|
Letter in English to Canadian officials
December 30, 2024
Ms. Mélanie Joly Minister of Foreign Affairs Global Affairs Canada
We are a group of Canadian and U.S. organizations that have accompanied the Garifuna community of Rio Negro-Cristales in Trujillo, Colón and the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) for decades, including the land conflict, human rights and indigenous issues and violations, and judicial processes in Trujillo Bay from Guadalupe to Puerto Castillo.
We write to your office to express our extreme concern that Canadian Randy Jorgensen is preparing an imminent and violent confrontation in “Campo del Mar” in Trujillo Bay in order to evict the Garifuna community from its ancestral lands.
Since at least 2008, the disgraced Canadian businessman, Randy Jorgensen alias the Canadian Porn King and other foreigners, has been occupying and irregularly obtaining land belonging to the Garifuna communities in the region.
This includes tracts of land in both the municipalities of Trujillo and Santa Fe (for gated community projects such as “Coroz Alta”) sold in lots to Canadians and US citizens, and it includes Jorgensen’s personal residence known as Campo del Mar.
In April 2024, the Court of First Instance for the Deprivation of Ownership of Assets of Illicit Origin with National Jurisdiction (Juzgado de Letras de Privación de Dominio de Bienes de Oligen Ilicito con Jurisdicción Nacional) ordered the seizure of five projects in the possession of three Canadians: Randy Jorgensen, Darren Wade Weeks, and Malik Zachariah, including the Campo del Mar property.
The legal proceeding makes reference to money laundering and fraud, including an organized criminal structure that Randy Jorgensen and his associates formed. To date, no charges have been presented against them.
Also, OFRANEH recently denounced the recovery of 3511 archaeological heritage pieces found inside Jorgensen's house without the authorization of the State, a finding that has led to the opening of a separate criminal investigation. (OFRANEH (2024, noviembre 26). Hallazgo del mayor tráfico illegal de bienes patrimoniales en el territorio Garífuna de la Bahía de Trujillo (Huaquerismo a gran escala). https://x.com/baraudawaguchu/status/1862621107255152960)
We ask, particularly in light of the concerning news that Jorgensen is planning a violent eviction: Why has the Public Prosecutor’s Office not criminally prosecuted against and arrested Jorgensen and his associates? Why has the land seized by OABI in Trujillo Bay not been returned to the Garifuna people, its rightful owners?
The lack of action by the Honduran state against Jorgensen is putting the Garifuna communities at heightened risk of violence. OFRANEH and the Garifuna communities have made clear that the Honduran state response to the land conflict in Trujillo Bay has to date targeted the Garifuna communities instead of the real criminals provoking conflict in the region.
In 2012, Jorgensen was accused of usurpation of land inside the “Campa Vista” gated community project. Despite overwhelming evidence of this land theft and a warrant for his arrest, he was never arrested by police and judicial proceedings failed to hold him accountable and the stolen land never returned to the Garifuna communities.
To the contrary, Garifuna community members in Trujillo Bay have faced arrest warrants, defamation campaigns, legal charges, and have been detained by the police on several occasions for illegal land possession.
Given the imminent threat of violence against the Garifuna communities in Trujillo Bay and OFRANEH, we ask the Honduran state and Canadian government to take all legal and political measures possible to:
- Protect the physical integrity and lives of the Garifuna community members protecting the Campo del Mar property in Trujillo Bay, which was declared by the Garifuna people as the Center of Ancestral Knowledge, Hachari Wayunagu. (OFRANEH (2024, 1 de julio). Asemblea general de las comunidades, Trujillo, Colón: Declaratoria de la asemblea. https://x.com/ofraneh/status/1808333964332974344
- Take action based on the evidence the state has in its possession since at least 2012, to criminally charge Jorgensen for irregularly obtaining Garifuna ancestral land.
- Communicate to the Canadian Embassy the serious charges and investigation underway against Jorgensen and his two Canadian associates, Darren Wade Weeks and Malik Zachariah and request that the Canadian government proceed against these Canadians and their criminal structure operating in Canada.
We look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Honduras Solidarity Network of North America (Canada and U.S.)
Calan Institute for Transterritorial Justice (CATRA) (U.S.)
Cross Border Network for Justice and Solidarity (U.S.)
Rights Action (Canada and U.S.)
Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN) (U.S.)
Denver Justice and Peace Committee (U.S.)
CODEPINK (U.S. and Canada)
Simcoe County Human Rights Monitor (Canada)
Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) - Global Economy Program (U.S.)
Common Frontiers Canada (Canada)
Copied: Honduras Sr. Angélica Álvarez, Secretaria de Estado por Ley en los Despachos de Derechos Humanos
Government of Canada contacts
Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs: [email protected]
Canadian consulate in Tegucigalpa, Honduras: [email protected]
Ioanna Sahas Martin, Canadian Ambassador for Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras: [email protected]
Pascal Medieu, Head of Office and Director of Development Program, Consulate of Canada in Tegucigalpa, Honduras: [email protected]
Dana Cryderman, Political Counsellor, Embassy of Canada in Costa Rica, [email protected]
Sarah Reyes, Political First Secretary, Embassy of Canada in Costa Rica, [email protected]
U.S. Government contacts
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, [email protected]
Laura Dogu, U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, [email protected]
Roy Perrin, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, [email protected]
Nathan Macklin, Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, [email protected]
*******
OFRANEH - Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras
@ofraneh / [email protected] / www.ofraneh.org / http://www.ofraneh.wordpress.com
|
