Honduran police violently evict rural families

Congressman Rafael Alegria spoke out against the government's policies toward the rural sector, file photo October 15, 2009. | Photo: EFE

Honduran police violently evicted 30 families Wednesday in the department of La Paz, arresting 15 people and leaving the families homeless on the side of a road.

“About 100 police arrived to this parcel of land between Planes de Santa Maria and Las Crucitas and evicted the comrades, they destroyed their small homes and their bean, corn, banana and vegetable crops,” Luis Gonzalez of the National Rural Workers Central (CNTC) said, adding that among the 15 arrested were 3 women.

Gonzalez stated that the families had been occupying the 50-hectare parcel of land for four years. A local landowner successfully had a judge issue an eviction order in order to remove the families from the land.

The eviction of the 30 families happened to coincide with the Day of the Honduran Rural Worker.

Rafael Alegria, a noted peasant leader and member of Congress for the leftist Libre party, criticized the government policies with regard to rural workers.

“Rural workers eat one day and don't eat the next, and they're in this situation due to the lack of support from the government. We also have 12 rural workers who are imprisoned, some sentenced up to 18 years for occupying lands in order to survive,” Alegria told AFP.

Honduras suffers from unequal land distribution, with many rural workers forced to occupy unproductive lands in order to survive. In some cases the title to the land is handed over to the rural workers, however often they are evicted when the landowner petitions a judge for an eviction.

Alegria also blasted the government's agricultural and food sovereignty policies. According to the peasant leader, Honduras will have to import 12 million sacks of corn, a million quintals of beans, and 1.5 million quintals of rice in order to satisfy domestic demand.

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