"I was very restless that night. I couldn't sleep that whole night. I didn't know what it was, but I knew something had happened. At 3 a.m., people came over to tell me my son had been shot." - Felicita Diaz, mother of Josque Moises Castro Diaz; Villagers fear brutal guards
Security guards here have used violence and brute force to impose their authority, according to villagers living amid the dense African palm forests of this plantation.The farm is a joint venture between Chiquita's main Honduran subsidiary, the Tela Railroad Co., and a group of Latin American businessmen. Tela owns the farm land and manages the operations, according to company records.
People living here say they have been harassed by gun-toting guards who detained them on allegations of stealing or trespassing in the miles of fly-infested palm forests. But the complaints go beyond harassment: people have been shot, one person fatally.
In the early morning hours of Aug. 16, 1996, plantation guards driving in a security truck opened fire on three men as they came home from visiting a nearby village. One man, 21-year-old Josque Moises Castro Diaz, was shot off the horse he was riding and killed instantly. His cousin, Lisandro Antonio Juarez Coto, then 14, was shot in the back as he bicycled ahead of the horse. Mr. Juarez's brother, Cesar Augusto Juarez Coto, then 26, was not injured and ran into the forest.
Four San Alejo security guards have been charged with homicide and are awaiting trial in a Honduran jail.
Mr. Castro, the oldest of eight children, was the key source of income for his family, bringing in as much as 800 lempiras (about $62) a week during picking season from his job picking African Palm nuts for the Chiquita joint venture. Off season, he would make about 400 lempiras (about $31).
His mother, Felicita Diaz, 46, said through a translator that her son was a "church-going man of the family" who never got into trouble before the night of the shooting.
"I was very restless that night. I couldn't sleep that whole night," she said. "I didn't know what it was but I knew something had happened. At 3 a.m., people came over to tell me my son had been shot."
A year after the incident, the spot where the young man died was still marked with flowers and mementos. With their main breadwinner gone, the family is struggling to make ends meet.
Lisandro Juarez, now 15, showed the Enquirer the huge scars where the bullet entered and exited his back, passing just an inch from his spine. He said he was bicycling home with his brother and cousin when the security truck passed them, doubled back and then started firing. Next thing he knew, he was shot.
"I was just laying on the ground, and I couldn't feel my body," he said through a translator. "So I just began crying to my brother, 'Help me, help me, I can't get up! I can't feel my body!"
His brother bicycled home with the boy on his back. They then drove to the hospital, and learned their cousin was dead.
Mr. Juarez' father, Lisandro Juarez Fuentes, 66, is still angry.
"I'm furious with them," he said through a translator. "If they had killed my son, I certainly would have killed the people who did it. I don't like fact that they killed a relative and wounded my boy for sport. There is a lot of rancor here."
The four guards were identified in court documents as Redin Santiago Turcios, Angel Maria Reyes, Santos Rosalio Argueta and Raul Antonio Gutierrez. Iris Gisela Flores Discua, a lawyer who represents Tela and also the four company guards, has argued in court filings that the guards fired in self-defense against people who shot at them.
But reports by police investigators state the guards had shot up their own truck in an apparent attempt to make it look like they were attacked. Also, police found no evidence to show the victims were armed. Police ballistics also showed that one of the guns used by the security guards in the shooting was an AK-47 assault rifle, a weapon that under Honduran law may be used only by military personnel.
A police report filed with the court reads in translation that "with the reconstruction that was made, it is established that the people driving the car saw the offended from the beginning and therefore could prevent the criminal act from happening; ....It has been proven by the Judgment from Ballistics that all six empty cartridges found in the place where the situation happened match the AK-47 rifle confiscated from the San Alejo's Security Chief."
Chiquita officials refused to be interviewed for this series and directed all questions to outside attorneys. In a statement issued through its attorneys, Chiquita distanced itself from the shooting, that it described as "a tragic event of the utmost seriousness."
"The security guards involved in the August 16, 1996, shooting at San Alejo were under the direction and supervision of a joint venture company managed by Chiquita's joint venture partner - not Tela Railroad Company or Chiquita....The security guards involved in the shooting were not employees of Chiquita or Tela Railroad Company," the statement read.
The company also stated that "immediately after the incident, the joint venture dismissed the four security guards who were involved."
According to documents filed with the court by Ms. Flores Discua, all four men were fired four days after the shooting, not because of the murder of Mr. Castro but, as the signed letter stamped "Tela Railroad Company" states, they did not show up to work "and their whereabouts are unknown" (translation from Spanish). They did not show up to work because they were in jail, where they remain to this day, according to the country's main human rights organization, Comite para La Defensa de Los Derechos Humanos en Honduras (CODEH).
Court records filed by Tela and obtained by the Enquirer state that the guards involved were employees of the "Palm Operations of the Tela Railroad Company."
In a document filed with the court 10 days after the shooting, Ms. Flores Discua, "acting in my condition as a legally appointed representative of the Tela Railroad Company and the Division of African Palms San Alejo"(translation) asked the court to charge three villagers - Josque Moises Castro Diaz (then dead), Lisandro Antonio Juarez Coto (shot in the back) and Cesar Augosto Juarez Coto with attacking the guards first. In the document, the Tela attorney identified the guards as "security agents working for the company whom I represent." (translation)
She also filed documents with the court identifying herself as the defense attorney for the accused.
A statement issued by Chiquita to the Enquirer made no reference to the lawyer retained by Tela for the case or the guards' connections to Tela. The company statement maintained that "it is unclear how the altercation developed or whether security personnel were acting in self defense."
Court delays have kept the case from being tried, and the guards remain in the central jail of La Ceiba in northern Honduras, according to CODEH.
In the statement issued by Chiquita through its attorneys, the company stated that shots fired on Aug. 16 "may have come from an automatic weapon, the possession of which is prohibited by Honduran law. Based on that investigation, Chiquita and its joint venture partner concluded that it was necessary to restructure the security operation of San Alejo."
The company stated that the security operation has since been "completely rebuilt," with more than 10 people, including the chief of security, being dismissed. The company stated it and its joint venture have since hired an outside security firm to assist.
Leonel Milla, 22, hasn't seen much of the changes on the San Alejo plantation. In another shooting incident, he reported to officials of CODEH that his right foot was blown apart by a security guard's gun in the afternoon of April 2, 1997, as he, his cousin and two friends tried to push-start their broken-down truck.
Mr. Milla's cousin and one friend were arrested and charged with stealing, he said. Their charges were dropped after one night in jail, and Mr. Milla was never charged in the incident, he said.
"We had nothing and they still shot us," Mr. Milla said through a translator. "They just ran out after us shouting 'Stop, you sons of bitches.' "
Mr. Milla said he ran from the guards for a simple reason: fear. Plantation guards had already shot Mr. Castro.
"I didn't want to end up dead too," he said.
Since the shooting, Mr. Milla has to hobble wherever he goes.
"Tela never paid for any treatment or care or anything," he said.
Government doctors have told him that further operations might help him walk a little better. Chiquita did not respond to Enquirer questions about this specific incident.
Other villagers in the 16 communities spread out amid the plantations said the harassment continues. In September 1996, leaders from the various communities signed a public letter complaining about San Alejo security guards' treatment of villagers and livestock.
Adalid Garcia, 45, a cattleman from the tiny village of Citronella amid the plantation, said security guards harass him and his cows and pigs. He produced photographs of dead pigs. He said one had been shot and one had been poisoned.
Through its attorneys, Chiquita released a statement that the plantation has a problem with trespassing animals, who can damage the palm plants by eating their roots. The statement said that company security has detained animals on occasion, in accordance with Honduran law, and sent farmers to the local court, where the court, not Chiquita, issues a fine.
"Security personnel at San Alejo have never impermissibly fined or arrested neighboring persons," the statement read. "If, however, persons or livestock are trespassing or damaging San Alejo property, the security personnel have the right to detain them."
In a further response, Chiquita stated through its attorneys that it was "aware of an incident in which a security guard shot a bull owned by Mr. Adalid Garcia (an ex-employee) as the bull charged at the guard. The bull survived."
Andres Pavon Murillo, 34, a regional coordinator for CODEH, said his group has received numerous complaints from citizens about mistreatment by the plantation security. Tela or its joint venture have done little to solve problems, he said.
He said most of the disputes arise over control of the roads. Security has guard houses at the main entrances so people cannot leave or enter without their approval, even though the miles of unpaved roads are publicly owned, he said.
Mr. Pavon took Enquirer reporters to an open area on the plantation, which he described in Spanish as "a security training ground." The area, on San Alejo palm land, was littered with thousands of spent and discarded rifle shells, including those fired from one or more automatic weapons. CODEH concluded spme of the shells probably were fired from a AK-47 assault rifle. While it was not determined who fired the weapons, ownership and firing of such weapons by anyone other than the Honduran military is a violation of Honduran law.
Through its attorneys, Chiquita stated that after the shooting of Mr. Castro, evidence "suggested" that the plantation's chief of security had an automatic weapon.
"His possession of the automatic weapon, which had not been issued or purchased by his employer, had been without the knowledge or permission of his employer or Chiquita," the statement read.
Chiquita stated that the man was dismissed.
Chiquita denial
"Chiquita completely denies and rejects any
assertion that it has ever committed any illegal or
violent actions against any person in any country or that
it has ever instructed others to do so."
- A Chiquita attorney
Shooting at San Alejo
1. In the early morning hours of Aug. 16, 1996, three young villagers who lived amid the San Alejo plantation were returning home after visiting a nearby village. Josque Moises Castro Diaz, 21, was riding a horse with his cousin, Cesar Augosto Juarez Coto, 26. Mr. Juarez's brother, Lisandro Antonio Juarez Coto, 14, was riding a bicycle. In the darkness, a truck carrying plantation security guards passed them on the road. According to police reports, the truck stopped down the road, turned around and came back to the three men, shining its headlights.
2. The guards opened fire with an automatic weapon, which police reports indicate was an AK-47 assault rifle. Mr. Castro was shot off the horse and killed. His cousin, Mr. Juarez, ran into the woods.
3. The security guards then drove up to the 14-year-old boy on the bicycle and shot him in the back, severely wounding him. The guards then sped away from the scene. Mr. Juarez returned for his brother and carried him home. He was then taken to the hospital and recovered.
Source: Honduran police reports
(Copyright 1998)
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