Miriam Miranda, the general coordinator of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), was shocked in the early morning of September 19 when four armed men entered her home in the Garífuna community of Vallecito, Colón. Fortunately, because of the presence of the bodyguards assigned to Miriam under the government’s Protection Mechanism, the armed men did not physically harm her, but she is emotionally shaken. The haunting similarity between the attempted attack on Miriam and the home invasion carried out by a hit squad to assassinate Indigenous environmental defender Berta Cáceres in 2016 sends a chilling message to OFRANEH, Garífuna leaders, and all Honduran defenders of territorial and human rights.
The violent incident at the home of Miriam Miranda is yet another disturbing example of what Garífuna leaders face for defending their ancestral lands across the north coast of Honduras. They face constant threats and forced displacement by powerful economic interests, both foreign and domestic: agro-industrial companies, mining and energy, tourism, and more. Those who stage the land grabs do so with the full complicity of state security forces, local government authorities, and organized criminal groups. The attacks escalated during the years of the narco-dictatorship (2009-2021), but sadly, they continue today.
These attacks–with impunity—continue because of the neglect of the State of Honduras to address the longtime persecution of Garífuna communities. Since they cannot find justice in the Honduran legal system, the Garífuna people have taken their cases to the Inter-American system (Organization of American States – OAS). In 2015, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued rulings in favor of the Garífuna people in the cases of the communities of Triunfo de la Cruz and Punta Piedra. The Court found that the State of Honduras violated the American Convention on Human Rights because it facilitated the expansion of urban developments onto Garífuna ancestral lands or otherwise transferred the community’s land for industrial and tourism purposes. The Court ordered the restitution of stolen lands and the cessation of all current efforts that continue to displace Garífuna communities from their lands.
As a signatory to the American Convention on Human Rights, Honduras is obliged to follow the rulings of the Court. While the new administration of President Xiomara Castro has accepted the responsibility to implement some other rulings of the Court, to date, Honduras still needs to fulfill its obligations to the Garifuna communities under international law.
The attacks continue as long as the Honduran government ignores the judge’s order to remedy the violations. This failure to implement the order of the Inter-American Court puts land defenders at additional risk. While the Garífuna people continue to denounce the state’s inaction and protest the land grabs by economic interests, they find themselves in a prolonged vulnerable situation. Attacks have escalated in recent years. In July 2020, five young Garífuna leaders, outspoken about the government’s slow pace to implement the Inter-American Court rulings, were forcibly disappeared from the community of Triunfo de la Cruz by armed men wearing vests bearing the logo of the Police Investigation Directorate. There has never been an adequate investigation into their disappearance. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
Miriam Miranda has received death threats before. She’s suffered violent attacks. Other Garífuna community leaders have been unjustly criminalized; others have been victims of assassinations.
This violence must stop!
Thanks for taking this quick action in solidarity with the Garífuna people of Honduras.
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 
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