Massacre in Honduras: armed men in police uniforms murdered 19 people on a farm
The incident occurred when the victims were preparing to work in a palm plantation and were ambushed by the armed group.
Honduran authorities confirmed the murder of at least 19 people at the hands of armed men, dressed in Police uniforms, on a farm in the Honduran Caribbean, a region hit by drug trafficking and an agrarian conflict that has left hundreds dead in recent decades.
The spokesman for the Public Ministry, Yuri Mora, told journalists that in a first count, “thirteen deceased” were identified and then, a second group of “six murdered people.”
The massacre occurred in the early hours of this Thursday in the village of Rigores, in the municipality of Trujillo, when the victims were preparing to work in an African palm plantation and were ambushed by the armed group.
The Prosecutor's Office assured that this crime “will not remain unpunished” and all lines of investigation necessary to clarify the facts in this conflictive area of the department of Colón, where there are several disputes over land ownership, will be exhausted.
The conflict arose after the sale of land – originally granted to farmers through an agrarian reform half a century ago – to large agricultural businessmen, properties that are currently claimed by new generations of farmers.
According to local authorities, the agrarian problem has been aggravated by the infiltration of criminal, political and drug trafficking groups.
Armando Suchite, father of two of the 19 people murdered this Thursday on a farm in the Caribbean of Honduras, told EFE that his children “were only dedicated to working” and it is not explained what could have happened to cause this massacre, perpetrated by armed men dressed in Police uniforms in an area hit by land conflicts.
"I can't tell you what happened. Only they know," said Armando, father of Elmer and Wilmer Suchite, ages 25 and 22, murdered at dawn when, like the rest of the victims, they were preparing to work in an African palm plantation.
As the day progresses, relatives, neighbors and members of evangelical churches gather in the patio of the Suchite family home to pray and prepare food for the wake, among them Cristina García, 53 years old and mother of the murdered young people.
They were “humble” and “very calm” young people, dedicated solely to agricultural work, says the 55-year-old father. Their eldest son, Elmer, leaves behind two little girls, and Wilmer had another daughter.
"My children worked there on that farm for a salary that they were paid; they were not partners, they were just workers," he insists, after explaining that they were originally from the department of Yoro, in the north of the country.