Afro-Descendant & Indigenous: News & Updates

The Garífuna, descendants of Indigenous peoples from the Caribbean and formerly enslaved Africans, have lived on the Atlantic coast since 1797. Although they have been granted collective land ownership in several of their coastal communities, they often face legal persecution for defending those rights. For the past 30 years (and accelerated after the initiation of the Central America Free Trade Agreement in 2006), they have been subject to forced displacement by private actors, sometimes with the collusion of state actors. The State of Honduras has already been condemned four times by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights for violating the Garífuna people’s right to collective land ownership in four separate communities: (1) Triunfo de la Cruz, Atlántida Department (2015); (2) Punta Piedra, Colón Department (2015); (3) San Juan, Atlántida Department (2023); and (4) Cayos Cochinos-Bay Islands (2026).

Garífuna communities are often at the center of what some call a corporate assault on Honduras. After two incursions by heavily armed men into the Garífuna community of Tornabé at Tela Bay (July 9 and 12),  the attitude of the police has become clearer to residents. Instead of fulfilling their obligation to protect the residents of Tornabé, they act with racism and prioritize the interests of those who seek to dispossess the communities of their territories. Garífuna communities around the Tela Bay demand an end to the violence and harassment by the police and private actors.

The Garífuna, descendants of Indigenous peoples from the Caribbean and formerly enslaved Africans, have lived on the Atlantic coast since 1797. Although they have been granted collective land ownership in several of their coastal communities, they often face legal persecution for defending those rights. For the past 30 years (and accelerated after the initiation of the Central America Free Trade Agreement in 2006), they have been subject to forced displacement by private actors, sometimes with the collusion of state actors. The State of Honduras has already been condemned four times by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights for violating the Garífuna people’s right to collective land ownership in four separate communities: (1) Triunfo de la Cruz, Atlántida Department (2015); (2) Punta Piedra, Colón Department (2015); (3) San Juan, Atlántida Department (2023); and (4) Cayos Cochinos-Bay Islands (2026).

Garífuna communities are often at the center of what some call a corporate assault on Honduras.  On July 6, over 200 police officers, with the use of tear gas, threats, and live ammunition, invaded the Garifuna community of San Juan, Tela Bay, Atlántida Department, to execute an eviction. In the process, Deinor Osmany Mejía Arzu, Irbin Rene López Cortes, Carlos Enrique Fernández Guzmán, Onil Riboberto Hernández Zelaya, and Sara Abigail Acosta were detained on a wrongful account of aggravated usurpation of their ancestral territory.  At the initial hearing on July 15, the judge transferred the case to the National Jurisdiction Court in San Pedro Sula, deeming the alleged land usurpation to be part of organized criminal activity.

On February 7, 2024, President Arévalo signed the Acuerdo Agrario  (Agrarian Agreement) with Indigenous and rural farmer (campesino) organizations, committing his administration to resolving agrarian conflicts, improving access to land, strengthening campesino communities, and establishing a permanent dialogue space between the government and campesino organizations. More than two years have passed without meaningful compliance. The Committee for Peasant Unity (CUC) and the Highland Peasant Community (CCDA) have made repeated attempts to engage the government, including an open letter in May 2025, an emergency meeting in August 2025, a written request for an urgent hearing in November 2025, and a direct request for an audience submitted on March 13, 2026—all without a response. On May 7, 2026, the CUC filed a writ of amparo against President Arévalo for his failure to respond within the 30 business days required by Article 28 of the Guatemalan Constitution.

We are urging authorities to: (1) immediately halt extrajudicial evictions and ensure that any court-ordered evictions comply with international human rights standards protecting rural farming communities and (2) fulfill the commitments of the February 7, 2024, Agrarian Agreement, including establishing a functioning permanent dialogue speech with Indigenous and campesino organizations.

The harms caused by metallic mining are well-known to the communities of Panzos, Livingston, and El Estor in the Maya Q’eqchi’ region of the Sierra Santa Cruz mountain range. For sixty years, they have been exposed to the pollution caused by the El Fénix nickel mine in El Estor: contaminating Lake Izabal and other local water sources, threatening fishers’ source of income. Because of their outspoken opposition, residents have been unjustly criminalized and many the victims of land grabbing, arson, and repression. It was finally in December 2023 when the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the government of Guatemala is responsible for human rights violations (threats, assaults, killings) and ordered reparation measures. 

It is deeply concerning that after a three-year suspension of mining activities, Canada-based Central America Nickel (CAN) resumed operations at El Fénix in May 2026. We urge authorities to:

(1) suspend Fénix Nickel's operations in El Estor until a free, prior, and informed consultation is conducted in compliance with the 2023 Inter-American Court ruling

(2) stop review and approval of Rio Nickel, S.A.’s pending licenses in Livingston until necessary Q'eqchi' community consultation has taken place, (as required by national and international law, the ILO Convention 169)

(3) ensure accountability for officials connected to the corruption and bribery in regard to the mining operations

The legal persecution and violence waged on Indigenous farming communities is chronic in Guatemala. The current government indicated that there might be a change coming when it met with CUC (Committee of Campesino Unity) and other land rights groups and drew up an agreement called the Acuerdo Agrario (Agrarian Agreement), signed by President Arévalo on February 7, 2024. Still, the government continues to file undounded criminal charges of usurpation against Indigenous campesinos, filing more than 8,429 cases in the last six years. With only 1% ultimately resulting in any form of conviction, this demonstrates that most of them do not have any basis. Disputes over rights to Indigenous lands also result in deadly violence; 15-25 people are being killed every year. 

Working for the organization Committee for Campesino Unity (CUC), José Acté has been an important leader and defender of Indigenous rights. On June 17, while returning home from work in the village of El Rancho, municipality San Agustín Acasaguastlán, Guatemala Department, he was stopped and arrested. He was unjustly accused of usurpation, theft, and aggravated robbery and put into detention. Because the government prosecutors did not appear at a scheduled judicial hearing this morning, his detention has been prolonged.

In our letter to authorities, we urged his release and dropping of the unfounded criminal charges.

Good News: Two weeks after our letter, a judge dismissed the case, ruling that it did not have sufficient merit to proceed. José Acté was greeted by friends and supporters as he left the courthouse, now a free man (for the time being). 

Mega-projects like hydroelectric dams are promoted to international financiers as progress to help poor countries. But peak behind the curtain and we see the investor-profit motives of private actors, both foreign and domestic.

The International Labour Organization’s Convention 169 (commonly known as ILO 169) is a binding international convention concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples, adopted in 1989, which guarantees their rights and requires prior consultation for measures affecting their territories, such as the construction of hydroelectric dams or large-scale mechanized mining. In the Western Highlands of Guatemala (Huehuetenango Department), Indigenous communities have been organizing resistance to the Pojom I and Pojom II dam projects. Although both were already under construction (in violation of ILO 169), in August 2025 the Supreme Court ordered the Ministry of Energy and Mines to complete a consultation process within 12 months while allowing construction to continue. Communities have challenged that ruling before the Constitutional Court, arguing that a consultation after the continued construction cannot satisfy the requirement that it be “prior.”

As is common, defenders of land rights have been criminalized in this case. Rigoberto Juárez and Ermitaño López were arrested in 2015 for their peaceful role in opposing the hydroelectric projects.  After being declared not guilty of serious charges in 2016 and released, an Appeals Court in 2021 reversed the ruling and significantly increased their sentences (to 8 and 24 years). After the Constitutional Court confirmed these sentences in February 2026, IRTF has joined with Indigenous rights organizations to review their convictions and address the documented procedural violations that led to their sentencing.