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Honduras: Two Campesino Leaders Assassinated

HeadlineOct 20, 2016

In Honduras, two campesino leaders have been assassinated. José Ángel Flores was the president of MUCA, that’s the Aguán Unified Campesino Movement. Silmer Dionisio George was one of the group’s lead organizers. Both were killed by gunmen Tuesday night after leaving the MUCA office in the community of La Confianza in northern Honduras in the valley of Aguán. Flores had repeatedly reported facing death threats as a result of his land defense work, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had ordered the Honduran government to provide both him and Silmer protection. MUCA members have cooperative land holdings, and the group is under pressure to sell off their land so private corporations can build massive palm oil plantations. Tuesday’s assassinations were in a region of Honduras where a special development zone, also known as a model city, is currently being developed, which would create a special free trade zone operating outside the law of the Honduran government. Many of the companies pushing for special development zones in Honduras are supported by the World Bank.

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