Afro-Descendant & Indigenous: News & Updates

Over the past decade, the Afro-Indigenous ethnic Garífuna communities in northern Honduras have been expecting that their government would abide by three separate rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to return their stolen lands. That hasn’t happened. After taking their cause to Capitol Hill (along with our friends from the Honduras Solidarity Network), Rep. Cori Bush (01-MO) introduced into the US House of Representatives a resolution supporting Garífuna ancestral territorial rights.

IRTF was in Washington, DC, the second week of June. We walked the House office buildings on Capitol Hill and dropped off memos to the foreign policy aides of 55 US congresspersons who have previously co-sponsored legislation in support of human rights in Honduras. We also visited the offices of all 14 congresspersons from Ohio.

But they need to hear from their constituents!

Please read the email below from our friends at Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective and Latin America Working Group (LAWG). Take a few minutes to contact your congressperson today. Urge that they co-sponsor H.Res.1278.

Thank you!

Erlin Centeno's family has been in turmoil since he was detained four months ago during a routine check-in with immigration authorities in New York City. Centeno, a father of three, fled Honduras due to death threats related to his advocacy for Garifuna rights, following the murder of several cousins involved in similar activism. His wife, Trini Merced Palacios, fears deportation to Honduras where they faced threats, despite Centeno's ineligibility for asylum due to a prior deportation order. His detention has sparked legal battles and emotional hardship for the family, hoping to reunite him with them in safety in the U.S.

In IRTF’s June 2024 newsletter on Migrant Justice, please read about (1)  President Biden Announces New Actions to Secure the Border; Critics point to its illegality, (2)  ICE Air: Update on Removal Flight Trends, (3) Child Migration in Darien Gap, (4) At the Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border, (5) Mind the Darién Gap, Migration Bottleneck of the Americas, (6)  Immigration Court: unjust denials call for structural realignment, not further restrictions, and (7) Immigration is the demographic savior too many refuse to acknowledge.

Then take a few minutes to read what you can do to take action this week in solidarity with migrants and their families. (See details at the bottom of the newsletter.)

A) Support LGBTQ+ Migrants

B) Oppose Border Closures

C) Support Migrants in Detention

D) Root Causes: Cut US Militarism in Latin America

Read the full IRTF Migrant Justice Newsletter each month at https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog

The issues at hand--mining-linked repression; collusion with corrupt and repressive business partners, governments, security guards, police and military; widespread impunity--are similar to other cases of corporate wrong-doing and criminality around the world. For a number of reasons, however, these legal cases in Canada and Guatemala are painstakingly overcoming legal, jurisdictional and political obstacles (including on-going repression).

Thirteen Q’eqchi’ plaintiffs, sued Hudbay Minerals and CGN (Guatemalan subsidiary company, formerly owned by Hudbay) for mining related repression, having traveled to Toronto (11 of them in November 2017; 2 more in early 2018) to be deposed by Hudbay lawyers as part of the precedent-setting Hudbay/CGN lawsuits.

Two of these mining repression victims are also pursuing a parallel but separate criminal trial in Guatemala against Mynor Padilla, former head of security of Hudbay/CGN.

Read more background at Business and Human Rights Resource Centre

The ongoing genocide trial against former Guatemalan military general Manuel Benedicto Lucas García, which started on March 25, 2024, in Guatemala City, continues to uncover the military's atrocities during the early 1980s genocide of the Maya Ixil people. Lucas García is being tried for his role in the forced disappearances and massacres in Santa María Nebaj, San Juan Cotzal, and San Gaspar Chajul, with over 844 victims identified.

These testimonies aim to shed light on the atrocities and the role of the Guatemalan armed forces and U.S. complicity. The Maya Ixil people seek justice and acknowledgment of the genocide from the Guatemalan government. The trial is being followed and supported by organizations such as AJR and NISGUA, with coverage available via social media and specific websites.

Public Citizen's Trade Justice project has a new in-depth report called Corporate Colonization of Latin America: How ISDS Harms Indigenous Communities, which explores ISDS’s colonial roots and the disproportionate harm it has caused to Indigenous peoples across Latin America.  The report is available now both as a website and as a PDF, so give it a look and please consider sharing it on social media or on any lists! 

 To release the report, earlier this month we hosted a special delegation of Latin American Indigenous leaders in Washington, DC to speak with policymakers, diplomats, and civil society about the adverse impacts of corporate trade policy on their communities.

On June 1, Nayib Bukele began his second presidential term in El Salvador, despite the constitutional ban on consecutive re-election, and has reformed the electoral system to consolidate his power. While Bukele's populist security policies against gangs are popular, his administration has undermined democratic institutions and human rights. For his second term, Bukele aims to improve the economy and shift from gang wars to fighting corruption.

On July 28, 1982, Salvadoran military and state security agents illegally captured and violently disappeared Patricia Emilie Cuéllar Sandoval, a dual US and Salvadoran citizen, her father Mauricio Cuéllar, and their household worker Julia Orbelina Pérez. Patricia, who would have been the author’s aunt, was a human rights defender involved in Catholic youth movements and grassroots organizations. Despite a lengthy pursuit of justice, their families have not received answers about their whereabouts.

After four decades, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) declared the Salvadoran state responsible for their forced disappearances in 2024. This ruling marks a significant step toward justice for forced disappearance cases from the Salvadoran civil war, but impunity remains under President Nayib Bukele, who denies the history of the war and blocks investigations into military crimes. The US government, which supported the Salvadoran military dictatorship, also bears responsibility for withholding crucial information that could provide insight into these cases.

On July 28, 1982, three people were illegally captured and violently disappeared by Salvadoran military and state security agents: Patricia Emilie Cuéllar Sandoval, a US and Salvadoran citizen; her father Mauricio Cuéllar Cuéllar; and Julia Orbelina Pérez, a domestic worker in the Cuéllars’ home. On May 16, 2024, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found the state of El Salvador responsible for the forced disappearances of Patricia, Mauricio, and Julia Orbelina.

The IACHR ruling marks a crucial milestone on the road to justice in forced disappearance cases during the civil war. Nevertheless, the Salvadoran state’s policy of impunity persists as Bukele’s regime denies civil war history, refuses a transitional justice law for the victims, and blocks investigations into war crimes by the military. The United States is also guilty of contributing to this culture of impunity. The US government, which played a role in and condoned the atrocities committed during the military dictatorship, is withholding crucial information that could offer additional insight into the case.