Afro-Descendant & Indigenous: News & Updates

In the months leading up to the Guatemalan presidential election on June 25, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) has denied left-wing Indigenous leader Thelma Cabrera the ability to run as a candidate.  As a pretext, the  TSE says that Cabrera's vice-presidential candidate, Jordan Rodas, would not meet all legal requirements. This is most likely based on complaints against him for his prior work as the national Ombudsman for Human Rights (Procurador de los Derechos Humanos).  On February 3, the TSE blocked Cabrera from registering as a candidate.  After Cabrera appealed, judges validated the rejection of her candidacy on February 16. As a last chance to be registered for candidacy in the election, Cabrera now has to apply in front of the Guatemalan Constitutional Court. 

In protest of the court's ruling, farmers blocked twelve national highways and the Movement for the Liberation of the Peoples (MLP) and supporters took to the streets. Indigenous environmental activist Bernardo Caal Xol stressed that "Preventing the registration of Thelma Cabrera as a presidential candidate is an act of racism." In fact, it is believed that corrupt groups and the far-right have mobilized to prevent Cabrera from running in the elections.

Thelma Cabrera, who already took part in the 2019 presidential elections and won 10% of the votes, has since risen in popularity and is believed to be an actual threat to the right-wing candidates. Thelma Cabrera, the former attorney general, and Jordan Rodas, the former ombudsman for human rights, were fired from their posts by the right-wing administration in Guatemala. Both are now living in exile.  

It is apparent that the Guatemalan ruling body fears a loss of power and an Indigenous, leftist government. The recent protests have shown that especially the Indigenous population is fed up with the rule of a class carrying the legacy of colonialism.        

After an attack on an Indigenous community in a territory belonging to the Miskito, Mayangna and other indigenous groups, Nicaraguan police have arrested 24 invading settlers. The 22 men and two women allegedly were armed with machetes, sticks and stones during the assault but were overwhelmed and detained by community members. The residents handed the offenders over to the police who took the group to jail. Officials stated that the attackers will be charged with organized crime, land seizure and environmental crimes, but activists and residents doubt that the investigations will be followed through. 

This was the first large arrest and announcement of detention since the beginning of the invasion of non-Indigenous settlers years ago. So far the authorities are known for their slow investigations or ignorance towards these crimes. 

Since the beginning of the logging invasion into the Mayangna's and Miskito's land in 2015, at least 28 community members and leaders have been killed and 3,000 displaced. So far big mining and logging companies have invaded 60% of the Indigenous territory, bringing in at least 5,000 settlers many of whom are former soldiers. 

Indigenous communities denounced the government for a lack of protection. Authorities deny these accusations.

To efficiently protect Indigenous land and communities, it is not enough to call the government for help. The perpetrator in this injustice is an industry of mass production which puts profit over the environment and the communities suffering from their land exploitation. We need to support Indigenous communities in their struggle for peace and defense against these offenders.

On behalf of IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) members, we wrote six letters this month to heads of state and other high-level officials in Colombia, El Salvador, and Honduras, urging their swift action in response to human rights abuses occurring in their countries.  We join with civil society groups in Latin America to: (1) protect people living under threat, (2) demand investigations into human rights crimes, (3) bring human rights criminals to justice.

IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) volunteers write six letters in response to urgent human rights cases each month. We send copies of these letters to US ambassadors, embassy human rights officers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, regional representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and desk officers at the US State Department. To read the letters, see https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/rrn , or ask us to mail you hard copies.

Honduras: Following a congressional delegation trip to Honduras in 2021, representatives Cori Bush (MO-01), Ilhan Omar (MN-05),  Jesus “Chuy” García (IL-04), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), and Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (NY-16) introduced a resolution in support 0f the Afro-Indigenous Garífuna people. The Garífuna communities have been been facing violence by the Honduran government and complicit multilateral institutions. These violations against the Garífuna communities were out called by The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and Inter-American Commission on Human Rights earlier without any severe consequences. The resolution condemns violence against the communities going on for years without any accountability towards the perpetrators, as proven by an incident in July 2020 when four Garífuna men were abducted at gunpoint by men in Honduran security force uniforms. Instead of initiating an investigation into  those responsible, the Honduran attorney general has called for criminal proceedings against leaders of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH).

The new resolution specifically:

• Condemns violence against the Garífuna people and the illegal separation from their legitimate land rights, and calls for the implementation of a 2015 Inter-American Court ruling restoring those land rights;
• Calls for the full participation of an independent commission created by Garífuna communities in the investigation of the four Garífuna men abducted in July 2020;
• Calls for a Special Prosecutor for Enforced Disappearances in Honduras;
• Calls for a review of past projects by multilateral development banks that may have contributed to violating the rights of the Garífuna people, and compliance with human rights law before the approval of projects that affect Garífuna communities; and
• Calls on the U.S. government to engage with the Honduran government and international allies and organizations to promote the rights of Garífuna communities and to advocate for reparations for affected communities.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

The resolution is endorsed by: Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective (WfP-SC), Institute for Policy Studies - Global Economy Program , School of the Americas Watch (SOAW), Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA), and Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN).

More on the motivations of the congresspeople and NGOs can be found in their statements in the full article, which also includes a link to the full resolution.