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| "No more peasant murders in the Aguan region," reads the banner held by protesters in Honduras. |
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A human
rights group in Honduras says a prominent lawyer who represented peasants in
disputes with large land owners has been killed.
Antonio
Trejo was shot dead by unknown gunmen after walking outside the church, where
he was attending a wedding, to answer a phone call.
Mr Trejo
represented lands rights groups in the Bajo Aguan, a fertile palm-oil-producing
region.
Dozens of
people have been killed in land conflicts there in recent years.
A statement
by the Peasants Movement of the Valley of Bajo Aguan, known by its Spanish
acronym, Marca, says he was shot five times outside a church in Tocontin, in
the outskirts of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
He was
taken to a nearby hospital but died of his wounds.
Biofuels
Human
rights groups have called on the Central American government to investigate the
deaths of dozens of peasants and campaigners in the Bajo Aguan area, in
Honduras' northern Colon department.
"A
long-simmering land conflict erupted in May 2011 when peasants occupied land
being cultivated by large privately owned agricultural enterprises," says the pressure group Human Rights Watch in a report.
"Many
victims were members of peasant associations who were allegedly gunned down by
security guards working for the enterprises."
The palm
oil produced in the area is used mostly to make biofuels for vehicles.
President
Porfirio Lobo's government says criminal gangs, who claim to be peasants, are
to be blamed for many of the conflicts in the region.
Antonio
Trejo also spoke out against a government project to build privately run cities
in Honduras, with their own police and tax system.
Just hours
before being killed, Trejo had taken part in a televised debate in which he
accused politicians of using such projects to raise campaign funds, says the AP
news agency.
Honduras
has the world's highest murder rate: 86 murders per 100,000 people.
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