Nye store jordbesættelser i Honduras er endnu et udslag af århundredgammel strid mellem fattige landarbejdere og godsejere og andre store jordbesiddere i det fattige og voldsprægede mellemamerikanske land.
Thousands of rural workers in Honduras have occupied land as part of a dispute with large landowners and the government, BBC online reports Thursday.
The coordinated invasions took place in several locations across the Central american country. Farmers groups say the areas taken over are public lands where poor farmers have the right to grow food under Honduran law.
The government said the seizures were illegal and targeted private holdings. The director of the National Agrarian Institute, Cesar Ham, said the coordinated occupations were politically motivated and aimed at destabilising the government of President Porfirio Lobo.
Organisations representing rural workers say successive governments have failed to fulfil promises to distribute farmland using agrarian reform legislation.
They also accuse the authorities of acting in the interests of large landowners.
Last August gunmen shot dead farm workers’ leader Secundino Ruiz in Honduras. The murder happened in a region with heightened tension over land ownership.
Police said Mr Ruiz was killed as he was leaving a bank in the Bajo Aguan valley carrying the equivalent of more than 10.000 US dollar in workers’ pay.
The Honduran authorities said he was murdered for the money, but the shooting came a week after 11 people were killed in clashes between local land owners and farm workers.
