At present we are informing you that our compañero Rafael Alegría, peasant leader of Honduras and member of the International Coordinating Committee of the Via Campesina is receiving threats from landholders and members of the national police after a bloody confrontation in the Struggle for the Land, between the Grupo Campesino Guadalupe CARNEY and the Osorto Family, occurred
on Sunday, August 3 of this year, in the community Silin, Trujillo, Colón, where 11 people died, and two were wounded.
 
As result of the the above, Mr. Henry Osorto, commissioner of the national police and directly involved in the agrarian conflict, has declared before various communication outlets that our compañero Rafael Alegría and other peasant leaders are those responsible for this tragedy, accusing them of promoting the actions carried out by the peasants to recover the land and in addition qualified them as terrorists, guerillas, exploiters of peasants, revolutionary agitators, and who live at the cost of the peasants. Therefore, we the peasant leadership of Honduras are making it known that we are not responsible for this tragedy, as we are interested in resolving the agrarian conflicts in a non-violent way, and have demanded that the Government of the Republic, through the National Agrarian Institute (INA), resolve at once all agrarian conflicts in the country, especially the lands of CREM, in order to avoid precisely these types of situations.
 
For all that has been explained here, we are asking all member organizations of the Via Campesina on the national, continental and international levels, human rights organizations and the general public, for your solidarity for our "compañeros dirigentes" – peasant leaders – who are being threatened because of this conflict; the peasant groups are struggling for a piece of land, in order to produce basic foods, as an inalienable right of all people.
 
We ask the President of the Republic, Manuel Zelaya Rosales and the Secretary of Security, Jorge Rodas Gamero, to guarantee the lives of the peasant leaders, including that of the compañero Rafael Alegría.
 
Please send your messages demanding of these competent authorities security for our compañeros, the email for the Presidential Dispatch is: despachopresidencial@sdp.gob.hn and to the Minister of the Secretariat of Security sseg_06@hotmail.com  with copy to our email: viacampesina@amnettgu.com.

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