Anti-Militarism: News & Updates

This article prents a report by a group of international jurists, reviewing Bukeles governmnet and contradictions between domestic popularity in El Salvador and how international organizations judgement of the government. 

another notable article about El Salvador mass arrests: click

Between 2015 and 2025, Honduras recorded 113 murders of environmental defenders, and nine out of ten cases remain unpunished, according to data from the Association for a More Just Society (ASJ). The departments of Colón, Yoro, and Atlántida account for the majority of these crimes, in territories marked by conflicts over land and natural resources. Meanwhile, environmental organizations and defenders denounce the lack of progress in investigations and the absence of state protection for those who defend the environment.

source: Reuters 

March 10 (Reuters) - A group of international jurists on Tuesday accused Salvadoran authorities of committing crimes against humanity in a report filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The complaint alleges systematic acts of torture, murder, and forced disappearances under the country's controversial state of exception, which the government of President Nayib Bukele imposed four years ⁠ago on March.

The history of bananas makes many people uncomfortable.

The industry is rooted in power imbalance. Whether it was tax-free land in Costa Rica (for United Fruit/Chiquita in 1884), forced labor by financing paramilitaries (2024 verdict for Colombian victims1), or chemicals like DBCP sold for use abroad even after having its production shut down in the U.S. for causing sterility2 (e.g. to Standard Fruit/Dole in Nicaragua3), there’s no shortage of examples of abuse of power and control. 

This article by Equal Exchange gives insight into what is possible when farmers are granted land and form co-ops unraveling power dynamics .

This article examines a Cristosal report, elaborately describing the unjust pre-trial detention and mistreatment of detainees. 

The killing of Indigenous environmental defender Berta Cáceres on March 2, 2016 was not unique.  More than 1,000 people were killed for political reasons during the 12 years of the narco-dictatorship. The people of Honduras know that when communities organize in defense of their territories, they too often face militarization, repression, criminalization, and violence. But Berta’s assassination does remain as one of the most visible symbols of the risks borne by land and environmental defenders.  The behind-the-scenes plotting of her brutal assassination is slightly complicated but the  reasons very straight forward.  The narco-dictatorship that “opened up Honduras for business” tried to kill the organized resistance to their mega-projects (like the privatization of the Gualcarque River for foreign investors' hydro-electric project) that illegally dispossess Indigenous and campesino communities of land, water, and self-determination. 

How can we honor Berta?

For one, we can affirm the demand of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organization of Honduras (COPINH) that the intellectual authors of the assassination be brought to justice. Moreover, we can do what Berta would do. Live, organize, educate, work and struggle together. Reach out and support the too many victims of this violent, unjust and unequal global human order. Name, denounce and hold accountable the responsible actors—countries,  companies, wealthy elites, banks, investors and more. Organize, educate, work and struggle against all injustice, inequality and discrimination. Live with the knowledge that another world is indeed necessary and act as though we believe it is indeed possible.

To support IRTF’s accompaniment work with human rights and environmental defenders in Honduras, click here.

The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns provides a coherent overview of the U.S. Foreign Aid Budget for Latin America.  Congress maintained rigorous “conditions” on aid, meaning governments must meet specific benchmarks to receive full funding. In Central America, 50% of select funds for El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras are withheld until the State Department certifies these nations are combating corruption and protecting journalists and activists. For Colombia, 25% of counter-narcotics funding and 20% of military financing are tied to progress in reducing coca cultivation and prosecuting human rights violations.Notably, for Mexico, human rights conditions are absent. Current restrictions focus almost exclusively on water delivery to the U.S. and the dismantling of fentanyl-trafficking cartels.