November 11, 2020
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Hurricane ETA tore across regions of Honduras & Guatemala, exacerbating pre-existing impoverishment and racism, violence and abandonment, and corruption and impunity of the government and economic elites
Photos courtesy of CODEMUH (Honduran Women’s Collective),
garment factory worker’s rights organization
Honduras and Guatemala are the countries with the highest levels of suffering and loss due to Hurricane ETA. They are the countries with the most deplorable levels of government emergency response. And, it bears repetition, they are countries controlled by corrupt, repressive ‘open-for-global-business’ regimes - “democratic allies” of the US, Canada, European Community, World Bank, BID, IMF, and numerous global companies and investors.
Rights Action’s Hurricane ETA relief fund
It is always the case, when natural disasters hit, that it is the already exploited poor, discriminated and vulnerable sectors of societies that suffer the most.
It is also always the case that it is these very communities that are the most capable and in the best position to receive funds directly and immediately carry out most aspects of emergency response work.
This is how Rights Action has long carried out our emergency response work.
Here, Mayan Q’eqchi’ people and communities recently devastated by Hurricane ETA, doing hands-on, immediate response relief work. The work in these photos is being planned and carried out by victims of Hudbay Minerals (Skye Resources) mining-related evictions, killings, rapes and shootings (being litigated in Canada in landmark Hudbay Minerals lawsuits).
Driving the pick-up truck is German Chub, the Q’eqchi’ farmer who was shot and left paralyzed from the waist down by Hudbay’s security guards.
Groups funded to date
As Rights Action has done many times since 1995, we are sending emergency funds directly to long term community partner groups in the ETA devastated regions who are also involved in long-term land, environment, human rights and justice struggles.
- El Estor, eastern Guatemala - Maya Q’eqchi’ land, rights, environmental defenders involved in resistance and justice struggles related to Canadian and Swiss mining companies;
- Western Honduras - Lenca descendant land, rights and environmental defenders, filling caravans of vehicles with food and clothing, delivering them to Eta devastated communities in northern Honduras;
- Caribbean coast of Honduras - Garifuna land, rights, environmental defenders involved in resistance and justice struggles related to international tourism operators and African palm producer-exporters;
- San Pedro Sula region, Honduras – supporting CODEMUH (maquiladora sweatshop workers’ rights organization) getting basic food supplies to ETA devastated communities;
- Progreso, northern Honduras – supporting human rights defenders getting basic food supplies to ETA devastated communities;
- Guatemala City – supporting individuals buying corn and basic food supplies from small producers, to distribute directly to ETA devastated communities;
- Tegucigalpa - supporting Honduras Solidarity Network getting basic food supplies to ETA devastated communities;
- Western Honduras – supporting human rights defenders trucking basic supplies to Mayan Chorti communities in the Copan Ruinas region;
Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)
Make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
- U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
- Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8
