No Justice for Honduran Indians

In an act of unnecessary violence, armed soldiers and police forces of Honduras broke up a camp of peaceful Indian protesters this week in front of the presidential mansion in Tegucigalpa, the capital. The issue was land, and the Honduran regime has been sadly consistent in this affair. The governments of Honduras and every other country in the Western Hemisphere have abused, failed and taken the land of almost all of the inhabitants whose ancestors saw the first Europeans come ashore 500 years ago.

The Honduran Indians are calling for a fair restitution of ancestral lands and an investigation into the murders of some of their tribal leaders. Chances that they’ll get either are slim. Land titles are ignored, particularly when developers and resource companies appear on the scene. The repressive response of government to the protesters in the capital has only worsened the problem faced by the administration of President Carlos Reina.

Natives of the towns of Lenca, Chorti, Tolupan, Xicaque, Pech and Garfuna, along with the Miskito tribes, are demanding their rights, correctly pointing out that they were first deprived of their land by Spain’s conquistadors. That’s ancient history but clearly the beginning of a problem that has become more intractable with time. The tribes’ march to the capital demonstrates that they are running out of patience, but so far they have refrained from violence.

In a futile attempt to solve land disputes in the 1980s and ‘90s, different Honduran administrations implemented a series of partial and inefficient agrarian reforms. As the reforms were being executed, so too were peasant leaders. Private armies and the military were accused in the killings, but no one stood trial.

A responsible government would investigate the killings. The Indians have sought land or mere compensation for five centuries. They deserve justice, not eviction by force from a protest site.