Urgent: Military and Police evicted illegally Aguán farmers and DINANT Corporation belonging to Miguel Facussé pressures them

First group of farmers evicted in Aguán

TOCOA .- The farmers who had taken the old plantations from the  Cooperativa San Isidro, were removed yesterday by a combined contingent of police and military. The eviction took place on Monday May 10 in the early hours of the morning and there were no clashes as feared, everything was conducted peacefully. The evacuation order was signed by  judge Victor Melendez on May 3, but until yesterday the order was accomplished by military and police authorities. The farmers told TIEMPO  that the eviction was illegal because they have legitimate documents of the land. There were minor incidents during the police intervention, as some farmers were reluctant to abandon the farm and shouted insults against the military.  Members of the police and the army allowed the peasants to take out the sleeping mats where they slept, but then proceeded to destroy the huts they had built. Farmers were able to remove some belongings, before the police and the army destroyed the huts where they slept. Static The peasants were left at the entrance of the oil palm plantation of the San Isidro Cooperative, located about five kilometers away from Tocoa in the village of Sinaloa. The figure 60 people were evicted by the authorities, other farmers fled the scene at the beginning of the eviction.  DINANT'S POSITION In an open letter yesterday addressed to the Minister of the INA, Cesar Ham, the President of Corporación Dinant, Miguel Facussé, said that the conflict is not resolved by the Government, which has failed to pay the 3,000 hectares planted with oil palm which he  made available . He indicates that the lands appropriated by the MUCA remain as property of DINANT since   there is no settled payment agreement and therefore the crime of usurpation remains, "aggravated by the fact that this is supported by the INA and other authorities."  "Muca continues looting our farms, profiting for  more than five months from the sale of our products, incurring ongoing crime of theft and  in an irresponsible way for the crime of theft from part of the Muca, it has been impossible to  given plantations appropriate maintenance  to the serious detriment of the latter and its loss of value, "he says. "This problem cannot be considered solved, when Dinant, rightful owner of the land, has not even been notified of the arbitrary actions taken by the INA, much less has received responses to the bases that we settled to allow access to an agreement. It also notes that the company continues to pay wages and other social benefits to more than 1,650 employees. Dinant also questioned that tolerance of the INA and other authorities to resolve the conflict, which only creates legal uncertainty and discourages foreign investment, what has led to new invasions by other groups in the area. SIX EVICTION ORDERS A judicial source  from Tocoa confirmed yesterday afternoon  that the six farms  invaded, whose jurisdiction lies in Tocoa, have eviction orders. The same source confirmed that the eviction carried out yesterday in San Isidro farm was by court order at the request of the Public Prosecutor of Tocoa, emitted since  May 3, but performed until yesterday by the police. Other properties held by the farmer group are: 1-Lempira 2- La Confianza  3-La Guapinol,  Aurora  4- La Concepción  5- Marañones 5- Islas 1 y 2 5  6-Part of   El Tumbador  Source: http://www.tiempo.hn/web2/secciones/el-pais/15873-desalojan-primer-grupo-de-campesinos-en-aguan.html