PBI-Honduras visits Garifuna community of Nueva Armenia following police violence after recovery project
PBI-Honduras has posted:
“Together with Peace Brigades International-Canada we visited the Garifuna community of Nueva Armenia (Atlántida). Members of OFRANEH-Garifuna/Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras shared with us about the overcrowding within the community and the attacks and threats they have received after carrying out a land recovery project on the outskirts of the community, inside an African palm plantation.
PBI is concerned for the physical integrity of the community leaders and reminds them of the importance of full compliance with their protection measures.”
PBI-Canada has also noted:
THURSDAY OCTOBER 31
The Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH)
The OFRANEH website explains: “The Garifuna people arrived in Honduras 218 years ago after being expelled from the island of St. Vincent 220 years ago, after having fought two consecutive battles against the British Empire. To date we convert the culture of our Arawak, Carib and African ancestors.”
It further notes: “OFRANEH emerged in 1978 as the Federation of the Garifuna people of Honduras, immersing itself in the defense of their cultural and territorial rights, with the purpose of achieving survival as a differentiated culture.”
We visited the community of Nueva Armenia.
Photo: Mabel Robledo.
Photo: PBI with Mabel Robledo.
There we might with Garifuna defender Mabel Robledo, the president of the board of trustees of the community of Nueva Armenia and a member of OFRANEH.
Avispa Midia has reported: “At the stroke of midnight on Sunday (October 6), elements of the Honduran National Police (HNP), Intelligence Troop and Special Security Response Groups (Tigres), as well as armed civilians, entered a recovery of Garifuna ancestral territory – carried out on the morning of that same day in the community of Nueva Armenia, Caribbean coast – and shot at those present leaving two recuperators seriously injured.”
That article adds: “OFRANEH – which accompanies the community in the actions that claim the ancestral property of the Garifuna community over these lands, in the municipality of Jutiapa, department of Atlántida – denounces the Palmas de Atlántida company, owned by heirs of the oil palm magnate, Reynaldo Canales, of illegally occupying territories of Nueva Armenia for the planting of this monoculture.”
Photo by Avispa Midia.
Criterio.hn further notes: “Rony Castillo, a member of OFRANEH, denounced that two more people from the community are being persecuted and threatened, including the president of the board of trustees of Nueva Armenia, Mabel Robledo.”
Castillo told Criterio.hn: “There are eight hooded men there in Nueva Armenia, it seems that they are looking for Mabel, [but] we have not had any answer [from Honduran authorities about this]. Rather, the authorities are asking us for a report instead of them giving us the report.”
Among the other issues we learned about was the archipelago that is a marine protected area. Robledo says while the Cayos Cochinos Foundation supposedly preserves it, in reality “it exploits and militarizes it”. More can be read about this at Garifuna fishermen denounce threats from Telecinco’s reality show Supervivientes (El Salto, September 1, 2024).
We also take note that César Joani Fernández from the Santa Fe community says land has been recovered from a Canadian company “that has monopolized 90% of the land” of his community.
El Salto reports: “Near Sante Fe stands a hotel building known as the model city of the Canadians. They explain that it was raised by Randy Jorgensen, who in Canada is called the king of porn. In the Bay of Trujillo, he bought Garifuna communal lands during the narco-dictatorship of former President Juan Orlando Hernández.”
We continue to follow this.
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