

Lawyer Fighting Against Libertarian Cities Project In Honduras Assassinated - ahi
http://m.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/honduras-human-rights-lawyer-who-opposed-private-cities-murdered/2012/09/23/059ff77a-05a5-11e2-9eea-333857f6a7bd_story.html

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uvdiv
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
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-...](http://www.globalresearch.ca/privately-owned-charter-cities-in-
honduras-entire-urban-areas-handed-over-to-corporations/?print=1)

~~~
uvdiv
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
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
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_...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War#The_Disappeared_held_under_PEN)

~~~
Turing_Machine
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>

~~~
p_monk
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.

~~~
Turing_Machine
"They filled several important roles in Pinochet's government in Chile and
Videla's government in Argentina."

That's reasoning on the converse. I suspect that left-handed people "filled
several important roles" as well. That doesn't make left-handed people
responsible.

If you have any evidence that Milton Friedman was in favor of military
dictatorship (or, indeed, government coercion of any kind), I'd like to hear
it.

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

~~~
halbermensch
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
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
_Except that the Free City concept wasn't dreamed up in a libertarian vacuum._

Except the way Thiel & Co mean it, it was. There's no way you can compare
their schemes with historical examples with HK, Trieste, the Hanseatic League
etc (if that's what you're thinking).

------
ktizo
The following is from a letter that was sent on the 7th of September 2012 -
<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.

