Tegucigalpa, August 29 (teleSUR-RHC)-- A Honduran human rights group reported Thursday that it received complaints of four children from a rural area, who were arrested and tortured by police officials, for attempting to acquire a piece of land in order to grow food for their families.

The teenagers were detained on July 17 this year, in the town of Marcala, department of La Paz, some 62 miles from Tegucigalpa.

According to the version, the teens told the “On Line Defenders” of human rights, and anonymously quoted in the report, officials from the National Police disproportionately used tear gas during their unjustified arrest, leaving them on the ground of a courtyard for half an hour, under the sun, then imprisoned them for almost two days without letting them eat or drink water.     

The oldest child, 17, explained that without any employment opportunity, he eventually decided to join a “group of land recovery [operation]” with other people that needed lands to grow food.

Another child, 14, who was arrested on his first day of school, said that when they were lying on the ground, facing the sun, a police officer examined them and stole his money.

The youngest, 13 years old, arrested when he was bringing food for his uncle and aunt, added that the police officers started to stop everyone going out in the streets, sprayed tear gas at them and stole their phones and a camera, and even beat a 70-year-old lady who was also taken to the police station.

The last boy, 14, declared that the day before their arrest, the alleged owner of the land told them to leave the lot, claiming he had bought it in 2011 and would bring the National Agrarian Institute. Instead he arrived with police officials, who denied the children the right to see the evict order, saying “you are not farmers but part of a mara [a Central American gang].”

Human rights abuses from the part of the security forces have become a widespread reality in Honduras, repeatedly denounced by human rights groups, especially since the 2009 coup against President Manuel Zelaya. A group of U.S. congressmen recently demanded Obama's administration the suspension of the country's financial and technical aid in security.       

Corruption has reportedly infiltrated the police at a very alarming level, as they often use their authority to repress opposition leaders and land activists, in a country where poverty, especially in rural areas, reaches one of the highest rates on the continent.

Moreover, a historical drought has been hitting Central American farmers hard, dangerously threatening the area with famine. Children are among the first victims of poverty, as thousands have desperately tried to flee northward, causing a serious humanitarian crisis of undocumented and unaccompanied children subject to mistreatments in Mexico or in the United States.