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27 May 2014 | Interviews | Free Honduras | Land grabbing | Human rights | Food Sovereignty
Garifuna people at the IACHR to denounce violation of basic rights
Download: MP3 (933.9 kb)
On May 20, leaders of the Garifuna community of Triunfo de la Cruz, department of Atlanta, Honduras, together with members of the Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña (OFRANEH) attended a hearing at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) where they denounced violations of their human and territorial rights.
The Garifunas denounced the looting of their lands, death threats, arbitrary arrests and imprisonments, and murders, among other things. Angel Castro, one of the leaders of Triunfo de la Cruz present in San Jose, Costa Rica, at the headquarters of the IACHR talked to Real World Radio after the hearing.
According to Castro, who, along with his family, has been a victim of death threats, the conflicts started when the Tela Municipality illegally sold land inhabited by his community. The territory is managed by a board made up and elected by community members.
But the Municipality created a parallel board, after which it started selling lands to private parties. In response to the resistance by the community, Castro said that the State decided to arbitrarily arrest several leaders. As a result of this oppression, 5 people were murdered.
You can access a video of the hearing at
OFRANEH´s website
The testimony provided by Angel Castro at the hearing is available below (in Spanish):
Audiencia Pública. Caso Comunidad Garífuna Triunfo de la Cruz y sus miembros Vs. Honduras. Parte 1 from CorteIDH on Vimeo.
Imagen: http://conexihon.hn/
