In the early morning of Monday, 27 January, an armed group accompanied by private security guards broke into the Tranvio, Camarones and El Chile peasant cooperatives located in the Aguan Valley, Tocoa, Colon, shooting at more than 123 families, including children.
The violent attack left at least two people injured and caused terror among the residents. It is the latest in a series of violent attacks suffered by peasant communities in Aguan for defending their land and territory.
According to information provided by local media and members of the Aguan Network of Peasant Women, who are part of these cooperatives, the attack was perpetrated by the criminal group “Los Cachos”, which has violently entered several communities, displacing hundreds of families. Recently, in December 2024, “Los Cachos” were named as the actors responsible for the violent eviction of the peasant group from the Camarones cooperative. They have also been linked to the DINANT Corporation, previously known as Quimicas Dinant, founded in July 1960 by landowner and businessman Miguel Facusse Barjum, with support from the National Investment Corporation (CONADI). DINANT seeks to dispossess communities of their lands, using tactics of intimidation and direct threats.
It is important to note that these attacks are part of a systematic pattern of violence and criminalization against those who defend land and territory in Aguan. In December 2024, the cooperatives were victims of at least two violent murders committed with firearms, as well as the forced displacement of at least 150 families, in addition to acts of intimidation and threats. Furthermore, the human rights organizations and cooperatives that accompany them have faced smear campaigns in the area, placing them at great risk.
The Tranvio cooperative, located in the municipality of Tocoa, Colon, is made up of approximately 160 peasant families that have succeeded in consolidating their production through poultry and livestock projects. Combined with cultivating their fields, they raise livestock and poultry and grow various crops. In addition to providing for the local market, the cooperative has set up a school for around 100 children. The escalating violence in the area therefore poses a great risk to the life and integrity of these peasant communities, as well as to their model of autonomous sustainable development.
The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras and IM-Defensoras condemn and repudiate these violent acts, as well as the criminalization, attacks, evictions, threats and stigmatization against the families of the Tranvio, Camarones and El Chile cooperatives in Bajo Aguan.
We demand that the Honduran State take up its responsibility to protect the lives and rights of the people living in Aguan and respond promptly to effectively and urgently stop the violence in the communities.
It is the responsibility of the Honduran State to guarantee the physical integrity and life of human rights defenders and to act to address this historic conflict brought about by the expropriation of peasant lands to benefit corporations and landowners.
Finally, we alert human rights organizations and social movements and call on them to be vigilant of this situation, to denounce and demand the protection and rights of those who make up the communities of Aguan.