Special Report - Social unrest in Latin America III - Land (ISSN 17414474)

The conflict in the Aguán valley, Colón, between peasant organisations and landowners, mainly growers of African palm, has claimed about 70 lives over the past three years — the most recent fatalities having been three field labourers shot dead in early November. Violence has not abated, even after President Porfirio Lobo ordered the deployment of a large combined military-police reinforcement in September 2011 to restore order, the government has signed an agreement with the landowners for the purchase of more than 4,000 hectares (ha) - some planted with African palm - for distribution among local peasants, and the Honduran congress approved (on 1 August) legislation that bans the bearing of arms in Colón to all except members of the military and police, and private security guards.

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