Honduras: Group of NGOs calls for an investigation into the murder of a 13-year old boy in Dinant’s property

Dinant Corporation and it's owner Miguel Facusse, Honduras’ largest landowner is at the center of many of the land conflicts in Honduras.

The Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (ASONOG for its name in Spanish) asked for an investigation and clarification into the murder of teenager Leodan Andrés Mancías Argüello, who was found dead in the Paso Aguan farm property of Dinant on November the 14^th. ASONOG declared that the farm is guarded by military and the private security contracted by Dinant. The full allegations are only available in Spanish, here.

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Dinant to respond; the response is available below.

Dinant response

Author: Dinant

[This is a non-official translation from the Business & Human Rights Resource Center, the complete response is available in Spanish here]

…[R]egarding the death of a minor whose body was found in our farm Paso Aguan…this is an issue quite serious and that has great importance for our company…[F]or about 3 years, conflicts related to land in the Aguan have been relatively calm…[A]t the end of August of the present year, acts of invasion to private property and land again happened, in lands that the Government has under its administration. In our consideration, these acts have been carried out by people that claim they represent farmer's movements in the region…In the occurring of such an unfortunate situation (at the end of August) and when invading to our property (Paso Aguan farm), two of our guards were murdered…Afterwards, at the end of September, a man named Jose Alfredo Rodríguez, supposedly affiliated to the Gregorio Chávez farmer Movement was found dead in our farm…It should be mentioned that when this occurred, our company did not have the control of the farm, because it was invaded and we were in a legal eviction process…In November the tragic event in which the minor Leodan Andres Mencia lost his life happened. Although in that moment, the group that had invaded the farm (Paso Aguan), had been evicted by the authorities, it is very important to point out that our staff (field and security staff) was not present…