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What is the Human Rights Defenders Project? |
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Alert Issued: November 23, 2005 Leaders of the Garífuna community in Honduras are facing mounting threats and violent attacks in reprisal for their defense of indigenous land rights. Community activists are working to prevent the loss of Garífuna land to powerful interests seeking to develop large-scale tourism along the coast. Recent attacks against defenders of Garífuna rights include:
 Other Garífuna community leaders have been targeted for attack and intimidation. Despite two recent resolutions by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights asking the Honduran government to implement effective protection measures for Garífuna rights leaders who face threats, the state has failed to do so. Urge the government of Honduras to protect the safety of Garífuna rights activists and ensure that those responsible for criminal attacks against peaceful community leaders are brought to justice. Tell Me More The Garífuna are descendents of Africans and native Carib and Arawak Indians, and they represent a sizeable percentage of Central America’s coastal inhabitants. For over 200 years, the Garífuna have managed to maintain a strong collective identity, including distinct language, traditions and communal way of life. The Garífuna have preserved their rich cultural heritage despite facing systemic racial and cultural discrimination, lack of adequate education or health services, entrenched poverty, and vulnerable land tenure. For generations, the Afro-Honduran Garífuna community has resided along the northern coast of Honduras and in La Mosquitia in the east. Many of the core Garífuna religious and cultural practices are inextricably linked to the land and its treatment, including their collective claim to certain territories. But because the Garífuna live on a prime section of coastal territory, the growth of the tourism industry threatens to undermine their way of life and ancestral claims to their land. Powerful interests, who expect to benefit from major tourist projects and demand for beachfront property, have employed tactics from land invasion to intimidation to outright violence to secure possession of lands that they can then sell for a considerable profit. International financial organizations are also playing a role in this conflict. The World Bank funds a land administration program known as the Program for the Administration of Lands in Honduras (PATH). Local organizations are afraid that this program is encouraging individual ownership of land at the expense of traditional communal land ownership practiced by groups such as the Garífuna. In the Tela Bay region in northern Honduras, this systemic problem is compounded by the Los Micos Beach & Golf Resort, a massive planned hotel complex funded in part by the Inter-American Development Bank. The growth of tourism has significantly intensified threats to Garífuna leaders who seek to ensure that the rights of their community are protected. Over the past year, peaceful Garífuna activists have been the victims of hostile threats and violence. OFRANEH is a prominent Honduran organization dedicated to promoting the political, social and economic rights of the Garífuna. The General Coordinator of OFRANEH, Gregoria Flores, was shot and wounded on May 30, 2005 as she was collecting testimony to present to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a case against the Honduran government. The testimony was on behalf of another outspoken Garífuna community leader, Alfredo López Álvarez, who spent 7 years in prison on false drug charges that were inspired by his social activism on behalf of the Garífuna community. The shot was apparently fired by a security guard for a private company who claimed he was pursuing a burglar. No investigation into the incident was ever conducted, and the local human rights community does not accept this explanation. Only a few months before the attack, several agents of the Criminal Investigative Division – some of them wearing hoods – illegally entered and searched the home of another OFRANEH leader, Miriam Miranda, claiming they were searching for weapons and stolen goods. The respected indigenous leader was not involved in any illegal activities. The authorities carried a search warrant that was signed by a judge but not directed at any particular individual. Afterward, the clear act of intimidation was explained by the judge who had issued the warrant as nothing but an “intelligence error.” Following the attack on Ms. Flores, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a resolution acknowledging the precarious security situation of the Garífuna activists and asking the Honduran government to adopt protective measures for Ms. Flores, her family, and other members of OFRANEH. To date, the state has not effectively implemented these measures and Garífuna activists remain vulnerable to intimidation and violent attacks. On the night of November 7, the home of Garífuna community leader Wilfredo Guerrero was burned down. By chance, Mr. Guerrero was not at home and no one was hurt, but crucial documents related to his community’s territorial disputes were destroyed in the fire. The police have not identified any suspects. Wilfredo Guerrero is President of the Committee to Defend the Lands of San Juan, and has been active in the struggle to protect Garífuna lands and rights. He has denounced attempts by politicians and businessmen to expropriate the communal territories of San Juan and, as a result, has received numerous threats. The Honduran government has initiated no comprehensive investigations into any of the abovementioned violations of the rights of Garífuna leaders. No one has been brought to account for attacks against Garífuna activists and, despite calls from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, no effective measures to protect the safety and rights of indigenous community leaders have been implemented.
Sample Letter: Lic. Ricardo Maduro Dear President Maduro: I am writing to express my deep concern about the safety of Garífuna community leaders in Honduras. They have been subject to violence and intimidation that appears related to their efforts to defend the land and social rights of the Garífuna population. Over the past year, a number of Garífuna activists have been harassed, threatened and violently attacked in reprisal for their advocacy. Despite calls from the Inter-American Court for Human Rights to implement effective protection measures to ensure their safety, Garífuna leaders remain at risk. On May 30, 2005, Gregoria Flores, the General Coordinator of the Fraternal Black Honduran Organization (OFRANEH), was shot and wounded as she was collecting testimony to present a few days later to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The case before the court involved the wrongful imprisonment of another Garífuna community leader, Alfredo López Álvarez, who spent 7 years in prison on trumped up drug charges that were inspired by his social activism on behalf of the Garífuna community. The shot was apparently fired by a security guard for a private company and the government believes the shooting to have been an accident. But no investigation into the incident was ever conducted, nor did the prosecutor take Ms. Flores’ statement on the attack. The international community will continue to be skeptical of the official explanation for the shooting until a comprehensive, impartial and credible investigation into the incident is conducted. Only a few months before the attack, several agents of the Criminal Investigative Division – some of them wearing hoods – illegally entered and searched the home of another OFRANEH leader, Miriam Miranda, claiming they were searching for weapons and stolen goods. Afterward, this apparent act of intimidation was rationalized by the judge who had issued the warrant as nothing but an “intelligence error.” Following the attack on Ms. Flores, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a resolution acknowledging the precarious security situation of the Garífuna activists and asking the Honduran government to adopt protective measures for Ms. Flores, her family, and other members of OFRANEH. To date, your government has not implemented effective protection measures and Garífuna activists remain vulnerable to intimidation and violent attacks. On the night of November 7, the home of Garífuna community leader Wilfredo Guerrero was burned down. By chance, Mr. Guerrero was not at home and no one was hurt, but crucial documents related to his community’s territorial disputes were destroyed in the fire. Wilfredo Guerrero is President of the Committee to Defend the Lands of San Juan, and has been active in the struggle to protect Garífuna lands and rights. He has openly denounced attempts by politicians and businessmen to expropriate the communal territories of San Juan and, as a result, has received numerous threats. The police apparently do not know who is responsible for setting fire to Mr. Guerrero’s home. I strongly encourage the Honduran government to initiate a thorough and impartial investigation into this latest incident, and demonstrate to the Honduran and international communities its commitment to protecting the rights of the Garífuna community and the safety of those who defend them. The 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders explicitly lays out the state’s responsibility in protecting human rights activists from attack. Article 12 of this document affirms that the state “shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action” that results from the exercise of their right to defend and promote human rights. International and regional law holds the Honduran government directly responsible for ensuring the safety and rights of all human rights defenders and social activists. Specifically, the government of Honduras should:
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter. Sincerely,
CC: Ambassador Norman García Paz Ambassador and Permanent Representative Salvador E. Rodezno Fuentes Sr. Leónidas Rosa Bautista Sr. Ramon Custodio Lopez |
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Garífuna Indigenous Activists Under Attack in Honduras