Broken Anvil: Miskitu Communities Fight Militarization

[Judi Lynn]

October 30, 2012

Broken Anvil: Miskitu Communities Fight Militarization

Communities organize amid escalating violence in Honduras

Video link, with transcript:

~snip~
ANNIE BIRD, CO-FOUNDER OF RIGHTS ACTION: The drug war in Honduras, the areas that are in conflict in the drug war, exactly coincide with areas where there is a lot of interest in natural resources. Whether that be petroleum, mining interests, rivers for hydroelectric dams or land for African palm or sugar cane plantations, which are both used for biofuels—that's what the conflicts are about. And security forces in Honduras and other parts of Central America like Guatemala, under the framework of the drug war, are being used to displace communities, to separate them from land rights, and gain access to natural resources--land, rivers, petroleum, forest. And the US assistance in the drug war is helping to facilitate that.

FORDE: Human rights groups say militarization is already forcing indigenous communities off of their lands.

BERTA OLIVA, COMMITTEE OF THE FAMILIES OF THE DETAINED AND DISAPPARED (SUBTITLED TRANSL.): If they are killing us, then what matters to us? To save our lives. And in this way, they make the abandoning of the lands almost voluntary because these people have to leave to save themselves. That’s why they have these tough operations with such tragic results.

More:
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=9027