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Lawyer Fighting Against Libertarian Cities Project In Honduras Assassinated

18 points by ahi 14y ago

uvdiv 14y ago
The article suggests he was killed over a land dispute. Which, really, exemplifies the point of the Canadian-governed cities: mediating property disputes in first-world legal systems, not anarchic violence.
- halbermensch 14y ago
  First-class Canadian-run legal systems, oh my! Sounds so wonderfully egalitarian and efficient, you almost want to move there... except that things aren't always what they seem: The problem is there are no clean slates. Honduras does not have untouched expanses of territory awaiting homesteaders to lay claim. Trujillo, the site most often mentioned for the first Charter City, has long belonged to afro-indigenous Garifuna communities and campesino farmers, and suffers from a long history of attempted usurpation, from the Republic of Poyas to the United Fruit Company. ... Trujillo’s Garifuna and campesino communities have, over the past 20 years, been preyed upon by violence unleashed as a consequence of a set of rules inspired by one of Michael Strong’s ideological cohorts, and co-author of a book promoting ‘entrepreneurial capitalism,’ Hernando de Soto. In the heart of the region apparently now proposed as the future home of a Charter City, on August 27 the Garifuna community of Vallecito awaited government officials, who never came, to measure a small portion their land, to which they hold full legal title. The huge majority of their lands has been taken over by businessmen and drug traffickers, mostly, they explain, through violence and fraud. The measurement would be a first step in recovering possession of the land. The Vallecito community was surrounded by armed bands firing off weapons through the night. A group of heavily armed paramilitaries snuck into the middle of a Garifuna drumming circle, made their presence known and left, the death threat established with clarity. The armed bands have continued to circle the community. The scene was typical of the region since the 1992 Land Modernization Law unleashed paramilitaries against agrarian communities. The law altered the Agrarian Reform Law from the 1960s, which prohibited the resale of land acquired through the agrarian reform program. Businessmen and drug traffickers, with deep ties to the military intelligence death squads infamous for political killings in the 1980s, used armed bands and other forms of coercion to force Garifuna and campesino communities to sell their land, illegally, and used their political clout to maintain control of the land despite the illegal title transfers. http://www.globalresearch.ca/privately-owned-charter-cities-in-honduras-entire-urban-areas-handed-over-to-corporations/?print=1 http://www.globalresearch.ca/privately-owned-charter-cities-...
  - uvdiv 14y ago
    Your example only reiterates my point, that violent gangs sieze property by force, and that the failed Honduran government is incapable or unwilling to defend its citizens and their property rights.
    - halbermensch 14y ago
      I think the basic point you've failed to notice is that, not-so-paradoxically, it's the "Free Cities" entrepreneurs who are seeking to benefit from, i.e. are openly acting in direct collusion with, these very same forced expropriations.
p_monk 14y ago
The last time the Friedmanites tried to impose neoliberal economic doctrine in Latin America it resulted in wide-scale repression and murder [1]. It is tragic, yet not surprising, that it's happening again. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#The_Disappeared_held_under_PEN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#The_Disappeared_held_...
- wissler 14y ago
  Can you please post a reference?
  - p_monk 14y ago
    Ref: Los Desaparecidos - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#The_Disappeared_held_under_PEN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#The_Disappeared_held_...
  - halbermensch 14y ago
    Basic Latin American history, guys. Do a bit of reading.
- Turing_Machine 14y ago
  What do "Friedmanites" have to do with military dictatorship? Oh, right: nothing. On the other hand, communists are DIRECTLY responsible for the deaths of millions. Millions. http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM
  - rayiner 14y ago
    No True Scottsman, etc.
  - p_monk 14y ago
    What do they have to do with military dictatorship? They filled several important roles in Pinochet's government in Chile and Videla's government in Argentina. There are more examples in Latin America, but these were the most horrific. My comment was unrelated to communism -- I don't need to be convinced that communism is bad.
ktizo 14y ago
The following is from a letter that was sent on the 7th of September 2012 - http://chartercities.org/blog/231/honduras-update http://chartercities.org/blog/231/honduras-update "You should know that we, as individuals, continue to believe strongly in the vision behind the Honduran RED initiative, and we stand ready to be of service when the impediments to the full establishment of the institutional framework of the REDs have been resolved. Sincerely yours, Paul Romer" I guess this news means that impediments to the full establishment of the institutional framework of the REDs are currently being resolved. [edit] From the same link we have this - "the decree formalizing our appointment was not officially published, in deference to the Honduran Supreme Court, which has been considering a challenge to the constitutionality of the RED law." Which is somewhat enlightening given this line from the article - "Trejo had also helped prepare motions declaring unconstitutional a proposal to build three privately run cities with their own police, laws and tax systems." I wonder who else was helping to prepare the motions, and how long they might have left to live.
jamesbritt 14y ago
Why is the word "Libertarian" in the posted title? I can't find it in title of the article or in the article itself.
- ahi 14y ago
  There has been repeated discussion of this topic: http://www.economist.com/node/21541391 http://www.economist.com/node/21541391 I thought context would be helpful to readers who have seen those articles before.
- halbermensch 14y ago
  Because the whole "Free Cities" thing is part of the old Libertarian wet dream of establishing instant Utopias on whatever scrap of "unclaimed" land they salvage from somewhere (some rock or coral reef somewhere... or in this case, lands belonging to an indigenous group seen as too weak to defend itself). Where the world will finally see how efficient and truly egalitarian we can all live once the bane of Coercion has been abolished once and for all. And the sun will never stop shining, etc. You know, John Galt and his valley in Colorado, etc. In any case, the current generation's de-facto "John Galt" (Peter Thiel) is one of the key backers of the Honduran project, so (despite the abuse of posting guidelinbes) that makes it very much a Libertarian topic.
  - jbelich 14y ago
    Except that the Free City concept wasn't dreamed up in a libertarian vacuum. It's worked over and over again, building wealth, growth, and sustaining economies for centuries. Having a guy wacked b/c he's a nimby definitely misses the point though... </facepalm>
    - halbermensch 14y ago
      Umm, the people he represents weren't protesting that "Free Cities" are being built near their property (their "backyard") -- rather, that outsiders are proposing to build them on their property.
    - 14y ago

18 points by ahi 14y ago

uvdiv 14y ago

The article suggests he was killed over a land dispute. Which, really, exemplifies the point of the Canadian-governed cities: mediating property disputes in first-world legal systems, not anarchic violence.

halbermensch 14y ago
First-class Canadian-run legal systems, oh my! Sounds so wonderfully egalitarian and efficient, you almost want to move there... except that things aren't always what they seem: The problem is there are no clean slates. Honduras does not have untouched expanses of territory awaiting homesteaders to lay claim. Trujillo, the site most often mentioned for the first Charter City, has long belonged to afro-indigenous Garifuna communities and campesino farmers, and suffers from a long history of attempted usurpation, from the Republic of Poyas to the United Fruit Company. ... Trujillo’s Garifuna and campesino communities have, over the past 20 years, been preyed upon by violence unleashed as a consequence of a set of rules inspired by one of Michael Strong’s ideological cohorts, and co-author of a book promoting ‘entrepreneurial capitalism,’ Hernando de Soto. In the heart of the region apparently now proposed as the future home of a Charter City, on August 27 the Garifuna community of Vallecito awaited government officials, who never came, to measure a small portion their land, to which they hold full legal title. The huge majority of their lands has been taken over by businessmen and drug traffickers, mostly, they explain, through violence and fraud. The measurement would be a first step in recovering possession of the land. The Vallecito community was surrounded by armed bands firing off weapons through the night. A group of heavily armed paramilitaries snuck into the middle of a Garifuna drumming circle, made their presence known and left, the death threat established with clarity. The armed bands have continued to circle the community. The scene was typical of the region since the 1992 Land Modernization Law unleashed paramilitaries against agrarian communities. The law altered the Agrarian Reform Law from the 1960s, which prohibited the resale of land acquired through the agrarian reform program. Businessmen and drug traffickers, with deep ties to the military intelligence death squads infamous for political killings in the 1980s, used armed bands and other forms of coercion to force Garifuna and campesino communities to sell their land, illegally, and used their political clout to maintain control of the land despite the illegal title transfers. http://www.globalresearch.ca/privately-owned-charter-cities-in-honduras-entire-urban-areas-handed-over-to-corporations/?print=1 http://www.globalresearch.ca/privately-owned-charter-cities-...
- uvdiv 14y ago
  Your example only reiterates my point, that violent gangs sieze property by force, and that the failed Honduran government is incapable or unwilling to defend its citizens and their property rights.
  - halbermensch 14y ago
    I think the basic point you've failed to notice is that, not-so-paradoxically, it's the "Free Cities" entrepreneurs who are seeking to benefit from, i.e. are openly acting in direct collusion with, these very same forced expropriations.

p_monk 14y ago

The last time the Friedmanites tried to impose neoliberal economic doctrine in Latin America it resulted in wide-scale repression and murder [1]. It is tragic, yet not surprising, that it's happening again. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#The_Disappeared_held_under_PEN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#The_Disappeared_held_...

wissler 14y ago
Can you please post a reference?
- p_monk 14y ago
  Ref: Los Desaparecidos - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#The_Disappeared_held_under_PEN http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#The_Disappeared_held_...
- halbermensch 14y ago
  Basic Latin American history, guys. Do a bit of reading.
Turing_Machine 14y ago
What do "Friedmanites" have to do with military dictatorship? Oh, right: nothing. On the other hand, communists are DIRECTLY responsible for the deaths of millions. Millions. http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/20TH.HTM
- rayiner 14y ago
  No True Scottsman, etc.
- p_monk 14y ago
  What do they have to do with military dictatorship? They filled several important roles in Pinochet's government in Chile and Videla's government in Argentina. There are more examples in Latin America, but these were the most horrific. My comment was unrelated to communism -- I don't need to be convinced that communism is bad.

ktizo 14y ago

The following is from a letter that was sent on the 7th of September 2012 - http://chartercities.org/blog/231/honduras-update http://chartercities.org/blog/231/honduras-update "You should know that we, as individuals, continue to believe strongly in the vision behind the Honduran RED initiative, and we stand ready to be of service when the impediments to the full establishment of the institutional framework of the REDs have been resolved. Sincerely yours, Paul Romer" I guess this news means that impediments to the full establishment of the institutional framework of the REDs are currently being resolved. [edit] From the same link we have this - "the decree formalizing our appointment was not officially published, in deference to the Honduran Supreme Court, which has been considering a challenge to the constitutionality of the RED law." Which is somewhat enlightening given this line from the article - "Trejo had also helped prepare motions declaring unconstitutional a proposal to build three privately run cities with their own police, laws and tax systems." I wonder who else was helping to prepare the motions, and how long they might have left to live.

jamesbritt 14y ago

Why is the word "Libertarian" in the posted title? I can't find it in title of the article or in the article itself.

ahi 14y ago
There has been repeated discussion of this topic: http://www.economist.com/node/21541391 http://www.economist.com/node/21541391 I thought context would be helpful to readers who have seen those articles before.
halbermensch 14y ago
Because the whole "Free Cities" thing is part of the old Libertarian wet dream of establishing instant Utopias on whatever scrap of "unclaimed" land they salvage from somewhere (some rock or coral reef somewhere... or in this case, lands belonging to an indigenous group seen as too weak to defend itself). Where the world will finally see how efficient and truly egalitarian we can all live once the bane of Coercion has been abolished once and for all. And the sun will never stop shining, etc. You know, John Galt and his valley in Colorado, etc. In any case, the current generation's de-facto "John Galt" (Peter Thiel) is one of the key backers of the Honduran project, so (despite the abuse of posting guidelinbes) that makes it very much a Libertarian topic.
- jbelich 14y ago
  Except that the Free City concept wasn't dreamed up in a libertarian vacuum. It's worked over and over again, building wealth, growth, and sustaining economies for centuries. Having a guy wacked b/c he's a nimby definitely misses the point though... </facepalm>
  - halbermensch 14y ago
    Umm, the people he represents weren't protesting that "Free Cities" are being built near their property (their "backyard") -- rather, that outsiders are proposing to build them on their property.
  - 14y ago