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The Garífuna live on the Caribbean coast of Honduras, in a beautiful, fertile region rich in natural resources. Many find this area attractive. In a country like Honduras, this can be dangerous.
By Anne Demmer, ARD Studio Mexico City
“We want justice,” the protesters chant, as seen in a video on Twitter. As in recent days, today the Garífuna call for protest. They want to see the members of their ward alive again. On July 18, four young men and the president of the neighborhood were kidnapped.
“It was Saturday,” Miriam Miranda reported by phone. “The streets of the town of El Triunfo de la Cruz were deserted because there is a curfew on weekends during the pandemic.” Suddenly three vehicles appeared. “The men in the vehicles were heavily armed, wearing police uniforms.”
Seaside location goes from blessing to curse
Miranda is the coordinator of the organization “Ofraneh”, which works for the rights of the Garífuna. The Afro-Honduran community lives on the Caribbean coast of Honduras. The region is fertile and rich in natural resources. “We live on the coast, the beaches are just around the corner. That is, of course, a great blessing. But it has become a curse for our communities. Because we live in a drug state.” The term “narco-state” is used in Spanish for a state whose institutions are involved in drug trafficking.
In recent years, important projects have been launched again and again, for example in tourism. And these projects threaten the natural resources of the Garífuna. Multinational companies built illegally on their lands, cultivated palm oil monocultures.
“They want to completely destroy the Garifuna people”
Investors have turned up who didn’t even know where they came from, Miranda says. The Garífuna are opposed to this. For years there have been clashes between communities, organized crime and the state. There are regular threats and attacks against the Garífuna. She herself had been the target of attacks and received death threats. “The state has a plan: they want to completely destroy the Garífuna people,” says Miranda.
In the case of the five disappeared, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has requested an investigation report. But the result is pathetic: “There is no indication that this case is really being investigated. We were not involved either, when we were asked as an organization representing the Garífuna.”
One of the most dangerous countries
Honduras tops the list of the most dangerous countries in the world for defenders of land and environmental rights, says Amnesty International’s director for the Americas, Erika Guevara-Rosas. In light of the latest incidents, the human rights lawyer criticizes the government’s failure to comply with a judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
In 2015, he pledged the Honduran government to mark Garífuna lands as collective lands to prevent further violence. But the opposite happens. “Last year there were 212 attacks on activists who resisted land grabbing, some were killed in the process, others survived the violent attacks,” Guevara-Rosas said. According to the organization “Ofraneh” 16 more active people died in these attacks.
Miriam Miranda demands the immediate clarification of the facts. Last year, the coordinator of “Ofraneh” received the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Human Rights Award for his commitment. She has been campaigning for Garífuna rights for more than 30 years. “The Honduran State must show political will and implement the judgment of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Until that happens, there will be no security, no peace, and no peace for the Garífunas.”
There is still no trace of the five missing.
