From August 10 to 16, an international delegation made up of social movements and human rights defenders from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe will visit Honduras to accompany OFRANEH—an organization facing an alarming escalation of criminalization and violence for its work defending Garífuna territory, culture, and autonomy. This action aims to strengthen solidarity among movements, amplify the Garífuna struggle in the face of criminalization, and bring their demands to national and international authorities.

A Context of Structural Violence and Impunity

In the Bay of Trujillo, Garífuna communities are confronting a critical situation marked by the expansion of tourism and real estate megaprojects, violent evictions, and the forced disappearances of community leaders. Their collective right to ancestral land continues to be denied. This region has become a focal point of systemic conflict, exposing the deep entanglement of economic interests, organized crime, and state impunity.

Amid this violence, OFRANEH has led international advocacy efforts, legal actions, and community organizing to defend life, land, and the right to live without fear. For over two decades, it has sustained strategies of territorial recovery, grassroots communication, community protection, and regional movement-building—while resisting severe repression from both state and non-state actors.

The forced disappearance of four young Garífuna men in Triunfo de la Cruz in 2020 —including community leaders— remains unresolved and has become a symbol of the structural violence faced by Afro-descendant peoples in Honduras.

Despite four binding rulings by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights—Punta Piedra (2015), Triunfo de la Cruz (2015), San Juan (2023), and the ongoing Cayos Cochinos case (2024)—the Honduran State continues to fail in implementing the ordered land restitutions, full reparations, and guarantees of non-repetition.

In 2024, OFRANEH leaders received multiple death threats. That same year, the community denounced Canadian businessman Randy Roy Jorgensen for the looting and illegal trafficking of more than 3,500 Garífuna archaeological artifacts, stolen from ancestral cemeteries in Campo del Mar.

The Delegation

The delegation will include organizations from across the Americas and Europe committed to social justice, human rights, and peoples’ autonomy.

From Honduras, the delegation will be hosted by:

• OFRANEH, a leading force in the defense of Garífuna territory;

• The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), with a historic trajectory in Lenca resistance;

• The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras, a platform uniting women defenders across territories and sectors.

From Latin America and the Caribbean, the delegation will include:

• The Wuxhtaj Peoples’ Council (Guatemala), advancing Maya peoples’ rights and self-determination;

• La Colectiva Feminista en Construcción (Puerto Rico), an antiracist, feminist, and anticolonial organization committed to transformative justice;

• Cimarrón (Colombia), an Afro-Colombian movement fighting structural racism and demanding historical reparations.

At the international level, the delegation includes:

• The Mesoamerican Initiative of Women Human Rights Defenders (IM-Defensoras), promoting holistic protection for women defenders in Mesoamerica;

• Front Line Defenders (Ireland), dedicated to protecting human rights defenders at risk worldwide;

• Entrepueblos (Spain/Latin America), fostering transnational solidarity;

• The Calan Institute for Transterritorial Justice (CATRA), present in the U.S. and Honduras;

• The ESCR-Net International Secretariat, which convened and coordinates this solidarity action.

Public Actions

Over the course of seven days, the delegation will visit Garífuna communities in the Bay of Trujillo, participate in political exchanges in Vallecito—a key territory of resistance—and conclude with advocacy actions in Tegucigalpa.

On Friday, August 15 at 10:00 a.m., we will hold a protest in front of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, accompanied by a press conference with the international delegation of defenders.

We call on all organizations in Honduras to join this action in support of the Garífuna people. For more information or to join, contact the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras: comunicacion@redefensorashn.red 

We also invite international allies to stand in solidarity with this collective action. This visit reaffirms ESCR-Net’s commitment to centering social movements, strengthening interregional solidarity, and defending those who defend life.

For international participation, contact: communications@escr-net.org

Now is the time to listen, support, and amplify the voices of the Garífuna people in their legitimate struggle for territory, memory, and self-determination.