25 Garifuna Land and Rights Defenders Assassinated in Last 3 Years
Radio Progreso news update, 02/14/2023
https://radioprogresohn.net/instante/unos-25-lideres-garifunas-han-sido-asesinados-en-los-ultimos-3-anos/
The organization Fraternal Negra de Honduras -OFRANEH- denounced that in the last 3 years at least 25 leaders who were at the forefront of the defense of the ancestral territory have been murdered by criminal groups that intervene in their communities for the installation of extractive or tourism projects, or for drug trafficking.
In the first month of 2023 alone, four Garifunas have been murdered.
On January 15, on the beaches of Travesía, Puerto Cortés, Cristy Espinoza, Janaira and Ana Castillo were triple-murdered - violence that is part of the systemaic dispossession being suffered by the Garífuna communities.
On January 28, Ricardo Arnaúl Montero, an active member of the Triunfo de la Cruz Land Defense Committee and OFRANEH, was murdered.
In an interview with Radio Progreso, Rony Castillo, a leader with OFRANEH, said that in addition to the murders that go unpunished, there is a systematic wave of death threats that are forcing the Garífuna to abandon their territory, as in the case of Masca, in Omoa, Cortés.
Not a “Honduran” problem
The systemic killing and dispossession of the Garifuna people along Honduras’ north shore are NOT a “Honduran problem”, and therefore cannot be solved simplistically by looking inside Honduran borders.
On-going campaign – truth and justice for four Garifuna land defenders kidnapped and disappeared in July 2018 from the Triunfo de la Cruz community
This violence and dispossession are committed on behalf of global extractive and tourism industry operators, and global drug-trafficking cartels working to provide cocaine and other illegal drugs in to huge markets mainly in the U.S.
Garifuna survivors of the Cayos Cochinos
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/garifuna-survivors-of-the-cayos-cochinos
Rights Action recommends this story about racism, repression and land-theft against the indigenous Garifuna people of Honduras, about tourism economic imperialism (including the Supervivientes Spain “reality” TV show).
Relentless killings in Bajo Aguan, Honduras, related to African palm production and global food supply chains. Hipólito Rivas & 15-year old son murdered
Rights Action, February 14, 2023
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/relentless-killings-in-bajo-aguan-honduras
Help stop ethnocide and forced displacement of Garifuna people in Honduras
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/help-stop-ethnocide-and-forced-displacement-of-garifuna-people-in-honduras
Support this work led by the Witness for Peace solidarity collective, pushing for a Congressional Resolution in solidarity with rights of Garifuna people in Honduras
This violence and dispossession are committed on behalf of global extractive and tourism industry operators, and global drug-trafficking cartels working to provide cocaine and other illegal drugs in to huge markets mainly in the U.S.
Garifuna survivors of the Cayos Cochinos
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/garifuna-survivors-of-the-cayos-cochinos
Rights Action recommends this story about racism, repression and land-theft against the indigenous Garifuna people of Honduras, about tourism economic imperialism (including the Supervivientes Spain “reality” TV show).
Relentless killings in Bajo Aguan, Honduras, related to African palm production and global food supply chains. Hipólito Rivas & 15-year old son murdered
Rights Action, February 14, 2023
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/relentless-killings-in-bajo-aguan-honduras
Help stop ethnocide and forced displacement of Garifuna people in Honduras
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/help-stop-ethnocide-and-forced-displacement-of-garifuna-people-in-honduras
Support this work led by the Witness for Peace solidarity collective, pushing for a Congressional Resolution in solidarity with rights of Garifuna people in Honduras.
OFRANEH
@ofraneh / garifuna@ofraneh.org / www.ofraneh.org / http://www.ofraneh.wordpress.com
Archives – OFRANEH: https://rightsaction.org/ofraneh-archives
Since 1998, Rights Action has supported OFRANEH that is - along with COPINH - a leading community defense organization struggling in defense of land, the environment, indigenous rights and a fair and just “development” model. Like COPINH, OFRANEH is leading the struggle against the military-backed, ‘open-for-global-business’, undemocratic and corrupt Honduran regime.
