Juan made phone calls to friends before he was disappeared, saying he was being followed. Later his motorcycle was found with two bullet holes on the road.  Karen Spring spoke with Joni Rivas, another leader from MUCA, who says that they have not heard anything from him and he has NOT APPEARED. They hope he "turns up alive and is not being tortured."

Juan is a journalist in charge of the media relations for MUCA. Last year 10 journalists were killed in Honduras and this year persecution against the media and the country-wide pro-democracy movement continues.

Juan has participated in many of the negotiations and meetings in Tegucigalpa that MUCA has had with the Honduran regime, headed by Pepe Lobo. He often is the person updating the MUCA blog (www.http://movimientomuca.blogspot.com/) and he is normally the person that sends out info, communiqués and photos from the region. He is well known within the resistance and campesinos movements as well as to the authorities.

Last year on August 4th, he was detained by police and held over night in Copan, Honduras for 'not wearing his seat belt'. He is high profile, well known and a target of the police and military.

Tocoa, Colon is still heavily militarized since well before the November 15, 2010 massacre of 5 campesinos. Campesinos continue being threatened by police and military in conjunction with private security forces paid by large land owners.

The last two incidents that have occurred in the region:
Tuesday, January 4: when private security guards of Miguel Facusse harassed a member of the Campesino Movement of Aguan (MCA) close to Guadalupe Carney (where the November 15 massacre occurred);
Sunday, January 2: when two youth/campesinos were brutally beaten in Trujillo by private security guards of Facusse and Rene Canales.

= = =  

URGENT COMMUNIQUÉ

(Translated by: Luis Granados Ceja)

We demand Juan Chinchilla be returned alive!

On Saturday, January 8th, our comrade Juan Chinchilla was kidnapped.  He is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Front of Popular Resistance as the representative of Youth in Resistance and the Unified Campesino Movement of Aguan (MUCA in Spanish).

Juan has become known for his belligerence in the struggle for the right of the campesinos to work the land, something that has meant a permanent situation of harassment and threats from the large landowners, Miguel Facussé, René Morales y Reinaldo Canales, who with the collaboration of the de facto regime of Porfirio Lobo, maintain a state of savage repression again the people of the Aguan valley.

The kidnapping occurred at 8:00pm on Saturday January 8th, on the road to the campesino settlement La Concepcion, in the municipality of Tocoa, while Juan was on his way home. Moments before his kidnapping, he made a phone call in order to denounce that a motorcycle and a car were following him. Afterwards, gunshots were fired but when others arrived, they found only his motorcycle with bullet holes in it.

We vehemently condemn this act. We demand respect for the life and physical integrity of our comrade, who has demonstrated an extraordinary amount of valor in the struggle for the re-founding of Honduras.

We alert all the national and international human rights organizations so that they may put pressure on this repressive regime that speaks about a false reconciliation and national unity, meanwhile it continues to endorse and participate in crimes against people and popular organizations.

The NFPR will immediately establish pressure actions in order to secure the liberation of Juan Chinchilla.

We Will Resist and Succeed!
National Front of Popular Resistance / National Front of Youth in Resistance
= = =  

ILLEGITIMATE REGIME

Since the June 2009 military coup, State repression has increased drastically, in Honduras, and has again become systematic, as it was in the 1970s, 80s and early 90s.

For this on-going situation of systematic State repression, RA holds the governments of the US and Canada partially responsible.  In all of the Americas, most governments do not recognize the legitimacy of the post-military coup regime that has not been allowed back into the OAS (Organization of American States).  Yet, the United States and Canada "recognize" the military-backed regime of Honduras, and are pursuing full economic, political and military relations with this regime.