Honduras: News & Updates

The Honduras Solidarity Network urgently calls for action to protect Miriam Miranda, a Garífuna leader in Honduras, who was attacked on September 19, 2023. It highlights the ongoing threats faced by Garífuna leaders defending ancestral lands against powerful interests and government complicity. International courts have ruled in favor of the Garífuna people, but Honduras has not fully implemented these rulings, putting land defenders at risk. The Honduras Solidarity Network emphasizes the need for solidarity and action to stop the violence against the Garífuna people in Honduras, for example, by contacting your U.S. representative and urging them to take action to protect their lives and ancestral lands. 

The Honduras Solidarity Network of North America (HSN) strongly condemns the recent criminal attack on Miriam Miranda, a prominent Afro-indigenous Garifuna leader and Coordinator of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH). On September 19th, five armed men invaded her home in Vallecito, Colón, shortly after a visit from the Honduran government's Protection Mechanism. This incident, reminds of the 2016 attack on Berta Cáceres, underlines the dangers faced by Garifuna leaders defending indigenous rights and ancestral lands in Honduras.

Miriam has endured multiple threats and attacks in recent years, including death threats in 2022 and a criminal investigation against her for demanding justice for disappeared Garifuna land defenders. The violence against the Garifuna community is driven by economic interests, including tourism, mining, energy, and agro-industrial companies, often with complicity from government entities and criminal groups.

The HSN demands:

1. Immediate end of attacks, threats, criminalization, and violence against Garifuna land defenders, with exhaustive investigations and justice for perpetrators.
2. Enhanced protection for Miriam and OFRANEH to continue their vital work defending Garifuna rights.
3. Implementation of InterAmerican Court (IACHR) rulings from 2015, calling for the restitution of stolen lands and an end to the displacement of Garifuna communities.

In the small town of Aguanqueterique in central Honduras' Dry Corridor, a once-vibrant soccer field now sits empty due to the migration of young people seeking better opportunities in larger cities or the United States. This migration is driven by a lack of jobs and opportunities in the region. Changing rainfall patterns and persistent droughts have resulted in failed harvests, further pushing people to leave their homeland.

Honduras is at the forefront of climate adaptation. The country focuses on building resilience and adapting to the challenges posed by a rapidly warming world, with water scarcity being a primary concern. Many farmers confirmed that having access to water is essential for their survival and ability to stay in their communities. However, the Central American country is highly vulnerable to climate change. Severe droughts and even powerful storms have caused extensive damage.

Local organizations like Catholic Relief Services are working to assist subsistence farmers in adapting to climate change by providing agricultural tools and techniques. Water is identified as a crucial resource not only for agriculture but also for community well-being, food security, and hygiene. Water issues are deeply connected with the lives of the people in this region, making access to water a critical concern.

In the Cleveland EOIR (Executive Office for Immigration Review, aka Immigration Court), there has been a significant increase in FY23 in both 1) new deportation proceedings filed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and 2) deportation orders issued by Cleveland EOIR immigration judges.

New Deportation Proceedings Filed in Cleveland

FY22 = 940 average per month

FY 23 = 2,015 average per month

Deportation Orders Issued by Judges in Cleveland

FY22 = 293 average per month

FY23 = 449 average per month

IRTF publishes these numbers in the monthly Migrant Justice newsletter, which can be accessed at https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog .

On behalf of IRTF’s Rapid Response Network (RRN) members, we wrote six letters this month to heads of state and other high-level officials in Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, urging their swift action in response to human rights abuses occurring in their countries.  We join with civil society groups in Latin America to: (1) protect people living under threat, (2) demand investigations into human rights crimes, (3) bring human rights criminals to justice.

Volunteers with the Rapid Response Network (RRN)—together with IRTF staff—write letters in response to six urgent human rights cases each month. We send copies of these letters to US ambassadors, embassy human rights officers, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, regional representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and desk officers at the US State Department. To read the letters, see https://www.irtfcleveland.org/content/rrn , or ask us to mail you hard copies.

In this monthly newsletter, we highlight the work of Ohio Immigrant Alliance in advocating for the asylum rights of Black Mauritanians.

Black, African and Caribbean migrants seeking safety in the United States have been treated unfairly for decades. They are subject to deportation proceedings at a higher rate than other migrants. They are denied asylum at higher rates. They have higher rates of detention and solitary confinement. All of this is rooted in institutionalized racism.

The racist treatment of Black migrants is very much reflected in Ohio’s sole immigration court (Cleveland) where deportation proceedings against Mauritanians are disproportionately represented. While Cleveland is just one of 69 immigration courts, 18% of all deportation proceedings filed against Mauritanians have been filed in Cleveland this fiscal year (11,623 nationally; 2,146 Ohio).

In the Take Action section, you can learn more about Ohio Immigrant Alliance’s efforts to get DHS (Dept of Homeland Security) to designate TPS (Temporary Protected Status) for Mauritanians. If granted TPS, they would not be placed into deportation proceedings.

Read this monthly newsletter in its entirety at https://www.irtfcleveland.org/blog.