zacate grande radio shut down

This morning while I was working on our blog and adding pictures to the posts from the Soldarity Trip to Honduras, I reflected on the inspiring people I met, people struggling for land, daily bread and a life free from violence.

For everyone on the trip our visit to the communities of Zacate Grande was a life-changing experience. 

In Zacate Grande we met with community leaders and people working for their newly organized Movement for the Recovery and Reclamation of Land in Zacate Grande (Movimiento de Recuperacion y Titulacion de tierres de Zacate Grande) and then hung out with the young people and their awesome new radio station. The community radio The Voice of Zacate Grande (97.1FM) delivers a signal radius of 25 miles to about 10 communities in the Gulf of Fonseca, all struggling for their land and their future. Although the situation and the experiences they shared were painful – the whole day with them was powerful.

As it must be for others who were on the trip, for the last 2 weeks the people we met have been in my heart and mind. For a recap, here are two blog posts on our time with the community:

http://youth.devp.org/2010/05/97-1-la-voz-de-zacate-grande/

http://youth.devp.org/2010/05/liar-who-preys/

But today I received bad news in an email from Pedro Landa, of Caritas Honduras:

Dear Genevieve:

It is good new knowing that you are much better. Unfortunately I have to communicate bad news about the people on Zacate Grande. In June 3 last week about 300 policemen and soldiers invaded the community and closed down the community radio to silence the voice of Zacate Grande. They also carried an order against five community leaders.

In the end the leaders were not imprisoned but the radio station shut down because a judge claimed it was on the land of Michael Facussé’s and that the establishment of the radio station itself was an offense. The Court also claimed those who had installed and operated the radio station had committed tax evasion because they had no authorization to operate. Caritas lawyers are trying to appeal the judgment. 

As was well said by a much appreciated journalist - this is a clear evidence of how powerful people want to silence the voices of communities facing an agrarian conflict. It’s an act of political censorship and a violation of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights. 

Below you will find the report and protest made by Reporters Without Borders. I hope that you may help us to publicize these attacks made against the poorest people who are fighting against the powerful for their right to live in dignity.

Fraternally,

Pedro

Caritas Honduras and Caritas Choluteca, Development and Peace partners, directly support and work alongside the communities of Zacate Grande, including the leaders of the Movimiento de Recuperacion y Titulacion de tierres de Zacate Grande, and the Voice of Zacate Grande (97.1 FM). Caritas lawyers and human rights staff will continue to appeal the courts.

300 soldiers and police storm community radio in continuing coup against media by Reporters without Borders, June 4, 2010

Although nearly a year has gone by since the coup d’état of 28 June 2009, the authorities continue to adopt arbitrary repressive measures against opposition and community news media. The latest example is yesterday morning’s assault by troops and police on La Voz de Zacate Grande 97.1 FM, a community radio in the southern peninsula of Zacate Grande.

Armed with a warrant for the arrest of five peasant leaders, around 300 soldiers and police invaded the community and shut down its radio. Yellow tape bearing with the words “crime scene” now surrounds the small station, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) said.

Military occupation of news media before an official closure order was issued was typical of the methods used at the time of the coup. It was the procedure used to force Radio Progreso off the air just a few hours after President Manuel Zelaya’s ouster (http://en.rsf.org/honduras-radio-progreso-raid-shows-how-24-11-2009,35075.html).

The same procedure was followed when Radio Globo and Canal 36-Cholusat were closed during the state of siege that was declared in September in response to Zelaya’s clandestine return, and when cable TV antennae were seized in order to censor the foreign media (http://en.rsf.org/honduras-worse-feared-after-de-facto-regime-29-09-2009,34615.html).

The only possible explanation for yesterday’s raid was the desire to silence a radio station that spoke for a community involved in serious land dispute, just as the only possible explanation for the crime scene tape was to criminalise the people and their radio. Whether La Voz de Zacate Grande is paying the price for the land dispute or whether it is the primary target of this persecution (http://en.rsf.org/honduras-seventh-journalist-shot-dead-in-21-04-2010,37102.html), this is political censorship and a violation of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights.

At the same time, Honduran legislation still fails to meet international standards regarding community media.

La Voz de Zacate Grande, which began broadcasting on 14 April, defends the cause of the Association for the Development of the Zacate Grande Peninsula (ADEPZA), whose representatives are accused by agro-industrial tycoon Miguel Facussé Barjum of occupying “his“ land and “tax fraud.” Its closure took place as the police executed warrants issued by the local judicial authorities for the arrest of five ADEPZA leaders.

Already deteriorated since the coup, the situation of media pluralism and press freedom has got worse since the installation of a new government on 27 January. Honduras has become the world’s most dangerous country for journalists in the past six months. The murders of six journalists and a presenter in the space of a month and a half have been followed by little progress in the investigations.

A warrant has, it is true, been issued for the arrest of four individuals accused of being the perpetrators and instigators of radio journalist David Meza Montesinos’ murder on 11 March in the Atlantic coast town of Ceiba. But there have been no developments in the murder of his colleague, Nahum Palacios Arteaga, who was gunned down three days later following threats believed to have come from the army (http://en.rsf.org/honduras-third-journalist-gunned-down-in-16-03-2010,36715.html).

This last case is the only one that has been included in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom barometer because it is the only one in which a link has been clearly established with the victim’s work as a journalist.

The authorities systematically exclude any link between these serious violations of free expression and the political violence of the past year. So how will they respond to the two resolutions adopted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on 3 May and 2 June, urging them to guarantee the safety of 15 threatened Radio Progreso journalists, who include the station’s director, Jesuit priest Ismael Moreno, and its news editor, Karla Rivas? The station and its staff have been targeted because of their political and editorial positions.

Reporters Without Borders is maintaining contact with these people and holds the Honduran authorities responsible for their safety. The government cannot expect to be readmitted to the Organization of American States if it persists in its denial, or worst still, its complicity in certain violations. It should accept the principle of an independent international commission of enquiry.

http://en.rsf.org/honduras-300-soldiers-and-police-storm-04-06-2010,37673.html

97.1 FM La Voz de Zacate Grande

Solidarity Trip to Honduras – D&P with CCCM

Today we were in the community of Puerto Grande, on the island of Zacate Grande, in the southern coastal part of Honduras. The community was ready to meet us with a large circle of chairs in the shade of large trees (the temperature was over 35 degrees  - because of the climate this region is the desired playground of the rich).

Zacate Grande is a very beautiful region located between the gulf of Pacific ocean and the mountains. The vegetation is rich (bananas, corn, orange groves) but what is most appealing about this area is its breath taking view of the Pacific ocean. The people we met are part of a community of Hondurans that have been living there for a hundred years. They know the land and the land belongs to them.

A multi-million dollar entrepreneur has been putting pressure on the community to leave their land so that he can own it for his personal island and to sell as real estate. Pressure tactics range from showing up with an AK47, arresting young people who pick corn from the land that he has purchased, and arresting adults for resisting his oppressive tactics. He is a very wily and manipulative weasel.  There is a Honduran law that gives land rights to the people if they have lived ten years on the land, but this law is not being respected.

The youth of the community were there today to greet us and tell us about their experiences. They have built a radio station on some of this disputed land and are sharing their experience and raising the awareness of Hondurans to this situation. I could see how much pride they took in their work.  The youth really wanted to be at the radio station.  They loved it there and had made it their own, with hammocks up, news flash boards and even a soundproof room for programs. Their program runs from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm every day.

Of course, the multi-millionaire is trying to get them off this disputed land because it would make a prime lot (right by the sea). The two reasons he is using is that they are not paying taxes for the land and that they are on the disputed land, regardless of their historical presence.

One young lady came over to see us delegates from Development and Peace. When I asked her if she would like to work someday in the radio station, her eyes lit up…”Yes” she said with no hesitation. I guess this radio station is a ray of hope not only for the youth but for all members of the community.

Off to bed…tomorow we are off to the Canadian Embassy.

Kim Gottfried Piché

The Liar Who Preys On The Community That Prays

Solidarity Trip to Honduras – D&P with CCCM

Where were we today?  Down to the coast to a beautiful island called Zacate Grande. Have you ever heard of it? It is a disputed area, nestled in the southwest corner of Honduras bordering Nicaragua and El Salvador.  This region is home for about 800 families and within it, we visited Puerto Grande, one of the 10 villages on the island.  It was hot and humid, about 36 C.  The humidity sure added to the heat.   

This community is being forced off their land by a rich businessman, Miguel Facussé who is illegally claiming, in the grand scheme of things, that it is his land. These people have lived there for over 100 years.  He wants to develop it for tourism, condos and or just create hardship for a group of poor campesinos long enough to make him millions, or whatever —  more than he will ever need.  The stories are tragic as these campesinos hold onto whatever meagre existence they have managed to eke out as farmers and fisherfolk. 

We met with the youth activists, the leaders of the community, the lay church leaders (Delegates of the Word) and other men and women who are involved in the movement to resist the threat of expropriation.

We learned all about the work of their new movement – Movimiento de Recuperación y Titulación de Tierras de Zacate Grande (Movement for the Certification and Reclamation of Land in Zacate Grande). To hear a 17 year old young man share with us…

“We are arrested if found planting our maize or using the beach to launch our boats to go fishing.”

“It is the only thing we have and without our land and the ocean, we have nothing to eat. We fear that more of our fathers will be arrested.  We simply do not have the money to pay.”   

If arrested, the law demands these poor campesinos to pay a fine and fulfill probationary measures, in order to avoid imprisonment, but with no money they end up in jail. 

Thanks to Caritas Choluteca, our Development and Peace partner, who was our host these past two days, the people of Zacate Grande region have developed democratic and organizing skills to further commit themselves, have built a radio station, and created all sorts of social groups/committees to organize their efforts not only around this threatening social issue but also to deal more effectively with the affairs of the community and the region.  

Their greatest tools of defense are themselves, the community, and their radio station (run by the youth!) which allows them to reach out to each other and beyond Zacate Grande.  And, there is so much more to these people who resist being victims to this injustice that has come upon them since 1992.  
 
The mosaic is jarring: it is a home of the mangroves, a place of the pelicans, and now a land where a liar preys on innocent tillers of sparse soil of relentless rock and on fishers of protected ocean bays, who struggle to simply feed their children and each other. 

As we stood in a large circle and prayed before our meeting, an arching acaia tree casted a cool spotted shade over us.  I realized that like this tree, with the God of Justice in their hearts, they are not going to fall easily.  The massive root structure penetrated the parched soil to drink from the deep wells under our feet.   Yet, the greed of another will never have power over those who seek what is rightfully theirs. 

It was heart-wrenching to hear these people being attacked by such powers of a corrupt law, government and police colluding with a business baron who knows no boundaries. La lucha continua.

- Fr. David Shulist, S.J. Carleton University Roman Catholic Community (CURCC)