25 Garifuna Land and Rights Defenders Assassinated in Last 3 Years
Radio Progreso news update, 02/14/2023
https://radioprogresohn.net/instante/unos-25-lideres-garifunas-han-sido-asesinados-en-los-ultimos-3-anos/
The organization Fraternal Negra de Honduras -OFRANEH- denounced that in the last 3 years at least 25 leaders who were at the forefront of the defense of the ancestral territory have been murdered by criminal groups that intervene in their communities for the installation of extractive or tourism projects, or for drug trafficking.
In the first month of 2023 alone, four Garifunas have been murdered.
On January 15, on the beaches of Travesía, Puerto Cortés, Cristy Espinoza, Janaira and Ana Castillo were triple-murdered - violence that is part of the systemaic dispossession being suffered by the Garífuna communities.
On January 28, Ricardo Arnaúl Montero, an active member of the Triunfo de la Cruz Land Defense Committee and OFRANEH, was murdered.
In an interview with Radio Progreso, Rony Castillo, a leader with OFRANEH, said that in addition to the murders that go unpunished, there is a systematic wave of death threats that are forcing the Garífuna to abandon their territory, as in the case of Masca, in Omoa, Cortés.
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