Eduardo Villanueva, the assistant director of public prosecutors for the Public Ministry of Honduras, recognized that there are people and groups in this country interested in "isolating, marginalizing and displacing" indigenous groups from their land.
He explains that the problems of rural farmers and ethnic groups in rural areas are grave and should be resolved democratically and justly.
Villanueva, who was the special Indigenous and Cultural Heritage prosecutor before holding his present position, explained that there are two situations causing problems between the Lencas of Montaña Verde and the two local public prosecutors.
First are the accusations of criminal activity by public prosecutors in pursuing a case against two members of the Montaña Verde community accused of robbery and property damages. Villnueva explains that, in this case, the public prosecutors presented their charges and evidence, but that the court in Gracias, Lempira found the indigenous men, Felipe Bejarano and Luis Benítez, innocent.
He said that the public prosecutors of Gracias had planned to appeal the decision, "but that the Director judged the appeal unnecessary."
In regards to the second case, Villanueva added that a report from the National Public Ministry Supervisory Council concluded that the public prosecutors, Lavaire and Carías, in the department of Lempira "acted according to the legal norms and procedures governing the country" in apprehending Leonardo and Marcelino Miranda in Montaña Verde in the early morning hours of January 8.
COPINH (Council of Popular Organization and Indigenous Nations) leaders and the Mirandas' defense lawyer allege that the public prosecutors acted out of partiality towards local landowners locked in a land dispute with the Montaña Verde Lenca community.
Villanueva did not offer details from the investigators' report on the case, and he added that he does not even know if the report includes the exact hour the men were apprehended. However, he indicated that an arrest order cannot be executed to 12 at night, when the indigenous community claims the police came.
Defense of
the public prosecutors
Villanueva defended to the public prosecutors assigned in the department
of Lempira, saying that both Lavaire and Carías have acted properly.
However, the indigenous community asserts that both public prosecutors
are allied with the local landowners.
Villanueva added that the public prosecutor for Ethnic groups has made significant progress in investigating the community's allegations of aggression, tortures and illegal use of force in the Montaña Verde arrests. If there were any violations, the public prosecutor and police will pursue the case, he said.
Brief procedure
Villanueva promised that the Public Ministry is committed to responding
to demands from the indigenous community that justice be applied correctly
in their cases.
"We have established the possibility for resolving the problem legally through a special brief procedure in which the indigenous admit to being guilty in exchange for being released from prison, which is permitted by certain laws," he said.
"It is perfectly legal, it is possible and the Public Ministry is very willing to solve the problem of the detaining the indigenous people by using this brief procedure that would allow them to be released in a moment," he explained.
Indigenous
rights
Villanueva recognized that "the true problem has to do with the vindication
of indigenous rights that, without a doubt, is the fundamental complaint
of the indigenous community and is misunderstood by other sectors of the
population who would like to keep the indigenous people in a subordinate
position without respect to their rights."
"This is a fight in defense of their rights, which are being violated because the procedural norms established in Agreement 169 are not be followed," he explained. Agreement 169 is an international statement of the rights of indigenous groups, including rights to ancestral lands, that was promoted by the International Organization of Workers and adopted by the Honduran government.
Agreement 169 vindicates and strengthens the legal foundation of the demand for indigenous rights. The State of Honduras still has not implemented mechanisms to guarantee the rights of indigenous communities. Indigenous rights must be a priority for the State of Honduras, since indigenous communities are the most vulnerable segment of the Honduran population and traditionally have been the poorest people, even in comparison to other poor rural communities.
"It would not be possible to renounce Agreement 169. The Agreement is connected to the constitutional framework. It is the legal structure defending human rights in the international community. Honduras would look very bad if it renounced such an important document defending the special rights of indigenous Honduran communities," says Villanueva.
Villanueva believes there are indications that the Honduran government wants to systemetize protections of indigenous rights, but he recognizes that there is still much to be done to create a state structure for indigenous rights. He concludes that the rights of indigenous populations is a fundamental paradigm in the democratization of Honduras.
Eduardo Villanueva