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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)
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
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