Aguán News Alert | November 2024
Image Description: Severe flooding in the Aguán Valley after Tropical Storm Sara. | Photo Credit: Plataforma Agraria.
Climate Change Sweeps Through the Bajo Aguán
Tocoa, Colón, Honduras. – After months of attacks against the organized people of the Bajo Aguán, November’s storms made evident that violence against land defenders and violence against the land are intertwined. These disasters are far from natural: they are caused by a system that goes against nature.
On November 14 and 15, Tropical Storm Sara traveled off the Caribbean coast of Honduras. As Sara slowly moved westward, the storm dumped 15 to 35 inches of rain in northern Honduras as 80 kph winds downed trees and power lines. Rivers such as the Aguán River swelled, carrying away bridges, washing away crops and destroying homes. The devastation affected thousands of people across the country: entire communities were flooded, electricity was lost in many areas, and more than 40 roads were deemed impassable. Then, in an event reminiscent of back-to-back hurricanes Eta and Iota in 2020, a cold front brought several more days of rain before Sara's waters receded, further intensifying flooding in already devastated communities.
Many cooperatives that make up Plataforma Agraria and COPA suffered significant crop losses, putting their livelihoods at risk. Dozens of people from campesino communities were evacuated given the flooding caused in cooperatives and peasant enterprises. Several sectors of Tocoa were affected by flooding such as Colonia Gireth, Barrio Buenos Aires, Prieta and Chiripa, among many other communities. Likewise, people were evacuated from communities in Sabá. Meanwhile, the municipality of Santa Rosa de Aguán was completely cut off, with no access to energy, drinking water or internet. In Guapinol, access to water was interrupted due to pipeline damage, while multiple streets were destroyed or cut off.
The Agrarian Platform and COPA continue to organize in order to respond to this climatic emergency in Aguán. For decades, communities have denounced that the same businessmen, politicians, military, hitmen and foreign investors who criminalize and kill land defenders like Juan López not only exacerbate the climate crisis, they directly benefit from it. The struggle of land defenders in Aguán is also a struggle against the forces that worsen climate change and impact us all on a global scale.
Image Description: Devastation from Tropical Storm Sara across the Aguán Valley. | Photo Credits: Diario Colón & Plataforma Agraria.
Latest News
Demonstration in front of the Supreme Court: The Municipal Committee in Defense of Public and Common Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT in Spanish) participated in a demonstration outside the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras, where they filed a writ of amparo against the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SERNA in Spanish) promoting a second cabildo abierto (open town hall meeting) seeking community approval for a mining megaproject, after organized communities had expressed their strong opposition.
Visit from International Observers: Between November 4-6, international observers from Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective (WFPSC) and Peace Watch Switzerland (PWS) visited the campesino cooperatives organized with the Agrarian Platform. The international observers noted that members of the cooperatives continue to be subjected to direct threats, intimidation and violence for their struggle in defense of the land. Likewise, in the El Chile Cooperative, serious contamination of the water and soil by the DINANT palm oil extraction plant endangers the health of the population in the area.
Campo Verde Field Evaluation: On November 6, these international observers visited Campesino Enterprises for the Production of Campo Verde I and II, which has communally tended to and harvested the land for over 10 years. During the visit, the campesino community and the Agrarian Platform held a meeting with the National Agrarian Institute to continue a process of getting state recognition of their ownership claim over the land.
Hearing rescheduled: The preliminary hearing against the alleged perpetrators of the murder of environmental leader Juan Lopez was cancelled. Organizations of the Aguan Valley denounce that they were not notified ahead of time. The CMDBCPT emphasizes that there will be no justice for Juan without the investigation and prosecution of the intellectual authors of his murder, the definitive closure of EMCO group’s mining and energy megaprojects, the definitive liberation of Botaderos National Park from extractive industry, the formal prosecution of the EMCO group executives, and without the immediate presentation of arrest warrants against public officials suspected of falsifying documents related to the megaproject.
Image Description: Community members and representatives of the CMDBCPT have a press conference outside the court.
Recognition of "Tierra Prometida": On November 8, the National Agrarian Institute (INA in Spanish) delivered the documentation recognizing the legal personhood of the Associative Campesina Production Company "Tierra Prometida". The campesino families of "Tierra Prometida" celebrated the success of their permanent and peaceful struggle to claim their right to access land in Aguán.
LIBRE replaces Fúnez: After 18 years in office and countless acts of corruption, drug trafficking and violence, Adán Fúnez will no longer represent LIBRE in the upcoming municipal elections. In his place, they have designated Oswaldo Sandoval as one of LIBRE’s candidates in Tocoa.
Meetings with the government continue: The Agrarian Platform and COPA joined other organizations that defend access to land and the environment in meeting with a group of Supreme Court Justices to follow up on their proposal submitted on September 24 that delineated specific reforms to the justice system. They also participated in a meeting with representatives of various government institutions such as the Property Institute (IP in Spanish), the Attorney General's Office (PGR in Spanish) and the National Agrarian Institute (INA in Spanish) to prepare a report on methods and procedures used for land dispossession.
Image Description: Representatives from the Agrarian Platform, COPA, and other organizations in Honduras meet with the Supreme Court. | Photo Credits: Plataforma Agraria.
Corruption denounced in Tocoa mayor's office: On October 29, six Tocoa municipal councilmen requested the resignation of the Municipal Treasurer, Félix Figueroa, accusing him of negligence in his functions and of being a strategic ally of Mayor Adan Funez. However, Mayor Adán Fúnez rejected the resolution to remove the treasurer. In response, the councilmen filed a complaint for abuse of authority before the Public Prosecutor's Office, alleging that the mayor's actions violated municipal regulations and the interests of the people of Tocoa.
Member of Remolino Cooperative Still Missing
Abel López Perdomo is still missing, after being kidnapped on January 30, 2024. After almost a year, there have been no answers from the authorities about the whereabouts of Abel.
Historical Context
In the 1990’s, World Bank-led structural adjustment measures transformed the Bajo Aguán region of north-east Honduras from one of the nation’s primary sources of fruits, vegetables and basic grains into an African palm oil monoculture destined for export to insatiable Global North markets. Over the course of this process, thousands of campesinos were dispossessed of their farms to make way for massive palm plantations, owned by a handful of Honduran elite.
Since then, campesino cooperatives have engaged in a multi-decade struggle to recover their land, suffering violent repression by corporate and state entities as a result. The immediate post-coup period was especially brutal, taking the lives of approximately 150 small farmers by 2014. In recent years, many more have been murdered, disappeared, and criminalized. The vast majority of these crimes remain in impunity.