'For export’ sugarcane industry in Honduras:
Corruption and repression “business as usual”

Rights Action is providing COVID response funds to our partner groups in Honduras and Guatemala, that are taking the lead on trying to save lives in their own communities – given the corrupt, exploitative nature of their military-backed, ‘open for global business’ regimes that have no fundamental concern for the well-being of their majority populations.

Since March 15, 2020, Rights Action has been sending small grants (your donations) to community groups we have supported for years, courageous Indigenous and non-Indigenous people involved in land, human rights and environmental defense struggles related to mining and hydro-electric dams, tourism, and the ‘for export’ production of sugar cane and African palm.

OFRANEH is weaving networks of community self-protection. To date, 14 Garifuna communities have organized COVID-19 Attention Centers, providing information and preparing communities for what is coming. Community organizing is the only safeguard we have.

Rights Action understands that some communities in the U.S. and Canada are suffering increased economic hardship and vulnerability due to COVID-19, and to the sanitary and isolation control measures. We support all efforts in the public and private sectors (with particular emphasis on exploited, marginalized communities) to implement rational preventative measures related to social isolation and the provision of emergency health and financial support.

March 13, 2020, marks the 38th anniversary of the March 13, 1982, massacre of 177 Maya Achi children and women, at a spot known as ‘Pak-o-shom’, high in the mountains above Rio Negro, a village that had been nestled along the Chixoy river (also known as Rio Negro) for over 1000 years, before the violent, illegal construction the Chixoy hydro-electric dam (1975-1985).

El 2 marzo 2020, marca el 4 aniversario del asesinato de Berta Caceres y el atentado contra Gustavo Castro.