Dear John,

Since they swam to the Honduran shore as refugees from shipwrecked boats carrying kidnapped Africans to be forced into slavery, the Garifuna people have had a vibrant and resilient matriarchal culture. They have struggled for hundreds of years to protect their language, customs, and land rights against the Honduran government and now, once more, they are struggling for self-preservation.

Narcotraffickers have begun seizing large swaths of Garifuna land, which previously grew crops to feed the agrarian Garifuna, for drug trafficking routes. The Honduran government and its US-trained police force have done nothing to prevent this atrocity, an unsurprising reality considering recent allegations that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández has been protecting narcotraffickers in exchange for campaign donations.

Nancy Pelosi is in a position to hear and act in solidarity with the Garifuna people: that’s why we’re asking you to sign our petition and tell her that, now more than ever, the Garifuna perspective matters.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi returned from Honduras August 11, 2019, without a visit to the Garifuna people, who have been victims of terrible human rights abuses at the hands of US-trained police. Instead, the Speaker worked in conjunction with the Honduran government that allows these human rights violations while only paying lip-service to resisting corruption. This is an ongoing issue where US politicians continue to engage uncritically with the Honduran regime when they should be standing up for Afro-indigenous peoples and human rights defenders.

One Garifuna land defender, Miriam Miranda, has suffered such aggression by the Honduran National Police—including illegal attempts to arrest her—that in 2011 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights expressed the need for her protection. Yet, to date, there has been no response or protection provided by the Honduran government.

Please send Speaker Pelosi a letter urging her to intervene on behalf of Miriam and the rest of the Garifuna land defenders who are under attack. Tell her about the history of violence waged upon the Garifuna community of Vallecito and the need to end it.

In Solidarity with the Garifuna and all Honduran people,
Ann, Ariel, Caroline, Carley, Clara, Jodie, Maya, Mark, Medea, Megan, Nancy, Paki, Ryan, Rose, Sarah, Teri, Tighe, Umama, Ursula, and Zena

PS: Teri just returned from Venezuela – check out her story of living under US sanctions here on our PINKTank Blog!