Honduras

Kidnapping of Indigenous Leaders: Black Garífuna Lives Matter!

Protest in Triunfo de la Cruz against kidnapping of Garífuna activists, July 26, 2020.

The Garífunas are a community of black Indigenous people who have lived on the north coast of Honduras since 1797, when they fled the island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines after the defeat of their insurrection against the British Empire. Although recognized by the Honduran government in the late 19th century, the territory claimed by the Garífuna has been the object of intense disputes since the early 20th century.

In the beginning, it was the transnational banana companies that put strong pressure on the Garífuna territory. At that time, the Honduran state was one of the main agents of the transnationals, violating the ancestral right of the Garífuna people over their territory and granting authorization for the cultivation of thousands of hectares of banana plantations. Today, once again with the complicity of the Honduran government, it is the cultivation of the palm tree -- an African palm widely used by the cosmetic industry -- that exerts strong pressure on this territory. It is estimated that 80 per cent of the Garífuna territory is occupied by the cultivation of the African palm, while at the same time, the Honduran government has stimulated occupation of the Caribbean coast by the high standard tourism industry with the construction of resorts on Garífuna lands.

At the end of the 70s, more precisely in 1978, with the creation of OFRANEH (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras), the fight began to preserve what was left of the territory occupied by the Garífuna for more than 200 years. There are 48 Garífuna communities spread along the Caribbean coast of Honduras, with an economy based on family farming.

It is important to remember that in 2009 Manuel Zelaya, the democratically elected president, was overthrown in a coup d'état orchestrated by the military and financed by the large companies operating in the country. One of the most important aspects of the Zelaya government's policy was precisely to check the interests of foreign agribusiness in Honduras and the latifundios (large estates). So now, once again, the Honduran state is serving the powerful against the interests of the communities.

In this context, four Garífuna social activists were kidnapped (Alberto Sneider Centeno, Milton Joel Martínez Álvarez, Suami Aparicio Mejía and Alber Sentana Thomas), from the community of Triunfo de la Cruz, in the municipality of Pantalla. The kidnapped activists are linked to the fight for land, the preservation of the environment and respect for human rights. Alberto Centeno led the efforts to make the Honduran state comply with the decision issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2015 and with Convention No. 169 of the International Labour Organization which deals with consulting Indigenous peoples over the occupation of their territories. The kidnapping was carried out on July 18 by a heavily armed group wearing the uniforms of the Honduran security forces.

It is important to bear in mind that the Honduran people are mobilizing themselves to ensure that the four are returned alive and well.

We demand:

- that the Honduran government rescue the four kidnapped activists and that they be returned alive to the Garífuna people;

- the immediate compliance with ILO Convention No. 169;

(With files from Resumen Latinoamericano, August 3, 2020. Translated from original Spanish by TML. Photos: Ofrenah)

This article was published in

Volume 50 Number 29 - August 8, 2020

Article Link:
Honduras: Kidnapping of Indigenous Leaders: Black Garífuna Lives Matter!

    

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