In conjunction with the Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN), IRTF has been running a campaign to put the US on trial for its complicity in what Hondurans call the “narco-dictatorship” (2009-2021).
Now we’re adding another piece. On May 23, we attended a webinar/press conference hosted by OFRANEH (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras). Starting in 2003, OFRANEH has filed several cases with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (based in Washington, DC) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (based in San Jose, Costa Rica) for their government’s violation of its cultural and territorial rights. When OFRANEH got their first favorable ruling in 2015, they weren’t exactly hopeful that the administration of the narco-dictator President Juan Orlando Hernández would do anything. But after President Castro, of the left-leaning LIBRE party, took office in January 2022, they did expect advancement of their cause.
After waiting two years with no action by President Castro, they said enough already. So in April 2024 OFRANEH organized a mass mobilization march to Tegucigalpa, demanding action from the government. In May, they called allies together (in a zoom call) to re-ignite their campaign to push the government of Honduras to form a commission to implement rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights that found the government guilty of complicity in land grabs of ethnic Garífuna ancestral lands along the Atlantic coast. OFRANEH now is working with the government of President Xiomara Castro to assemble the commission which will be made up of several government agencies.
A big stumbling block is that the communities that won their cases in the Inter-American Court (2015: Triunfo de la Cruz and Punta Piedra; 2023: San Juan) are fighting private corporations and foreign investors who have a lot at stake. Some have already illegally usurped lands and built tourist resorts. It will be tricky to figure out how to return ancestral lands to the Garífuna people and compensate the companies and investors for their losses. Also at stake is the very security of Garífuna communities. Since Garífuna leaders have become more vocal after the 2015 ruling, the persecution against them has increased—surveillance, intimidation, violence, criminalization.
During the month of June, IRTF is helping with a campaign led by Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective (which has a team in Honduras) and HSN to get co-sponsors for a resolution in the US Congress (introduced on June 5 by Rep. Cori Bush of St Louis, MO) that supports OFRANEH and cultural and territorial rights for the Garífuna people. Leaders from Honduras are visiting Washington, DC, to meet with potential supporters on Capitol Hill. They will also visit the Bronx, New York, which is home to the largest Garífuna community in the U.S.
IRTF welcomes any volunteers who can help to research foreign policy aides for all 435 US House members, with a more targeted list of congresspersons who have shown support in the past for bills or resolutions in support of human rights in Honduras.
Here is a joint public statement in support of Garífuna cultural and territorial rights that we issued on June 5, 2024:
Public Statement : International Organizations Stand in Solidarity with the Garifuna people of Honduras
For more than a decade, the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) has denounced that there is a genocidal plan against Garifuna communities in Honduras. This plan has become critical in recent months, as Garifuna leaders have been directly attacked, harassed, and threatened by third-party settlers, including owners of extractivist and palm-oil projects, tourism investors, and drug-traffickers.
On March 9, 2024, the owner of the tourist complex “Rosa Negra” publicly harassed and threatened Garifuna leaders with racist, demeaning comments. Two months later, third-party settlers aligned with “Rosa Negra” barred the entrance of the Garifuna community of Triunfo de la Cruz and launched a media campaign aimed at generating divisions among the community.
On May 28, 2024, these third-party settlers, with support from the Tela mayor, Ricardo Calix, held a general assembly to elect a parallel community board, or patronato and, through this board, block all efforts by the State of Honduras to comply with the 2015 Inter-American Court sentences which order the State to give back the land stolen from Garifuna communities. Similar tactics have been taken against other Garifuna communities, such as Travesia, where the municipal government is actively destroying the social fabric of the Garifuna community by also electing and imposing a parallel patronato. These acts of systematic violence seek to eradicate the Garifuna way of life and being.
While the State of Honduras is responsible for violating the land rights of the Garifuna people, the United States government, international finance institutions, and multilateral development banks are directly complicit in this violence. As organizations and individuals who stand in solidarity with the Garifuna people, we join OFRANEH in their demands by:
- Publicly denouncing the violence enacted by global tourist companies, the U.S.-bound narcotics industry, and foreign-funded palm oil companies against Garífuna defenders and communities.
- Calling on U.S. Congressional Representatives to support the OFRANEH Resolution (H.Res. ####), which was reintroduced on June 5, 2024 by Rep. Cori Bush along with Reps. Ilhan Omar, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Jamaal Bowman, and Jan Schakowsky, which condemns the violence against the Garifuna people, mandates the return of their land, and calls on the US to take responsibility for stopping the financing of projects it is backing.
- Calling on the State of Honduras to comply with the Inter-American Human Rights Court rulings, which orders the restitution of Garifuna land and guarantees of non-repetition.
- Calling on the Honduran government to protect the lives and integrity of the Garífuna people.
Signatory Organizations
– InterReligious Task Force on Central America (IRTF, Cleveland OH)
- Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective (WfP-SC)
– Honduras Solidarity Network of North American (HSN)
– Institute of Policy Studies – Global Economy Program
– Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
– Root Causes Initiative
– Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Washington DC Justice Team
– Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)
– Denver Justice and Peace Committee (DJPC)
– Cross Border Network For Justice and Solidarity
– Rights Action U.S. and Canada
– Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras
– Latin American Working Group (LAWG)
Pronunciamiento Publico : Organizaciones Internacionales se solidarizan con el pueblo Garífuna de Honduras
Desde hace más de una década, la Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH) ha denunciado que se está ejecutando un plan genocida contra comunidades Garífunas en Honduras. Este plan se ha vuelto crítico en los últimos meses, ya que los líderes y lideresas Garífunas han sido atacados, acosados y amenazados directamente por terceros, incluidos propietarios de proyectos extractivistas y de aceite de palma, inversores turísticos y narcotraficantes.
El 9 de marzo de 2024, el propietario del complejo turístico “Rosa Negra” acosó y amenazó públicamente a líderes y lideresas Garífunas con comentarios racistas y degradantes. Dos meses después, terceros alineados a “Rosa Negra” prohibieron la entrada a la comunidad Garífuna de Triunfo de la Cruz y lanzaron una campaña mediática destinada a generar divisiones entre la comunidad.
El 28 de mayo de 2024, estos terceros, con el apoyo del alcalde de Tela, Ricardo Calix, convocaron una asamblea general para elegir un patronato paralelo, y, a través de este mismo, bloquear todos los esfuerzos del Estado de Honduras para cumplir con las sentencias de la Corte Interamericana de 2015 que ordena al Estado restituir el territorio ancestral a las comunidades Garífunas. Se han adoptado tácticas similares contra otras comunidades Garífunas, como Travesía, donde el gobierno municipal está destruyendo activamente el tejido social de la comunidad al elegir e imponer también un patronato paralelo. Estos actos de violencia sistemática no solo buscan terminar con su forma de vida, sino erradicar al pueblo Garífuna.
Si bien el Estado de Honduras es responsable de violar los derechos territoriales del pueblo Garífuna, el gobierno de los Estados Unidos, las instituciones financieras internacionales y los bancos multilaterales de desarrollo son directamente cómplices de esta violencia. Como organizaciones e individuos solidarios con el pueblo Garífuna, nos sumamos a las demandas de la OFRANEH y nos pronunciamos de la siguiente manera:
- Denunciamos públicamente la violencia ejercida contra los líderes, lideresas y comunidades Garífunas por las empresas turísticas globales, la industria de narcóticos con destino a Estados Unidos y las empresas de aceite de palma con financiación extranjera.
- Pedimos a los Representantes del Congreso Estadounidense que apoyen la Resolución OFRANEH (H.Res. ####), que fue reintroducida el 5 de junio de 2024 por la representante Cori Bush junto con los representantes Ilhan Omar, Jesús “Chuy” García, Jamaal Bowman y Jan Schakowsky, que condena la violencia contra el pueblo Garífuna, exige la devolución de sus tierras y pide a Estados Unidos que asuma la responsabilidad de detener la financiación de los proyectos que respalda.
- Llamamos al Estado de Honduras a cumplir con las sentencias de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, que ordena principalmente la restitución de tierras Garífunas y garantías de no repetición.
- Llamamos al gobierno de Honduras a proteger la vida y la integridad del pueblo Garifuna.
Organizaciones firmantes:
– InterReligious Task Force on Central America (IRTF, Cleveland OH)
- Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective (WfP-SC)
– Honduras Solidarity Network of North American (HSN)
– Institute of Policy Studies – Global Economy Program
– Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA)
– Root Causes Initiative
– Sisters of Mercy of the Americas – Washington DC Justice Team
– Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)
– Denver Justice and Peace Committee (DJPC)
– Cross Border Network For Justice and Solidarity
– Rights Action U.S. and Canada
– Red Nacional de Defensoras de Derechos Humanos en Honduras
– Latin American Working Group (LAWG)
