Honduras: Massive land occupation by Honduran farm workers
On April 17, some 15,000 farm workers nationwide occupied 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of private land in various provinces of Honduras. The leaders of the occupation asserted that these lands belong to the government and that they were occupied illegally by private companies that cultivate sugar cane. “We have been, for more than 20 years, attempting to reclaim these lands,” said Rafael Alegria, one of the leaders of the protest.
Alegria justified the land take-over by claiming that the government has not responded to the demand that it “bring an end to the misery in the countryside.” The protests were organized by Popular Resistance, a movement that began after the coup d’etat of 2009. One of the participants was ex-president Manuel Zelaya, who was overthrown in 2009, and is today a champion of the Popular Resistance.
El Salvador: A day without homicides in El Salvador
El Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes declared that on April 14, for the first time in years, no homicides were recorded in this Central American country, “an unheard of situation in the last few years.”
Homicides have decreased by approximately 50 percent since March 9, from an average of 24 per day, to between 12-14 per day.
Funes expressed that this drastic decrease of homicides is due to an “open war” declared against drug cartels and organized crime that operates in this country.