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Stop the legal intimidation against OFRANEH
TAKE ACTION: Speak out for justice in Honduras
In their struggle to defend their ancestral territories, Honduras’ Afro-Indigenous Garifuna people have faced a near-constant cycle of assaults by the Honduran government, powerful elites, and organized crime. An ongoing target of these assaults is Grassroots International partner the Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña/Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH).
Last month, OFRANEH launched a series of national and international actions to bring attention and justice to the forced disappearances of four young community leaders. In response, Honduras’ right-wing-controlled Attorney General’s office retaliated by opening criminal investigations against two OFRANEH leaders and a member of their legal team. OFRANEH’s General Coordinator Miriam Miranda, who has already faced multiple threats, Luther Castillo Harry, OFRANEH member and Minister of Science and Technology of the current government, and OFRANEH’s lawyer Edy Tábora have all been politically targeted. Additionally, the Attorney General’s office included our other partner COPINH in their attack — because COPINH stood in solidarity with the Garifunas’ campaign for justice.
Despite electing a new president this year, signaling a break from twelve years under a right-wing coup government, many of the power structures associated with the former government are still in place, including within the supreme court and the Attorney General’s office. The Attorney General’s office claims a recent campaign protest “disrupted order” and “illegally deprived liberty.” This comes on the heels of other right-wing efforts to criminalize social movements — including re-writing the penal code.
It’s not enough that these charges would hypocritically criminalize the very organizers seeking to end racist violence against Garifuna peoples. These potential charges come with prison sentences ranging from one to seven years — a devastating blow to the movement.
Movements in Honduras urgently need international solidarity in the face of these and other attacks. Please join a growing international outcry in support of these targeted human rights defenders and their demands for justice by sending a message to Honduran authorities.
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English Translation of Letter:
Dear Honduran authorities,
I write to express my grave concern over the heightened wave of violence and terror against Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities in Honduras and the related persecution of human rights defenders. This includes recent targeting of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) and the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). Both organizations are widely recognized and highly regarded by the international human rights community for their critical work in defense of the rights of the Garifuna and Lenca peoples to their ancestral territories.
On August 17, 2022, the Office of the Prosecutor Against Common Crimes and the Technical Agency for Criminal Investigation (ATIC) confirmed that they have opened a criminal investigation against Miriam Miranda, General Coordinator of OFRANEH, Luther Castillo Harry, Member of OFRANEH and Minister of Science and Technology of the current government, and the lawyer Edy Tábora, member of the legal team of SUNLA (Committee for the Search and Investigation of the Disappeared from Triunfo de La Cruz) and lawyer of OFRANEH. I am also concerned to learn that additional leaders of OFRANEH, SUNLA, and COPINH are being persecuted through criminal investigation.
The timing of the targeting of these human rights defenders is no coincidence. It comes on the heels of a series of public actions by OFRANEH, COPINH, and allies at the national and international levels demanding justice for the forced disappearance of four young leaders of the Garifuna community of Triunfo de la Cruz.
The attacks against social movement leaders go hand-in-hand with the abductions, as part of a broader assault on communities driven by powerful interests. Our international community has been closely following the case of the Triunfo de la Cruz abductions, and this recent targeting of human right defenders only makes us more vigilant.
We demand that Honduran authorities:
1. Design and implement actions and plans to search for the disappeared of Triunfo de la Cruz, based on the UN Guiding Principles for the Search for Disappeared Persons.
2. Create a special prosecutor's office against forced disappearance to investigate the disappearance of the young leaders of Triunfo de la Cruz and the other disappearances that occur daily in the country.
3. The incorporation of the Garifuna Committee for the Investigation and Search for the Disappeared of Triunfo de la Cruz (“SUNLA”) as an independent body to investigate and search for the missing youth.
4. Compliance with the judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding the communities of Triunfo de la Cruz and Punta Piedra.
5. Respect and comply with the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169 for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent; and
6. Immediately cease the criminalization, retaliation, and judicial prosecution of those who are fighting to defend territorial rights, including Miriam Miranda, Luther Castillo Harry, Edy Tábora, and others involved with OFRANEH and COPINH.
Stop the legal intimidation against OFRANEH!
English translation of letter:
Dear Honduran authorities,
I write to express my grave concern over the heightened wave of violence and terror against Afro-descendant and Indigenous communities in Honduras and the related persecution of human rights defenders. This includes recent targeting of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) and the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). Both organizations are widely recognized and highly regarded by the international human rights community for their critical work in defense of the rights of the Garifuna and Lenca peoples to their ancestral territories.
On August 17, 2022, the Office of the Prosecutor Against Common Crimes and the Technical Agency for Criminal Investigation (ATIC) confirmed that they have opened a criminal investigation against Miriam Miranda, General Coordinator of OFRANEH, Luther Castillo Harry, Member of OFRANEH and Minister of Science and Technology of the current government, and the lawyer Edy Tábora, member of the legal team of SUNLA (Committee for the Search and Investigation of the Disappeared from Triunfo de La Cruz) and lawyer of OFRANEH. I am also concerned to learn that additional leaders of OFRANEH, SUNLA, and COPINH are being persecuted through criminal investigation.
The timing of the targeting of these human rights defenders is no coincidence. It comes on the heels of a series of public actions by OFRANEH, COPINH, and allies at the national and international levels demanding justice for the forced disappearance of four young leaders of the Garifuna community of Triunfo de la Cruz.
The attacks against social movement leaders go hand-in-hand with the abductions, as part of a broader assault on communities driven by powerful interests. Our international community has been closely following the case of the Triunfo de la Cruz abductions, and this recent targeting of human right defenders only makes us more vigilant.
We demand that Honduran authorities:
1. Design and implement actions and plans to search for the disappeared of Triunfo de la Cruz, based on the UN Guiding Principles for the Search for Disappeared Persons.
2. Create a special prosecutor's office against forced disappearance to investigate the disappearance of the young leaders of Triunfo de la Cruz and the other disappearances that occur daily in the country.
3. The incorporation of the Garifuna Committee for the Investigation and Search for the Disappeared of Triunfo de la Cruz (“SUNLA”) as an independent body to investigate and search for the missing youth.
4. Compliance with the judgments of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights regarding the communities of Triunfo de la Cruz and Punta Piedra.
5. Respect and comply with the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169 for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent; and
6. Immediately cease the criminalization, retaliation, and judicial prosecution of those who are fighting to defend territorial rights, including Miriam Miranda, Luther Castillo Harry, Edy Tábora, and others involved with OFRANEH and COPINH.
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