Honduras: The Impunity and Legacy of Miguel Facussé
Honduras: The Impunity and Legacy of Miguel Facussé
Written by Greg McCain
Monday, 24 August 2015 10:20
Ciriaco de Jesús Muñoz, PRESENTE! Ignacio Reyes García, PRESENTE!; Raúl Castillo, PRESENTE!; Teodoro Acosta, PRESENTE!; José Luis Sauceda Pastrana, PRESENTE!.
These are the names of the five campesinos (peasant farmers) who were massacred in November of 2010 at El Tumbador. Francisco Ramirez calls out the names to begin a meeting with a human rights delegation. The group calls out “PRESENTE!” to show that each of the five is still a part of the community of Guadalupe Carney and a member of the Campesino Movement of the Aguán (MCA in its Spanish Acronym).
November 15th 2015 marks the fifth anniversary of the massacre at El Tumbador, the African Palm plantation on Laguna Guaimoreto in Trujillo, Colon. Paramilitary private guards and members of the military ambushed the five, along with several other campesinos from the community, in the early morning hours as they attempted to enter their property. Francisco was among those severely wounded as bullets tore through his face and body. He is left with constant pain that makes it next to impossible for him to work plus the fact that the land he was entitled to cultivate was stolen from him.
November 15 also marks five years of impunity for the Dinant Corporation whose President, Miguel Facussé Barjum, ordered his private security guards and State security forces to open fire on the campesinos and kill as many as possible. Dinant is a Honduran company that grows African Palm and processes the oil in addition to harvesting other crops. It distributes cooking oil, snack food, sugary juices and a variety of other junk food and household products nationally and internationally. It also has a Biofuel processing program that is set up more as a PR scam for receiving Carbon Credits than as a feasible alternative fuel producer.
Facussé died in June of this year. He was considered one of the richest men in Honduras and the 11th richest in Central America. His death ensured his impunity for various crimes. He made his money swindling banks and other companies and used his influence in the government to have agrarian laws changed in order to swindle, intimidate, and usurp land from peasant farmers in various sectors throughout Honduras. One of his largest land holdings were the African Palm plantations in the Northeastern region known as the Bajo Aguán. It was here, since the 1990’s, that he wreaked havoc on the lives of the peasant farmers. Facussé left a legacy of murder, embezzlement, and theft much of it with the full knowledge and tacit approval of the US government.
More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/5443-honduras-the-impunity-and-legacy-of-miguel-facusse
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