The Horcones Massacre (Masacre Los Horcones) was a series of killings centered on the Los Horcones ranch in the
department of
Olancho
Olancho is the largest of all the 18 departments into which Honduras is divided. The department covers a total surface area of 24,057 km² and has an estimated 2015 population of 537,306 inhabitants.
The departmental capital is Juticalpa, ...
,
Honduras, in June 1975, in which up to 14 religious leaders, campesinos, and students were killed by the Honduran military.
Major Jose Enrique Chinchilla, Lieutenant Benjamin Plata, Manuel Zelaya and Carlos Bahr were convicted for involvement the massacre. Manuel Zelaya is the father of
Manuel Zelaya
José Manuel Zelaya Rosales (born 20 September 1952)Encyclopædia BritannicaManuel Zelaya/ref> is a Honduran politician who was President of Honduras from 27 January 2006 until 28 June 2009, and who since January 2022 serves as the first Fir ...
, later president of Honduras.
Events
Among those killed were Father Iván Betancourt, a visiting
Colombian priest working in areas where
agrarian reform Agrarian reform can refer either, narrowly, to government-initiated or government-backed redistribution of agricultural land (see land reform) or, broadly, to an overall redirection of the agrarian system of the country, which often includes land ...
cooperatives were organizing, and Father Michael Jerome Cypher (Padre Casimiro), a priest visiting from
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, United States who was tortured to death during an
interrogation.
Five farmers were burned alive in a bread oven. The bodies of two priests were castrated and severely mutilated. Two women were thrown into a well alive before the shaft was dynamited.
[Robert Gregory Williams: Export agriculture and the crisis in Central America, p. 126]
According to journalist and author Wendy Griffin, "The Massacre of Los Horcones was seen as a clash between the interests of large landowners and the social activism of the church of the time." After the bodies were found, the federal government ordered all priests, monks, and nuns to leave the area for their own safety.
One of the victims was Máximo Aguilera, the father of
Christian Democratic Party
__NOTOC__
Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...
congressman
Lucas Aguilera.
Convictions
José Manuel "Mel" Zelaya, a rich landowner and father of later
President of the Republic José Manuel "Mel" Zelaya, allegedly gave a $2,500 reward for killing the Colombian priest.
The provincial army commander Major Jose Enrique Chinchilla, Lieutenant Benjamin Silver, Manuel "Mel" Zelaya and Carlos Bahr were sentenced to 20 years in prison. Zelaya Jr. visited his incarcerated father often, sometimes sleeping on the prison floor, according to Victor Meza, Zelaya's former interior minister.
The murderers were favored by the amnesty decree, on military crimes, of the Constituent National Assembly on September 3, 1980. They had spent a little over a year in prison when released on September 11.
Today
According to the Guardian newspaper, everyone in the town remembers the slayings.
References
External links
Revistazo human rights magazine: Mártires de “Los Horcones”
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20011204024937/http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Thebes/8590/Rebeldes_asesinados.htm "Rebels with a Cause" assassinated in the Americasbr>Recuerdan masacre de Los Horcones con misaEnglish translation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Los Horcones Massacre
Mass murder in 1975
1975 in Honduras
Massacres in 1975
June 1975 events in North America
Massacres in Honduras
Liberation theology
History of Honduras
1970s murders in Honduras
1975 murders in North America