Honduras farm workers stage mass land occupations

The coordinated invasions took place in several locations across the country, activists and officials say.

Farmers groups say the areas taken over are public lands where poor farmers have the right to grow food under Honduran law.

The government said the seizures were illegal and targeted private holdings.

The director of the National Agrarian Institute, Cesar Ham, said the coordinated occupations were politically motivated and aimed at destabilising the government of President Porfirio Lobo.

Violent disputes over farmland are common in Honduras, with dozens of rural workers killed in recent years.

Organisations representing rural workers say successive governments have failed to fulfil promises to distribute farmland using agrarian reform legislation.

They also accuse the authorities of acting in the interests of large landowners.

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From the BBC

Comments

It seems that the BBC have

It seems that the BBC have only done a few brief articles on this subject since last year, even then they're employing that infamous 'balance', so they obviously don't care. It took me ten minutes to find these which go into much greater depth:

The War Against Peasant Farmers Heats Up in Honduras

Honduran Land Dispute Rages as Thousands Occupy Farms

there is a massive occupation

there is a massive occupation going on in Somonte/Andalucia (360 hectar) since early March, a court has passed an eviction notice 10 days ago but at the moment, the regional government (PSOE) is reluctant to evict them because their minority needs the support of the United Left (whose left wing is heavily involved in the occupation):

http://www.sindicatoandaluz.org/?q=taxonomy/term/31

Another good article is here:

Another good article is here: [url=http://www.fpif.org/articles/carbon_blood_money_in_honduras]

The BBC is terrible on Latin America, often just repeating government propaganda and doing no independent journalism - in fact it is clearly biased to the rich. In this part of Honduras - Bajo Aguan, over 50 campesinos (peasant farmers) have been murdered since 2009. Since the coup (June 2009) Honduras has become the country with the highest murder rate in the world - higher than Iraq or Afghanistan.