Afro-Descendant & Indigenous: News & Updates

Since August 10, OFRANEH (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras), along with residents of the San Juan Tela coastal community, have been holding a legal protest encampment (“Por la Vida del Pueblo Garífuna”)  in front of the Supreme Court in Tegucigalpa. They are demanding that the court order the dismissal of the false criminal charges against five community residents.

Having lived on the Atlantic coast since 1797, the Garífuna have been granted collective land ownership in several of their coastal communities. They nevertheless often face persecution for defending those rights.  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.

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).

Our partner in Colombia, the  Inter-Church Commission for Justice and Peace, alerted us to a concerning pattern of surveillance and intimidation against Indigenous authorities of the Nasa people of Putumayo, the southwestern department that borders Ecuador and Peru. On the Indigenous Reserve Jerusalén San Luis Alto Picudito from late June to mid-July, Indigenous Governor Alicia Ipia Ramos and her security team witnessed men keeping an intent eye on her at events.  On more than one occasion between July 1 and 6, men dressed in black were spotted hiding in vegetation near her house and another seen emerging from the lower level of her house, fleeing after the arrival of the security team’s vehicle.

On July 18 at 9:30pm, two men arrived at her home on motorcycles. Calling for Alicia from outside, her daughter replied that she was not home. As they left, the men warned, "We'll return later and pay her a proper visit." The daughter fled and hid in the woods.  Members of the Indigenous Guard found her and took her to a safe place.

We are urging that authorities in Colombia (1) consult with authorities of Jerusalén San Luis Alto Picudito to create and implement a protection scheme for their leaders, including Alicia Ipia Ramos and her family, and (2) conduct a thorough investigation to find and hold accountable the men who sought out the governor at her home on July 18.

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.