Los Angeles Times Editorial

Los Angeles Times

May 15, 1997

No Justice for Honduran Indians: Destruction of protesters' camp is

latest blow to quest for land

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.