Sowing the seeds of resistance: Agrarian reform, political violence, and popular mobilization in the Aguan Valley of Honduras

The agrarian conflict in the Aguan Valley of Honduras is among the most violent and distressing in contemporary Latin America. It has roots in both local and global political economic processes, including structural adjustment and the proliferation of neoliberal economic policies in the region. In particular, the Ley de Modernizacion y Desarrollo del Sector Agricola, or Law of Modernization and Development of the Agricultural Sector, drastically altered the landscape in rural Honduras, both literally and figuratively. An analysis of this policy reveals much about the nature of the current conflict, as well as that of the campesino (small farmer) movements that have organized to regain their land. This thesis seeks to shed light on the interconnectedness of economic policy, political violence, and popular resistance in the Aguan Valley and to examine the ways in which campesino movements frame their struggles and assert themselves as legitimate actors in the policy realm.