ConflictBarometer_2015

THE AMERICAS
department, who had camped in front of the mine for three
days, resulting in eleven activists and 15 PNC members injured.
On August 3, after six local residents had blocked the access
road to the mine with trucks, 100 PNC forces were deployed
to the mine's entrance. The Human Rights Ombudsman Jorge
de León Duque successfully mediated with both parties.
On April 17, 450 Mayan families from the Alta Verapaz, Baja
Verapaz, and Izabal departments, headed by CCDA, camped
in front of the presidential palace in the capital Guatemala
City to reinforce their demands for an end of forced evictions
and the criminalization of activists as well as to call for reforms
of the agrarian law.
After the Public Prosecutor's Office and the International
Commission against Impunity in Guatemala had uncovered
major corruption scandals of the government in April, nationwide
protests took place, culminating on April 25 with
50,000 people protesting in Guatemala City. This led to the
resignation of Vice President Roxana Baldetti on May 8 and
President Otto Pérez Molina on September 2. As the scandals
were unveiled, 72 farmers' organizations and indigenous
communities, including CCDA and CUC, formed the Social
and Popular Assembly on April 28, calling for a constituent
assembly to implement major changes to the electoral law,
the Political Parties Act, and the constitution. General elections
were held without any changes in the electoral law on
September 6, followed by a run-off on October 25.
On December 3, 449 representatives of 165 indigenous and
civil society groups passed a manifesto aiming to found a
plurinational state on the concept of ''buen vivir'' and especially
seeking to overcome the current economic system
considered exploitative. tk
February and extended to Cap-Haitien, Nord, with demonstrations
held by MOPOD and the drivers' union, demanding
further cuts on the fuel price and the demission of President
Martelly. During the last of these protests in Port-au-Prince
on February 27, protesters set a MINUSTAH pick-up vehicle
on fire and several people were injured.
Claude Joazard, a local candidate of the opposition party
Fanmi Lavalas, called for protests in Ouanaminthe and Fort
Liberté, Nord-Est, with several hundred protesters taking to
the streets on April 13 and 16. They demanded the electrification
of the area, the provision of drinking water, and the
reduction of food prices. The protests led to the death of one
MINUSTAH officer and left several people injured.
Haiti's legislative and first round of presidential elections held
on August 9 and October 25 respectively, sparked violence
around voting stations in several parts of the country. The
National Network for the Defense of Human Rights (RNDDH)
reported that throughout July and August, at least five people
were killed and 36 were injured in relation to electoral
campaigns in the Ouest department alone. For example, on
July 22, three persons were fatally shot in a drive-by while
they were hanging up posters for a parliamentary candidate
of the VERITE platform. During a demonstration organized
by the Pitit Dessalines opposition organization on November
22, two men in police uniforms attacked the activists with
machetes, killing one and injuring another. Several protests
across the country flared up on December 20 after the publication
of the legislative elections results. In Terrier Rouge,
Nord-Est, clashes with the police left one activist dead. The
second round of the presidential elections, originally slated
for December 27, was postponed by the Provisional Electoral
Council. osv
HAITI (OPPOSITION)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 1986
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
opposition groups vs. government
national power
The violent conflict over national power between several
opposition groups, partly under the banner of the Patriotic
Movement of the Democratic Opposition (MOPOD), and the
government continued.
Opposition groups held several protests in the capital Portau-Prince
in January, gathering several thousand participants
protesting the execution of the agreement between the executive,
the legislative, and the judicative on 12/29/14. Some
protests turned violent as the police used tear gas and water
cannon while protesters threw stones. Activists claimed that
President Michel Martelly was not honoring the commitments
made for the creation of a consensus government and that
he had appointed a new prime minister without involving the
legislative.
Along with the National Front of Haitian Labor Unions, MO-
POD held protests in Port-au-Prince and Pétit-Goâve, Ouest,
on February 2, demanding a lowering of fuel prices. Following
negotiations with the National Platform of Transport
Syndicates the next day, the government reduced the price
of fuel at the pump. Dissatisfied with the outcome, the New
Political Alliance and the Mixed Liberation Front held another
protest in Petit-Goâve on February 4, followed by a demonstration
on the next day by students of the University of Haiti
in Port-au-Prince. Clashes with the police left ten people
wounded. Further clashes flared up in both cities throughout
HONDURAS (OPPOSITION)
Intensity: 3 | Change: | Start: 2009
Conflict parties:
Conflict items:
LIBRE, PAC, PINU, PL, FNRP, antigovernment
activists vs. government
system/ideology, national power
The conflict over system and national power between opposition
parties and non-party opposition groups, on the one
hand, and the government of the National Party (PN), on the
other, remained violent.
On April 22, the Honduran Supreme Court (CSJ) adopted
constitutional amendments enabling presidential re-election,
which had been highly disputed since the 2009 ouster of
then-president José Manuel Zelaya. On the initiative of the
PN, the proposal had been submitted to the CSJ earlier this
year. The opposition parties Liberty and Refoundation (LI-
BRE), the Anti-Corruption Party (PAC), the Innovation and
Unity Party (PINU), and the Liberal Party (PL) appealed before
the CSJ against the re-election ruling on April 27, calling for
the impeachment of the court's magistrates.
In early May, high-ranking government officials and PN members
were involved in a corruption scandal concerning allegations
of fraud and embezzlement within the social security
institute IHSS. From May 29 onwards, several thousand people
protested in nationwide marches with torches against
the corruption scandal. Members of LIBRE, PAC, and the
civil society organization National Popular Resistance Front
(FRNP) supported the protesters. On June 3, President Juan
Orlando Hernández Alvarado admitted that the 2013 presidential
campaign had received funds from the IHSS. Two days
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