an increase in the murders of these populations and

of union members (the hardest hit being the FENSUAGRO union of farmers and farm workers), and

the widespread scandal of “false positives”, wherein Colombian military personnel frequently

commit arbitrary arrests (there are over 7,200 political prisoners in Colombian jails) and murders of

innocent persons, and then dress the cadavers in guerrilla uniforms or otherwise “identify” them as

insurgents, seeking to fill quotas demanded by the government to give the impression of progress in

the war. Especially during the past year, such scandals have resulted in the excavation of a mass

grave of “false positives” in Soaca, Colombia as well as several other cases of extra-judicial killings

that have led to the firing and the arrests of some military personnel. Unaffected, however, are

those highest up on the chain of command, including Pres. Uribe, who is known to have extensive

ties to paramilitaries and narco-traffickers. During these years of the Uribe Administration and the

policy of “Democratic Security”, murders of unionists have increased by 70% and forced

displacements by 40%. For those of us in the US, it is important to note that our government

maintains a close alliance with Pres. Uribe and gives over $600 million a year to the Colombian

military. Pres. Obama has spoken out publicly against the abuses committed against unionists in

Colombia. However, he has also said that the close relationship of the US and Colombia, including

its military support, will continue along the same path as before under his administration.

Tamil farmer shot dead in Trincomalee

2009-01-21T16:27:00.000-08:00

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 16:55 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a Tamil young farmer at Thangkanakar in Seruvila division in Trincomalee district on Monday early morning in his house. The assassins came in a motorbike and killed the farmer in point blank range.

The victim has been identified as Anandarajah Suthanthirarajah, 26, a father of one child, police sources said.

Seruvila police are conducting inquiry