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Afro-Descendant & Indigenous: News & Updates

Event
Guatemala Solidarity - annual meeting of SEPA
July 23, 2020
For the past 23 years, the Santa Elena Project of Accompaniment has remained steadfast in its mission to support education in the returned refugee communities of Santa Elena 20 de Octubre and Copal AA La Esperanza in northern Guatemala, in addition to providing support for accompaniers working to protect human rights defenders through NISGUA (Network in Solidarity with Guatemala). SEPA's mission is to support human rights workers in Guatemala as well as assist with educational scholarships, teacher salaries and needs as requested in the villages of Santa Elena and Copal AA.
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News Article
Fears growing for five indigenous Garifuna men abducted in Honduras
July 23, 2020

Fears are growing for the safety of five black indigenous men in Honduras who were abducted from their homes on July 18 by heavily armed gunmen in police uniforms. The victims are Garifuna fishermen from the town Triunfo de la Cruz on the north coast. “We are under constant threat by those who want our land and natural resources,” said Jenny Ramona Herrera Álvarez, a community spokeswoman in Triunfo de la Cruz. “What happened on Saturday shows that powerful people who have illegally taken control of our territory are emboldened by the state’s contempt for the international court ruling. Justice means prosecuting those who ordered this crime,” said Miram Miranda, coordinator of OFRANEH (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras). “The Honduran state created the context for conflicts by violating the community’s territorial rights over years..., and is directly responsible for these aggressions against the Garifuna community, ” said Joseph Berra, director of the human rights in Americas project at UCLA school of law.

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Content Page
A Frank Discussion w/ FOR's Leadership Team
July 22, 2020
Rev. Dr. Emma Jordan-Simpson (Executive Director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation), Chrissy Stonebraker-Martinez (FOR Co-Chair) and Aaron Goggans (FOR Co-Chair) have a frank conversation about White Supremacy, How We Get Free and what it might mean to contemplate the death of U.S Empire.
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Honduras, 7/20/2020
July 20, 2020
We sent letters to officials in Honduras regarding the kidnapping on July 18 of four Garífuna leaders from the community of Triunfo de la Cruz, Atlántida Department. One of the four is Albert Sneider Centeno, president of the Community Board of Triunfo de la Cruz. They were kidnapped from their homes in the early morning by heavily armed men who were wearing bullet-proof vests and uniforms of the Policía Militar (Military Police) and the Dirección de Investigación Policial (DPI, Police Investigations Directorate). Others victims of the kidnapping include Milthon Joel Martínez Suany and Aparicio Mejía. We demand an immediate search to find the Garífuna leaders alive. We demand a thorough investigation process that will lead to the capture and prosecution of the kidnappers. We further demand that the State of Honduras cease all acts of violence and harassment against the Garífuna communities.
PDF icon 2020_07_20_pasosdeanimalgrande_honduras_letter.pdf
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News Article
One Step Forward! 94 Congresspersons Push for Peace in Colombia
July 7, 2020

McGovern (D-MA) and Pocan (D-WI) 94 members of congress through a dear colleague letter urging Trump administration to push for peace in Colombia!

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RRN Case Update
RRN Case Update: Spring 2020 - urgent human rights cases
July 1, 2020
April, May and June RRN case summaries at a glance
On behalf of our 190 Rapid Response Network members, IRTF volunteers write and send six letters each month to government officials in southern Mexico, Colombia, and Central America (with copies to officials in the US). Who is being targeted? indigenous and Afro-descendant leaders, labor organizers, LGBTI rights defenders, women’s rights defenders, journalists, environmental defenders, campesinos, and others.
PDF icon 2020_03_rrn_letters_summary_apr_may_jun.pdf
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Honduras 7/1/2020
July 1, 2020
We are deeply concerned about recent attacks against the Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). COPINH has a community center (called Utopia Center) in La Esperanza, Intibucá Department, which serves as a meeting place for sharing information, developing strategies, and conducting human rights trainings. COPINH recently offered the Utopia Center to be used as an isolation center for people in prison infected with COVID-19. They have been receiving threats as a result.
PDF icon 2020_07_01_ua109_20_honduras_letter.pdf
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Event
Mass Poor People's Assembly -digital conference
June 20, 2020
There are 140 million poor and low-wealth people in the richest country in the world. We're bringing together thousands from across the US to challenge the interlocking injustices of systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, the war economy and the distorted moral narrative of religious nationalism! The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival bus from Cleveland: bmallory@organizeohio.org https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/june2020/
PDF icon poor_peoples_assembly_and_moral_march_-_main_flyer.pdf
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Honduras, 5/23/2020
May 23, 2020
The body of Edwin Noel Flores Sacaza, a young Garífuna man, was discovered on the afternoon of May 1 inside a container on the property of the Ensenada thermoelectric plant, where he worked as a security guard. Residents of Sambo Creek are awaiting autopsy reports that might reveal the cause of death and clarify how Edwin ended up inside the container, where he may have suffocated to death. There are many doubts among the members of the community about what happened, how the investigations will be carried out, and how justice will be administered. Concerns are intensified because of the increase of killings of Garífuna people over the past year, especially of women Garífuna leaders of territorial defense. The thermoelectric plant itself is also cause for concern. Garífuna communities in the region face health risks from being exposed to plant emissions from Bunker C (Fuel #6), banned in several countries because it is considered highly toxic.
PDF icon 2020_05_23_ofraneh_honduras_letter.pdf
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RRN Letter
RRN Letter: Colombia, 5/1/2020
May 1, 2020
We are deeply concerned about attacks on rural community leaders in Cauca Department. This is part of a wave of violence that continues to impact many regions of Colombia. Since January 1 more than 60 social leaders have been assassinated across the country. In a period of just one week, these four social leaders were assassinated in Cauca: Teodomiro Sotelo Anacona, Andrés Andrelio Cacimanca Burbano, Mario Chilhueso, and Hugo de Jesús Giraldo López. We urge the president and attorney general of Colombia to: 1- carry out transparent and thorough investigations into the assassinations listed above, publish the results, and bring the perpetrators to justice; 2- provide protection measures to members of the organizations listed above, in strict accordance with the wishes of their local leaders; 3- demilitarize the rural areas of Cauca because of the military’s complicity in the armed violence, forced displacement, and targeting of rural social leaders.
PDF icon 2020_05_01_justiceforcolombia_colombia_letter.pdf
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