As many Blacks in the U.S. face systemic
violence and challenging policies threatening their livelihood, Blacks in
Honduras, Central America also face distressing threats to their
survival. Last year 2019 Honduran Blacks also known as “Garifuna or Garinagu
(plural),” faced unprecedented deaths from criminal acts. Though many of their murders were associated
with the cycle of violence in Honduras, some deaths were associated with
Garifuna activist organizing and resisting seizure of their lands by outsiders.
The largest Black population in Honduras are
known as the Garinagu, a mixed Black and Amerindian group which established
coastal towns along the Circum-Caribbean coast in Central America the late
1700s, there population concentration area. Although Garinagu largest
population is in Honduras they are also in Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, and
hold population segment in the U.S. specifically in New York with their highest
concentration in the Bronx. Due to their
many contributions, including as soldiers in Honduras this Black population was
recognized by their government in the 1821 Constitution. Since the early
1900s till the present the Honduran businessmen, and government have
collaborated with foreign businesses utilizing the Caribbean coastal areas,
Garinagu region, to reap their economic development goals. At first 1900s development initiatives were
large scale banana plantation and railroad by U.S. based agro-industries, and
1970s cattle-ranching projects. This was followed by increase tourism
development initiatives the 1990s. At the turn of the century mineral
extraction, hydroelectric plant projects and African palm growth and
large-scale tourism continue challenging Garinagu subsistence.
In the northeast Garifuna community of “Masca,”
25 miles from San Pedro Sula, several Garifuna community leaders lives have
been threatened and some murdered. On September 8, 2019 an unidentified
assailant arrived at the restaurant of Mirna Suazo Martinez shot and killed her
driving away on his motorcycle. Mirna
was president of the community board in the region. The community board
historically rejected the construction of a hydroelectric power plants in the
Masca river. Mr. Oscar Francisco
Guerrero, was also shot to death the following month on October 18, 2019. He was assigned as part of Mirna security
team due to death threats she constantly received. On December 28, 2019
Karla Ignacia Piota Martinez, Mirna’s sister was also shot receiving seven
gunshot wounds and two weeks later dying.
Ignacia was seventy years of age and president of the Masca community
board of trustees. These occurrences
continued from the past as, four years ago October 14, 2017 Garifuna community
leader/businessman Silvinio Zapata Martinez was killed, shot 5 times by unknown
individuals while closing his restaurant business also in Masca. Zapata
contributed in leading the community successfully resisting the building of the
hydroelectric dam in the Masca river, which was to be supported by the United
Nations Carbon Fund. Community protests
and involvement of the Black Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH) resulted in
pausing development efforts, nonetheless threats and assassinations
continue.
In another Garifuna residential coastal area,
earlier last year January 24, 2019 Garifuna leader Celso Guillen was detained
by authorities although he was freed from charges by a Canadian landowner in
his community. Mr. Guillen an activist from the Garifuna community
“Guadalupe,” in the municipality of Trujillo, 140 miles from San Pedro Sula,
was arrested and mistreated by police on October 2017. A lawsuit and order of capture was filed by a
Canadian businessman against Guillen for trespassing land he purchased
originally belonging to the activist. Canadian businessman Randy Jorgensen
obtained about 1,500 acre of Garifuna land constructing tourism and real estate
project in this Trujillo bay region of the Garinagu territory. OFRANEH was successful in contacting the
United Nations as well as the Honduran government Special Prosecutor of Ethnic
group absolving and freeing Guillen of his arrest, nonetheless he continues
facing threats.
At a September 2019 meeting at “Casa Yurumein,”
a Garifuna meeting place in the Bronx, Omar Suazo alongside other leaders
explained challenges faced in their individual communities. Suazo was
imprisoned since May 2017 on false charges and eventually freed in 2018. Mr. Suazo was the president of the village
township association of Sambo Creek in La Ceiba, 85 miles from San Pedro Sula,
and successfully for years resisted the building of a dam in the Sambo Creek
river in which the Japanese International Cooperative Agency is involved.
At a public gathering in his hometown Suazo was attacked and sought to defend
himself as he was thrown to the ground by several men and was knifed by one of
them in his back injuring him. Gun shots
came from the outside injuring one individual and killing one of the Ladino
individuals. The result was Suazo arrest and charges with murder and jailed
with his injuries. Suazo explained being accustomed to death threats and
that he was set up because of his community activism. He shared his thankfulness to all who rallied
behind him resulting in his released imprisonment. Nonetheless, challenges
continue as Honduran officials have re-opened the case again charging him with
murder.
On August 2019 the Bronx based, Garifuna
Coalition organization submitted a letter to the Honduran Minister of Human
Rights expressing its solidarity with The Black Fraternal Organization OFRANEH
demanding the government to comply with the Inter-American Court of Human
Rights, December 18, 2015 verdict. OFRANEH filed the grievances 2006,
focusing on two Garifuna communities, due to exhausting their possibilities of
justice through the Honduran court system and the Special Prosecutor for ethnic
groups. Part of the verdict resolution
declared that the Honduran government was to provide demarcation of land
originally granted with collective ownership to the community of “Punta
Piedra,” also to assign the demarcation of the land to the community of
“Triunfo de la Cruz,” and ensure that the Garinagu have free access to their
entire land undermined by mining regulations. In addition, the resolution
called for the government to investigate the past murders of Garifuna activists
Óscar Brega, Jorge Castillo Jiménez, Julio Alberto Morales, and Jesus
Alvarez. The response deadline December
2017 passed, nonetheless the Garifuna community continues waiting for response
to this and many others grievances filed regarding territorial challenge in
their other coastal communities.
An estimate of 47 Garifuna communities exist
along the Honduran coast, and those mentioned here are just a few facing land
challenges, violence and repression. Meanwhile, with territorial and
other difficulties, many Garifuna continue migrating to North America (some as
part of the Central American migrant caravan) seeking safety from the cycle of
violence, and better economic opportunities for their subsistence.
By Geraldo Martinez
Dorchester
resident fighting to protect Garifuna community, by Yawu Miller
A
Letter to Honduras’s Minister of Human Rights by José Francisco Ávila López- Garifuna Coalition USA, Inc. info@garifunacoalition August 27, 2019
El
Exterminio del Nuevo Amanecer by Juan Almendarez January 10, 2020
La
Ofraneh denuncia que la expansión de la frontera de agrocombustibles y el
impulso de ciudades modelo, compromete la sobrevivencia de los pueblos
ancestrales.
HONDURAS, HUMAN RIGHTS,
INDIGENOUS RIGHTS, OFRANEH, Racism in Honduras: New Attack on Garifuna Leader
in Masca, Posted by INTERNATIONALIST 360° on JANUARY 3, 2020
https://libya360.wordpress.com/2020/01/03/racism-in-honduras-new-attack-on-garifuna-leader-in-masca/
HRD Memorial CELEBRATING THOSE WHO WERE KILLED DEFENDING HUMAN
RIGHTS
Silvinio Zapata Martinez
#WHRDAlert HONDURAS / Assailants kill Mirna Teresa Suazo,
community leader and Garifuna territorial defender https://im-defensoras.org/2019/09/whrdalert-honduras-assailants-kill-mirna-teresa-suazo-community-leader-and-garifuna-territorial-defender/
IACHR condemns the prevalence of murders and other forms of
violence against Garifuna women in Honduras REPORTfrom Inter-American
Commission on Human RightsPublished on 24 Sep 2019
Honduras: Policía detiene ilegalmente a Miriam Miranda defensora
de la tierra y territorio, tras horas ella y su compañera fueron liberadas
Autor(a): Criterio (Honduras), Publicado en: 22 April 2019
January 24, 2019 Celso Guillen https://twitter.com/ofraneh/status/1088419619591913474
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