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December 6, 2024


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Randy Jorgensen, Canadian “King of Porn”, accused
“of looting and illicit trafficking of archaeological patrimonial assets”
in Garifuna Territory, Honduras
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[link removed]

When will the Canadian media, political oversight bodies and prosecutors investigate the multiple alleged criminal dealings of Randy Jorgensen - the Canadian “King of Porn” - and associates along the Caribbean shore of Honduras, dating back to the early, mid-2000s?

Since the 2000s, Rights Action – in support of OFRANEH (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras) and the land, territory and human rights defense struggles of the Garifuna people along the north shore of Honduras – has reported on the tourism investments and operations of Jorgensen and associates, some of which have been denounced as cirminal and sometimes violent.

Jorgensen is a significant figure in the oftentimes corrupt, violent business of international tourism operators taking over, bit by bit, the ancestral lands of the Indigenous Garifuna people along the North Caribbean lands of Honduras.

A slow, steady ethnocide

In 2015, Miriam Miranda (general coordinator of OFRANEH) commented:

“Without our lands, we cease to be a people. Our lands and identities are critical to our lives, our waters, our forests, our culture, our global commons, our territories. For us, the struggle for our territories and our commons and our natural resources is of primary importance to preserve ourselves as a people.”

Canadian and U.S.-backed ‘Narco Regime’ was good for business

The tourism related investments and businesses of Jorgensen and other tourism operators expanded notably during the 13 years (2009-2013) of the ‘open for global business’, narco-regime in power that was supported fully and called a “democratic allie” the entire time by Canada and the U.S.

Money laundering and fraud

In June 2024, a criminal investigation was opened against Jorgensen and other Canadian tourist operators in Honduras, charged with money laundering and fraud ([link removed]) related to sales of lands that actually belong to Indigenous Garifuna communities.

Illegal tracking of patrimonial assets

Now, Jorgensen has been accused “of looting and illicit trafficking or commercialization of archaeological patrimonial assets” in Garifuna Territory, Trujillo Bay, Honduras. Here, a communique from OFRANEH, translated by Jackie McVicar ([email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) ).

Tegucigalpa, Nov. 26, 2024. The Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) – in collaboration with other Indigenous Peoples, archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, the Network of Women Defenders, the National Coordinator of Indigenous and Black Women of Honduras (CONAMINH), lawyers, and the Garifuna People in general - presents today a CRIMINAL COMPLAINT to the Public Ministry [Attorney General’s office] against Randy Roy Jorgensen (aka King of Porn), of Canadian nationality.

The formal criminal complaint is for the looting and large-scale illicit trafficking or commercialization of archaeological patrimonial assets (also known as “large scale huaquerismo”) that were recovered in a property located in the Bay of Trujillo, in Garifuna ancestral territory – a property that itself was usurped by Jorgensen.

The Public Ministry seized the property on April 11, 2024, after Mr. Jorgensen and his cronies were accused of aggravated fraud and money laundering and classified as members of a transnational organized crime organization. (See Rights Action communique of June 10, 2024 ([link removed]) )

The collection recovered consists of 2,533 original pieces and 978 replicas, totaling 3,511 archaeological pieces. More than 80% of the find correspond to lithic objects elaborated in jade, and the rest in basalt, limestone, tuff, obsidian, ceramics, and a small collection of metates, including three colonial cannonballs of different calibers.

It is one of the largest finds in the Americas in recent times and the most important collection of the nation's patrimonial assets. It can be preliminarily inferred that most of these artifacts - from sacred Mayan sites, and of Chorotega, Olmeca, Lenca, Tolupan, Pech, and other still not identified Peoples - come from illicit excavations and plundered and desecrated cemeteries and tombs, with purposes of trafficking cultural goods.

It has been proven that jade and green stones found in masks, knives and axes, are considered stones of great value and are strongly associated with funeral ceremonies and rituals, mainly considered as central elements during the burial rituals of Maya rulers.

“Huaquerismo” - the extraction and illicit trafficking of sacred cultural property - is the second largest illicit trafficking ring in the world, surpassed only by drug trafficking. It is not always identified due to the interests and complicity of state officials, corrupt politicians, and other economic groups involved in illicit activities.

Given the deplorable conditions in which this collection was found, the significant value behind each of the pieces, and that, in addition, it was found in usurped ancestral territories, OFRANEH has taken custody of the entire archaeological collection through the establishment of the Center for Ancestral Knowledge “Hachari Wayúnagu”, an ideal space for the transmission of wisdom and ancestral knowledge, protection, care, study, exhibition and publications for the service of the original communities themselves and the general population.

#WeDemandChargesAgainstThePornKingAndHisAccomplices.

#ApplicationOfArticle107OfTheConstitutionAndReturnOfGarifunaAncestralTerritory

OFRANEH - Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras

@ofraneh / [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) / www.ofraneh.org / [link removed]

Since 1998, Rights Action has supported the visionary, courageous work of OFRANEH (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras), at the forefront of defending Garifuna land, territory and rights against ethnocidal violence and land theft carried out over decades by mainly corrupt, repressive ‘open for global business’ governments in power and international tourism investors, African palm producers, the mining industry and narco-trafficking.
* Read: Land & indigenous rights defense work of OFRANEH & Garifuna people against ethnocidal violence & land theft (Rights Action, September 13, 2024 ([link removed]) )

Other groups working in Honduras
* Honduras Now: [link removed]; [link removed]
* Honduras Solidarity Network: www.hondurassolidarity.org; [link removed]
* Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective: www.solidaritycollective.org, [link removed]
* Friendship Office of the Americas: [link removed] ([link removed])

Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)

To support land and environmental defenders, and human rights, justice and democracy defense struggles in Honduras and Guatemala, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: Box 82858, RPO Cabbagetown Toronto, ON, M5A 3Y2

Credit-Card Donations: [link removed]
Direct deposits, write to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Donations of securities, write to: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

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