{"id":59472,"date":"2015-06-15T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2015-06-15T11:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=59472"},"modified":"2015-06-15T04:23:21","modified_gmt":"2015-06-15T03:23:21","slug":"bathed-in-blood-evicted-and-abandoned-in-honduras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2015\/06\/bathed-in-blood-evicted-and-abandoned-in-honduras\/","title":{"rendered":"Bathed in Blood &#8211; Evicted and Abandoned in Honduras"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>World Bank\u2019s Business-Lending Arm Backed Palm Oil Producer amid Deadly Land War<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59473\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-land-war-lac-usa-world-bank.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59473\" class=\"wp-image-59473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-land-war-lac-usa-world-bank-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Glenda Ch\u00e1vez stands beside the grave of her father, the preacher Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez, whose body was discovered on Dinant\u2019s Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation in July 2012.International Consortium of Investigative Journalists\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-land-war-lac-usa-world-bank-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-land-war-lac-usa-world-bank-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-land-war-lac-usa-world-bank.jpg 1366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59473\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Glenda Ch\u00e1vez stands beside the grave of her father, the preacher Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez, whose body was discovered on Dinant\u2019s Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation in July 2012.International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em>Jun 10 2015 &#8211; <\/em>Glenda Ch\u00e1vez walks between the orange trees of her family\u2019s grove, approaching a low wire fence that divides her property from Corporaci\u00f3n Dinant\u2019s Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation. On Dinant\u2019s side of the fence, rows of spiky palm oil trees stretch for miles across the green landscape of northern Honduras.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere,\u201d she says in a soft, determined voice, pointing to a spot on her side of the fence where a search party found the last traces of her father\u2019s life.<\/p>\n<p>Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez, a preacher and farmer, disappeared in July 2012. Hours later, men from their peasant community found the machete he\u2019d taken with him to tend to his vegetables. The men also found drag marks in the dirt leading toward Dinant\u2019s property, Glenda says.<\/p>\n<p>Four days after Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez disappeared, searchers discovered the preacher\u2019s body on the Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation, buried under a pile of palm fronds. He had been killed by blows to his head, and his body showed signs that he may have been tortured, according to a government special prosecutor investigating his death. Glenda and the other villagers immediately suspected he had been killed for speaking out from the pulpit against Dinant, their adversary in a battle over ownership of land that the company long ago incorporated into its vast palm oil operations.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/130114713?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In Bajo Agu\u00e1n, Honduras, a palm oil company backed by the World Bank Group battled with peasants in a violent dispute over land. After enduring a painful loss in her family, one woman now finds herself at the heart of the conflict. Video production by Hilke Schellmann<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese plantations are bathed in blood,\u201d Glenda Ch\u00e1vez says. \u201cNot only has my father died, but more than 100 peasants have died in defense of the land.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Special prosecutor Javier Guzm\u00e1n says security guards employed by Dinant are \u201cthe leading suspects\u201d in Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez\u2019s killing, but no one has been charged in the case. The company vigorously denies it had anything to do with his death.<\/p>\n<p>The preacher\u2019s death was one of 133 killings that have been linked to the land conflicts in Honduras\u2019 Bajo Agu\u00e1n valley, according to Guzm\u00e1n, who was appointed by the federal government to investigate the wave of violence that has ripped through the area in recent years. The circumstances of these deaths remain fiercely disputed in a struggle that has pitted Dinant and other large corporate landholders against peasant collectives, with both sides involved in violence that has at times turned gruesome.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59474\" style=\"width: 680px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Javier-Guzm\u00e1n-honduras-land-war.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59474\" class=\"size-full wp-image-59474\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Javier-Guzm\u00e1n-honduras-land-war.jpg\" alt=\"Javier Guzm\u00e1n, the special prosecutor tasked with prosecuting violent crimes related to the land conflict in Bajo Agu\u00e1n, at his office in Tocoa, Honduras. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists\" width=\"670\" height=\"447\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Javier-Guzm\u00e1n-honduras-land-war.jpg 670w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Javier-Guzm\u00e1n-honduras-land-war-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 670px) 100vw, 670px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59474\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Javier Guzm\u00e1n, the special prosecutor tasked with prosecuting violent crimes related to the land conflict in Bajo Agu\u00e1n, at his office in Tocoa, Honduras. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The conflict has drawn international scrutiny in part because Dinant, one of its central protagonists, has been financed by the World Bank Group.<\/p>\n<p>Dinant was backed by the International Finance Corporation, an arm of the World Bank conglomerate that lends to private companies. The IFC supported Dinant, one of Central America\u2019s biggest palm oil and food producers, throughout the recent land conflicts. It provided $15 million directly to Dinant in 2009 and later channelled $70 million in 2011 to a Honduran bank that was one of Dinant\u2019s largest financiers.<\/p>\n<p>In doing so, the IFC aligned itself with one of the key players in a deadly civil conflict, staking its money and reputation on a powerful corporation with a questionable history. The IFC ignored easily obtainable evidence that should have warned it away from doing business with Dinant, the lender\u2019s internal ombudsman later found.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Constantine, an IFC official who conducts social and environmental risk management, said the IFC approved its loan to Dinant before the violence in Bajo Agu\u00e1n spiraled out of control. He said the IFC is reforming its policies to better anticipate risks to local communities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe took a photograph in time and acted on that basis,\u201d Constantine said. \u201cShould we have recognized some of these historical issues earlier? No argument.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>DISPLACEMENT UNDOCUMENTED<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From 2004 to 2013, the IFC approved 188 projects that may have involved physical or economic displacement of local populations, according to an ICIJ and HuffPost analysis of publicly available project documentation. Because the IFC fails to fully and clearly disclose information about cases involving displacement, it is not possible to conclusively say in every instance whether displacement actually happened. Projects may be removed \u2014 or added \u2014 as new information arises.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59608\" style=\"width: 656px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"projects.huffingtonpost.com\/worldbank-evicted-abandoned\/honduras-international-finance-corp-backed-palm-oil-producer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59608\" class=\"wp-image-59608 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/diplomacy-map.png\"  alt=\"(click to open interactive original)\" width=\"646\" height=\"511\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/diplomacy-map.png 646w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/diplomacy-map-300x237.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 646px) 100vw, 646px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59608\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: the International Finance Corp. Methodology: The cases in this database are based on an ICIJ\/HuffPost analysis of publicly available IFC documents, in which the IFC appears to have determined that physical or economic displacement was a possible outcome of a project. In such cases, displaced families could lose their homes or other assets or suffer damage to their livelihoods. The data was last updated with information available on Dec. 31, 2014. ICIJ also included projects reviewed by the IFC\u2019s accountability body where a complaint regarding land acquisition and\/or involuntary displacement was filed. The IFC provided the reporting partners a list of projects to remove because no displacement occurred, investment didn\u2019t end up happening or where it classified the affected people as \u201cwilling sellers\u201d of their property. ICIJ\/HuffPost excluded them from the database. The IFC did not respond to the team\u2019s final inquiries on methodology and the total estimated tally of projects. Certain projects are connected to more than one country and are counted in each location. GO TO ORIGINAL to view the raw data and interactive map.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>With the growing push for private investment in developing countries, the IFC has expanded rapidly. Its annual lending commitments hit $17.3 billion in 2014, a 36 percent increase since 2010. But despite its growth \u2014 and complaints in Honduras and elsewhere that it has funneled money to companies involved in land grabs and human rights abuses \u2014 the IFC has remained less known than its sister institution, the World Bank, which lends to governments.<\/p>\n<p>Human rights groups and former bank officials say the IFC takes greater risks and is less accountable than its higher profile counterpart.<\/p>\n<p>Paul Cadario, a former senior manager who spent 37 years at the World Bank, says the bank has \u201can army of social scientists\u201d who are sensitive to the bank\u2019s rules for protecting local communities and the environment. By contrast, he says, the IFC tends to rely on assurances by its private-sector clients \u201cthat nothing will go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Complaints about the IFC\u2019s clients often involve vulnerable populations that claim they are being pushed aside to make way for big projects. Since 2004, the IFC has approved more than 180 projects that may involve physical or economic displacement, according to an analysis of IFC documents by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. In such cases, displaced families could lose their homes or other assets or suffer damage to their livelihoods.<\/p>\n<p>In the Dinant case, the IFC\u2019s internal ombudsman concluded that the IFC\u2019s lack of attention to the perils of doing business with the company reflected serious problems in the IFC\u2019s approach to handling risky projects. The IFC\u2019s culture is so focused on the bottom line, the December 2013 report found, that it \u201cmay incentivize staff to overlook, fail to articulate, or even conceal potential environmental, social and conflict related risks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many of the IFC\u2019s controversial investments involve loans to middlemen, such as banks, hedge funds and private equity firms. By routing financing through these middlemen \u2014 instead of lending directly to private-sector clients \u2014 the IFC has made it much easier for the ultimate recipients of its money to ignore its standards.<\/p>\n<p>As of 2014, 42 percent of the IFC\u2019s portfolio is invested in financial intermediaries, according to the IFC\u2019s internal ombudsman. In an audit of the IFC\u2019s investment in Banco Ficohsa, the Honduran bank that was one of Dinant\u2019s leading financiers, the ombudsman describes investments in middlemen as an \u201cunanalyzed and unquantified exposure to projects with potential significant adverse environmental and social impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59475\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-child-66defdcc27203accb96e10a6e100f4e7-land-war.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59475\" class=\"wp-image-59475\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-child-66defdcc27203accb96e10a6e100f4e7-land-war.jpg\" alt=\"A boy carrying live chickens in Panam\u00e1, a peasant community that borders on Dinant's Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists\" width=\"700\" height=\"427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-child-66defdcc27203accb96e10a6e100f4e7-land-war.jpg 790w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-child-66defdcc27203accb96e10a6e100f4e7-land-war-300x183.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59475\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A boy carrying live chickens in Panam\u00e1, a peasant community that borders on Dinant&#8217;s Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/p><\/div>\n<p>These exposures, the ombudsman said, are \u201ceffectively secret,\u201d leaving them \u201cdivorced from systems which are designed to ensure that IFC and its clients are accountable.\u201d Since 2012, only 6 percent of financial intermediary loans that the IFC classified as high-risk disclosed the final recipients of the money, according to an analysis by the anti-poverty group Oxfam.<\/p>\n<p>Since 2011, six communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America have complained to the IFC\u2019s ombudsman about projects supported by financial institutions backed by the IFC. Those affected include villagers in Uganda who claim their homes were burned to make way for pine and eucalyptus plantations and farmers in Cambodia whose rice fields were taken over by a rubber plantation.<\/p>\n<p>The Dinant case is exceptional because it involves a decades-long battle over land that has moved back and forth between big landowners and impoverished farmers \u2014 and because of the body count associated with the conflict.<\/p>\n<p>The IFC says that it has taken steps to defuse the violence in Bajo Agu\u00e1n, including hiring a mediator to encourage negotiations between Dinant, peasant groups and Honduran authorities, and persuading Dinant to revamp its security protocols and disarm its guards at several plantations. The IFC has so far withheld a second $15 million installment of its loan to Dinant due to its concerns about the company.<\/p>\n<p>The IFC acknowledges that lending money in volatile regions poses risks, but says its work in these troubled areas is critical to its mission. These investments, officials say, provide jobs and prosperity that can help break the cycle of violence.<\/p>\n<p>In 2014, the IFC invested $640 million in \u201cfragile and conflict-affected situations.\u201d The IFC has committed to ramping up its investments in these regions by 50 percent between 2012 to 2016.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is not for the faint of heart,\u201d says Constantine, the IFC risk management official. \u201cIf not us, who?\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59476\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-big-29550b724186f3c33045e668ecfb7bcd-farmer-land-war.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59476\" class=\"wp-image-59476\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-big-29550b724186f3c33045e668ecfb7bcd-farmer-land-war-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"A farmer loads palm oil fruits onto a cart at La Confianza, a peasant-run palm oil plantation in Bajo Agu\u00e1n, Honduras. Elisabeth Weydt \/ Westdeutscher Rundfunk\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-big-29550b724186f3c33045e668ecfb7bcd-farmer-land-war-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-big-29550b724186f3c33045e668ecfb7bcd-farmer-land-war-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-big-29550b724186f3c33045e668ecfb7bcd-farmer-land-war.jpg 1366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59476\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A farmer loads palm oil fruits onto a cart at La Confianza, a peasant-run palm oil plantation in Bajo Agu\u00e1n, Honduras. Elisabeth Weydt \/ Westdeutscher Rundfunk<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Signs Of Trouble<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The roots of the land dispute in Bajo Agu\u00e1n date back to the 1970s, when a national land reform law turned most of the valley\u2019s rich terrain over to collective organizations run by peasants. It was a victory for poverty-stricken farmers, and attracted waves of migrants to the fertile Agu\u00e1n region. But the peasants\u2019 fortunes took another turn in the 1990s, when Honduras\u2019 government, acting on the advice of the World Bank, dramatically changed the country\u2019s land ownership rules.<\/p>\n<p>In March 1992, Honduras passed a law that, for the first time, allowed land belonging to peasant collectives to be broken up and privately sold. The World Bank supported the change, which was part of a series of reforms it promoted as part of its efforts to push Honduras toward a market economy.<\/p>\n<p>After the new law took effect, expanses of collective-owned land quickly passed into the hands of Dinant and other large corporations. Much of the land was converted to industrial-scale production of palm oil, which is used as an ingredient in shampoo, ice cream, margarine and a myriad of other cosmetics and foods. Environmental groups charge that rapidly increasing cultivation of palm oil has led to deforestation and pushed vulnerable populations off their native lands.<\/p>\n<p>Between 1990 and 1994, nearly 21,000 hectares \u2014 74 percent of land held by peasant collectives in Bajo Agu\u00e1n \u2014 was sold, according to a 2010 report by a coalition of peasant organizations.<\/p>\n<p>The IFC\u2019s Constantine said the sales revealed the failure of the collective model created under the previous land reform push. \u201cThat social experiment was not very successful,\u201d he said. \u201cThe large landowners stepped into the breach and bought up the land from willing sellers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The peasants and their advocates tell a different story. Once the collective land could be sold, they say, peasants came under pressure from large landholders to sign away their rights. Peasants charge that hired thugs harassed leaders of collectives that refused to sell, in some cases riddling their homes with gunfire. Fraud was also rampant, the peasants charge. Small factions within some of the collectives, they say, signed away large tracts in exchange for individual payoffs.<\/p>\n<p>In response, peasants formed popular organizations to challenge the land sales in the courts and with the government. They demanded that the government return the lands formerly owned by the collectives to the peasants.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2008, 12 people died in a clash between landowners and peasants over disputed land previously used as a military training center. That same month, a team from the IFC visited Dinant to evaluate a prospective loan.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after, in December 2008, the IFC\u2019s board approved a $30 million loan to Dinant. It classified the loan as \u201cCategory B,\u201d indicating a low risk that the investment would lead to serious environmental or social problems.<\/p>\n<p>The IFC\u2019s ombudsman later found the evaluation team failed to do basic research about Dinant, the largest landholder in the Bajo Agu\u00e1n region, or its owner, Miguel Facuss\u00e9, who is ranked by Forbes as one of Central America\u2019s most powerful millionaires.<\/p>\n<p>Had the team done a simple Internet search, the ombudsman reported, it would have found news stories showing that Facuss\u00e9 had been accused of being involved in the murder of an environmental activist, had faced a warrant for arrest for alleged environmental crimes and had been embroiled in a series of land disputes.<\/p>\n<p>The warrant for Facuss\u00e9\u2019s arrest, which charged him with allowing one of his food processing plants to dump toxins into drinking water for two decades, was revoked after the judge who issued the warrant left her position. In 2003, a court dismissed accusations that Facuss\u00e9 collaborated in the murder of environmentalist Carlos Escaleras.<\/p>\n<p>Facusse and Dinant denied wrongdoing in these legal cases.<\/p>\n<p>The IFC and Dinant signed the loan agreement in April 2009, at a time when peasants still hoped that land disputes in the region could be solved peacefully.<\/p>\n<p>Honduras\u2019 leftist president at the time, Manuel Zelaya, offered to negotiate with peasant movements and landowners in Bajo Agu\u00e1n about a political settlement to the conflict that would restore some of the disputed land to peasant ownership.<\/p>\n<p>Then a political upheaval sent the country careening into violence.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59477\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-4408-63ddc0cb4af3cfd370206586afd89f33-military-land-war.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59477\" class=\"wp-image-59477\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-4408-63ddc0cb4af3cfd370206586afd89f33-military-land-war-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Honduran soldiers in the streets of Tocoa, Bajo Agu\u00e1n. Elisabeth Weydt \/ Westdeutscher Rundfunk\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-4408-63ddc0cb4af3cfd370206586afd89f33-military-land-war-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-4408-63ddc0cb4af3cfd370206586afd89f33-military-land-war-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-4408-63ddc0cb4af3cfd370206586afd89f33-military-land-war.jpg 1366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59477\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Honduran soldiers in the streets of Tocoa, Bajo Agu\u00e1n. Elisabeth Weydt \/ Westdeutscher Rundfunk<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>A Warning from the Pulpit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the summer of 2009, Glenda Ch\u00e1vez had a 7-year-old daughter and was pregnant with her second child. She spent most of her time at home and worked on her sewing machine to earn money.<\/p>\n<p>In late June, soldiers stormed the presidential residence, ousting Zelaya from power and putting him on a plane to Costa Rica. Glenda remembers her father described the coup as \u201cbarbaric.\u201d But she didn\u2019t get involved in the escalating struggle that was tearing Honduras apart. \u201cI didn\u2019t care very much about politics,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n<p>The military-backed government that took power made it clear it was not going to proceed with the land reforms promised by Zelaya.<\/p>\n<p>Outraged by the coup and out of political options, the peasant movement adopted a new tactic \u2014 mass occupations of disputed plantations. The peasants call these actions \u201crecoveries.\u201d Dinant describes them as \u201cinvasions.\u201d Many of the deaths in Bajo Agu\u00e1n have happened during these takeovers.<\/p>\n<p>Dinant often called on the Honduran military to evict peasants from disputed areas. Dinant and the military say that the occupiers are always armed and violent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe peasants have not in one instance entered [the plantations] in a peaceful manner,\u201d said Col. Ren\u00e9 Jovel, the commander of Operaci\u00f3n Xatruch, a military operation with orders to stabilize the Bajo Agu\u00e1n region. \u201cThey enter with machetes, with shotguns, with pistols, with AK-47s.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59478\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/jovel-f3714ff7419a03d51826df2025f223dc-honduras-land-war-military.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59478\" class=\"wp-image-59478\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/jovel-f3714ff7419a03d51826df2025f223dc-honduras-land-war-military.jpg\" alt=\"Colonel Ren\u00e9 Jovel, commander of Operation Xatruch, a military campaign with orders to stabilize the land conflict in Bajo Agu\u00e1n. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/jovel-f3714ff7419a03d51826df2025f223dc-honduras-land-war-military.jpg 672w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/jovel-f3714ff7419a03d51826df2025f223dc-honduras-land-war-military-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59478\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Colonel Ren\u00e9 Jovel, commander of Operation Xatruch, a military campaign with orders to stabilize the land conflict in Bajo Agu\u00e1n. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Guzm\u00e1n, the special prosecutor, said that in some cases peasants killed each other, hiring hitmen to settle struggles within the peasant movement over control of lucrative oil palm fields.<\/p>\n<p>Peasant groups say the company and the government have trumped up these allegations to justify abuses by soldiers and company security guards. A 2013 report by the Permanent Human Rights Observer for Agu\u00e1n, a human rights group affiliated with the peasant movements, found that out of more than 100 violent deaths associated with the land conflict, 89 were peasants and 19 were security guards, police, military or landowners.<\/p>\n<p>Vitalino Alvarez, a spokesman for the peasant movements, says the occupations are nonviolent. \u201cWhy are the ones who get hurt always peasants?\u201d he asks.<\/p>\n<p>In November 2010, five peasants died during an attempted occupation of Dinant\u2019s El Tumbador plantation. While there is little dispute that the company\u2019s security guards fired the fatal shots, Dinant said that they acted in self-defense during an armed attack by more than 160 peasants.<\/p>\n<p>Francisco Ramirez, a peasant who survived the El Tumbador occupation, has a thick scar running across his face from where a bullet plunged through one cheek and out the other. He claims he was unarmed and walking toward the front gate of the plantation with another peasant when Dinant guards hiding behind a hilltop ambushed them with a hail of bullets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHere is where they had the ambush,\u201d says Ramirez, pointing to a small hill overgrown with trees and thick vegetation, alongside the road into El Tumbador. \u201cThis is where I received the impact of the bullet in my face.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Roger Pineda, Dinant\u2019s corporate relations director, says no such ambush occurred.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59479\" style=\"width: 682px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras_1104-1d4c0336e7ee1a6fb53f453a4c679f77-farmer-land-war.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59479\" class=\"size-full wp-image-59479\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras_1104-1d4c0336e7ee1a6fb53f453a4c679f77-farmer-land-war.jpg\" alt=\"Francisco Ram\u00edrez, a local farmer, says he was shot in the face during an attempted takeover of Dinant Corporation's El Tumbador plantation. The bullet entered one cheek and exited through the other. Here he points to the escape route where he says he fled after being shot. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists\" width=\"672\" height=\"448\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras_1104-1d4c0336e7ee1a6fb53f453a4c679f77-farmer-land-war.jpg 672w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras_1104-1d4c0336e7ee1a6fb53f453a4c679f77-farmer-land-war-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 672px) 100vw, 672px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59479\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francisco Ram\u00edrez, a local farmer, says he was shot in the face during an attempted takeover of Dinant Corporation&#8217;s El Tumbador plantation. The bullet entered one cheek and exited through the other. Here he points to the escape route where he says he fled after being shot. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Disturbed by the deaths at El Tumbador, the IFC\u2019s president urged Dinant to show restraint and asked Honduras\u2019 government to find a peaceful solution to the land conflict.<\/p>\n<p>But the violence continued, moving steadily closer to Paso Agu\u00e1n and the Ch\u00e1vez family.<\/p>\n<p>In May 2011, a peasant activist named Francisco Pascual Lopez disappeared near Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation. Community members found a trail of blood leading into the plantation, according to Human Rights Watch.<\/p>\n<p>That same month, the IFC board approved a $70 million loan to Banco Ficohsa, one of Honduras\u2019 biggest banks, intended \u201cto support lending to the country\u2019s small and medium enterprises.\u201d The Dinant conglomerate was among Ficohsa\u2019s largest clients, securing nearly $17 million in loans from the bank in 2008.<\/p>\n<p>Even as the IFC held back from disbursing the second half of its direct loan to Dinant, it showed little concern about supporting Dinant through a middleman. As Ficohsa\u2019s exposure to Dinant grew through 2010, IFC staffers waived the IFC\u2019s limits on how much Ficohsa could lend to any single client, writing that Dinant was a \u201cregional leader\u201d and owner Miguel Facuss\u00e9 was a \u201crespected businessman.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59480\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-4369-b97a33e88745071984cacf9ca8551ab4-land-war-farmers.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59480\" class=\"wp-image-59480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-4369-b97a33e88745071984cacf9ca8551ab4-land-war-farmers.jpg\" alt=\"Men gather at a supply house in the peasant-run collective of La Confianza. The peasants have operated La Confianza since forcibly seizing it from the Dinant Corporation during the ongoing land conflict in Bajo Agu\u00e1n. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists\" width=\"600\" height=\"393\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-4369-b97a33e88745071984cacf9ca8551ab4-land-war-farmers.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-4369-b97a33e88745071984cacf9ca8551ab4-land-war-farmers-300x197.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59480\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Men gather at a supply house in the peasant-run collective of La Confianza. The peasants have operated La Confianza since forcibly seizing it from the Dinant Corporation during the ongoing land conflict in Bajo Agu\u00e1n. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Three months after the Ficohsa loan was approved, Dinant reported a deadly attack by peasants during an attempted takeover of the Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation. Four security guards and a Dinant employee were killed, Dinant\u2019s Pineda says, and at least one of the guards appeared to have been executed. The Dinant employee had been tortured and his ears had been sliced off, Pineda says.<\/p>\n<p>As the conflict spread, Glenda Ch\u00e1vez recalls, her father began to speak out against Dinant. Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez never affiliated himself with the peasant movements, but he grew frustrated with the company as its security guards became an intimidating presence, imposing a 6 p.m. curfew. He planted palm oil trees on the family\u2019s property, yet when he went to sell their fruits, his daughter says, he was harassed by Dinant guards and police who assumed his produce was stolen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was a man who never kept quiet,\u201d she said. \u201cHe never liked injustice, and he didn\u2019t like how [Dinant owner] Miguel Facuss\u00e9 came into our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The violence that afflicted other parts of northern Honduras had not yet reached their small community of some 450 families, which was called Panam\u00e1. In the final months of his life, Glenda recalls, her father delivered warnings from the pulpit that foreshadowed his own violent death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe would preach, \u2018When they spill the blood of one of us in this community, the community will rise up,\u2019\u201d Glenda says.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59481\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-glenda-c21e477ea79593f16929c9bcc9a87d74-land-war-farmers.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59481\" class=\"wp-image-59481\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-glenda-c21e477ea79593f16929c9bcc9a87d74-land-war-farmers-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Jose Ch\u00e1vez and Glenda Ch\u00e1vez at the spot on their property where they found the last traces of Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez's life. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-glenda-c21e477ea79593f16929c9bcc9a87d74-land-war-farmers-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-glenda-c21e477ea79593f16929c9bcc9a87d74-land-war-farmers-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-glenda-c21e477ea79593f16929c9bcc9a87d74-land-war-farmers.jpg 1366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59481\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jose Ch\u00e1vez and Glenda Ch\u00e1vez at the spot on their property where they found the last traces of Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez&#8217;s life. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>Panam\u00e1 Revolts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On the evening of July 2, 2012, Glenda remembers, her mother came to tell her that her father had not come home. \u201cThat was when I felt in my heart that something had happened,\u201d Glenda says.<\/p>\n<p>The Ch\u00e1vez family and their neighbors launched a desperate search. Glenda called relatives and members of Gregorio\u2019s church and alerted the police and fire departments. After searchers discovered Gregorio\u2019s machete, the community demanded access to the Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation.<\/p>\n<p>Days passed before the searchers gained entry to Paso Agu\u00e1n. Teams of police and peasants began scouring its 1,200 hectares for signs of the vanished preacher. At first, they came up empty-handed. Then, Glenda says, the peasants demanded access to an unexplored section of the plantation known as Lot 8.<\/p>\n<p>Dinant\u2019s guards said the area was restricted and tried to deny them entry, Glenda says. After negotiations with police, the guards agreed to vacate Lot 8, and the peasants and policemen began to search.<\/p>\n<p>On July 6, they found Gregorio\u2019s body.<\/p>\n<p>Pineda, the Dinant spokesman, says the company no longer had control of Lot 8 when the preacher\u2019s body was discovered. In the days after Gregorio disappeared, Pineda says, the peasants searching for him took over Lot 8 and other sections of the plantation, stealing tractors and palm oil fruits and burning a storage facility. These violent partisans could have brought the body from anywhere, he says.<\/p>\n<p>Pineda says Dinant and its guards had no reason to kill Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez. \u201cWe never had any problem with Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez, we were always neighbors,\u201d Pineda says. \u201cWhat could we possibly gain from this?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Guzm\u00e1n, the special prosecutor, says the peasants\u2019 suspicions that Dinant\u2019s guards killed Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez represent the \u201cmost credible\u201d explanation for his death. But he says there are no eyewitnesses or scientific proof linking the guards to his death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are the suspects, but there is not concrete evidence,\u201d Guzm\u00e1n says.<\/p>\n<p>After the preacher\u2019s body was discovered, outrage swept over the community of Panam\u00e1. Villagers created a new organization to fight for their cause: the Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez Movement for Refoundation. Glenda was often called on to speak for the community. It is still painful for her to discuss her father\u2019s killing, but she recounts the events surrounding his death with a practiced calm.<\/p>\n<p>Along with denouncing violence against peasants, the Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez Movement is demanding that Dinant turn over the Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation to peasant ownership. Dinant has refused to sell any of the disputed land, leaving the two sides in a standoff.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation is going to be recovered,\u201d Santos Torres, a leader of the peasant movement in Panam\u00e1, said during a clip from a radio interview that Dinant shared with ICIJ reporters. \u201cIf we have to fill the streets with blood, we will recover it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Torres later told ICIJ that he was referring to the blood spilled by peasants willing to sacrifice their lives to reclaim their land. \u201cIf we have to die here, this is where we\u2019ll die,\u201d Torres says.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59482\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-1114-d3c0e05d571fde298306ac3978939df3-land-war-farmers.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59482\" class=\"wp-image-59482\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-1114-d3c0e05d571fde298306ac3978939df3-land-war-farmers-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Men carrying palm oil fruits on their bicycles outside the El Tumbador plantations in Honduras. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-1114-d3c0e05d571fde298306ac3978939df3-land-war-farmers-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-1114-d3c0e05d571fde298306ac3978939df3-land-war-farmers-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-1114-d3c0e05d571fde298306ac3978939df3-land-war-farmers.jpg 1366w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59482\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Men carrying palm oil fruits on their bicycles outside the El Tumbador plantations in Honduras. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/p><\/div>\n<p><strong>\u2018Get Money out the Door\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As the violence in Bajo Agu\u00e1n spiraled, Dinant continued to benefit from the IFC\u2019s investments.<\/p>\n<p>In February 2013, more than a year into the IFC\u2019s investment in Banco Ficohsa, the bank provided Dinant with a new $5 million loan. The money was a part of more than $39 million in loans to the Dinant conglomerate that Ficohsa would approve during the course of the IFC\u2019s investment in the bank.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Ficohsa\u2019s approach to social and environmental hazards was setting off alarms within the IFC. The same month Ficohsa sent the new loan to Dinant, the IFC found that Ficohsa had failed to follow the IFC\u2019s social and environmental safeguard policies, which are designed to protect people in the path of development.<\/p>\n<p>That didn\u2019t stop the IFC from continuing to work with the Honduran bank. In November 2013, the IFC\u2019s Global Trade Finance Program provided a guarantee to Ficohsa for two trade finance deals with Dinant.<\/p>\n<p>The following month, the IFC ombudsman released its report on the Dinant investment. The internal watchdog found that the IFC had failed at every step to properly investigate or supervise Dinant. The investment department, according to a bank staffer who spoke to the ombudsman, wanted to \u201cget money out of the door\u201d with little regard for social risks, and often overrode the concerns of the safeguards staff.<\/p>\n<p>In the Dinant case, the report said, the IFC\u2019s portfolio manager rejected the lead environmental specialist\u2019s calls for a tougher line with the company, and the specialist was then replaced.<\/p>\n<p>In June 2014, the IFC purchased a $5.5 million ownership stake in Ficohsa.<\/p>\n<p>The IFC has promised to reform its approach to assessing the social risks of projects and to the way it oversees investments in middlemen. It has created a new vice-presidency to handle risk management, and an action plan to improve its supervision of financial intermediary clients and begin screening some of the ultimate recipients of these loans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to address that structurally and also culturally,\u201d said Morgan Landy, director of the IFC\u2019s Environmental, Social and Governance Department, at a forum with community groups in October 2014.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u2018Humiliated in Our Homes\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>On July 3, 2014, peasants from the Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez Movement tried once again to take control of the Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation. They occupied the plantation for about a day before Col. Jovel\u2019s soldiers moved in and evicted them.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the Panam\u00e1 community say the soldiers opened fire on them during the evictions. David Ponce, a young farmer, shows the scars where a bullet ripped into his shoulder. Others say soldiers beat and tortured them.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_59483\" style=\"width: 710px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-scars-5e064f023b7a81dc202074158dc9dbb4-land-war-peasants-farmers.jpg\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-59483\" class=\"wp-image-59483\" src=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-scars-5e064f023b7a81dc202074158dc9dbb4-land-war-peasants-farmers.jpg\" alt=\"Photos supplied by the Panam\u00e1 community documenting injuries suffered by peasants when Honduran soldiers expelled them from an occupation of Dinant\u2019s Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation in July 2014. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists\" width=\"700\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-scars-5e064f023b7a81dc202074158dc9dbb4-land-war-peasants-farmers.jpg 790w, https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/honduras-scars-5e064f023b7a81dc202074158dc9dbb4-land-war-peasants-farmers-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-59483\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photos supplied by the Panam\u00e1 community documenting injuries suffered by peasants when Honduran soldiers expelled them from an occupation of Dinant\u2019s Paso Agu\u00e1n plantation in July 2014. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Glenda Ch\u00e1vez says she was present during the evictions as a human rights observer, using a camera to capture footage of soldiers firing on the peasants. She says soldiers detained her and refused let her go until she surrendered her camera.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey let go of my hands, and I took off my vest where I had my camera, my telephone and my money, and I dropped them,\u201d Glenda says. \u201cThen they grabbed them and I ran away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In November, during ICIJ\u2019s visit to Bajo Agu\u00e1n, Col. Jovel warned ICIJ reporters that the peasants in the Panam\u00e1 community would try to draw international attention by provoking violence during the reporters\u2019 visit.<\/p>\n<p>Jovel told ICIJ\u2019s reporters that he had sent soldiers to Paso Agu\u00e1n to pre-empt an attempted occupation, and that he could not guarantee their safety if they visited the Panam\u00e1 community.<\/p>\n<p>Later that day, ICIJ visited the village, avoiding the disputed lands on Paso Agu\u00e1n.<\/p>\n<p>Santos Torres, the peasant leader who had warned of the streets filling with blood, sat with a dozen others on lawn chairs outside Glenda\u2019s home. The men showed their scars and passed around photographs documenting the evictions in July. Torres scoffed at the idea that he and his comrades were planning to provoke a confrontation. The reality, he said, is that \u201cwe\u2019re humiliated inside our own homes without being able to go out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The grove where Gregorio Ch\u00e1vez disappeared is a short walk along a dirt road from where the peasants had gathered. Glenda has begun planting orange trees between the spiny oil palms planted by her father, which she now believes have only brought suffering to her community. She picks an orange and expertly peels it with her machete. It is ripe and sweet.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen a palm tree dies we plant another product,\u201d Glenda says. \u201cOne that benefits us, the peasants.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Shades Of Transparency<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The IFC provides less information than its sister organization \u2014 the World Bank \u2014 about the people who are physically or economically displaced by projects it finances. The IFC does not consistently track displacement in the same type of document, many documents are kept private, and others are incomplete. Both organizations fail to uniformly report key details about displacement projects in six areas identified by a ICIJ review of the IFC and World Bank\u2019s standards and documents.<\/p>\n<table class=\"transparency-compare\">\n<thead class=\"transparency-header\">\n<tr>\n<th class=\"descrip\">Indicator<\/th>\n<th class=\"wb\">World Bank<\/th>\n<th class=\"ifc\">IFC<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody class=\"transparency-compare\">\n<tr class=\"transparency-row\">\n<td class=\"descrip\">Provides functionality to <strong>search<\/strong> all displacement plans<\/td>\n<td class=\"wb\">yes<\/td>\n<td class=\"ifc\">\u00a0no<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"transparency-row\">\n<td class=\"descrip\">Estimates <strong>number of displaced<\/strong> people<\/td>\n<td class=\"wb\">\u00a0yes<\/td>\n<td class=\"ifc\">\u00a0yes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"transparency-row\">\n<td class=\"descrip\" style=\"text-align: left;\">Publishes displacement estimates in <strong>consistent units<\/strong><\/td>\n<td class=\"wb\">\u00a0no<\/td>\n<td class=\"ifc\">\u00a0no<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"transparency-row\">\n<td class=\"descrip\">Publishes <strong>regular updates<\/strong> to displacement documents<\/td>\n<td class=\"wb\">\u00a0yes<\/td>\n<td class=\"ifc\">\u00a0no<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"transparency-row\">\n<td class=\"descrip\">Systematically reports <strong>severity of displacement<\/strong><\/td>\n<td class=\"wb\">\u00a0no<\/td>\n<td class=\"ifc\">\u00a0no<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"transparency-row\">\n<td class=\"descrip\">Provides <strong>access<\/strong> to displacement statistics<\/td>\n<td class=\"wb\">\u00a0no<\/td>\n<td class=\"ifc\">\u00a0no<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>What is the World Bank?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The World Bank Group is the globe\u2019s most prestigious development lender, bankrolling hundreds of government projects each year in pursuit of its high-minded mission: to combat the scourge of poverty by backing new transit systems, power plants, dams and other projects it believes will help boost the fortunes of poor people.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/projects.huffingtonpost.com\/worldbank-evicted-abandoned\/what-is-worldbank\" >Click here to read more about the world bank<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>_____________________________________<\/p>\n<p><em>With reporting from C\u00e9cile Schilis-Gallego and Shane Shifflett.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/projects.huffingtonpost.com\/worldbank-evicted-abandoned\/honduras-international-finance-corp-backed-palm-oil-producer?goal=0_ffd1d0160d-63b91bbbe1-100282365&amp;mc_cid=63b91bbbe1&amp;mc_eid=83dae00c90\" >Go to Original \u2013 huffingtonpost.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>World Bank\u2019s Business-Lending Arm Backed Palm Oil Producer amid Deadly Land War<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latin-america-and-the-caribbean"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}