At least 16 Garífuna people have been killed in 2019, six of them women, including defenders Mirna Suazo and María Digna Montero.
Defender Miriam Miranda presents this data and adds: “In the sea of violence in which Honduras is submerged, the Garífuna communities have been an oasis of peace, but the number of Garífuna people assassinated this year alone is alarming. This has never happened before; it simply means that our people face an extermination plan”.
Accordingly, on Tuesday, November 5, the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) carried out a protest action in the Central Park of La Ceiba to demand an end to the murders of the men and women of the Garífuna people.
Miriam, the Coordinator of OFRANEH and member of the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras, has spent most of her life defending human rights.
What can those of us outside do?
Miriam responded to the question of what we can do inside and outside of Honduras by stressing the need to sound an urgent alarm and send letters to government authorities, not only demanding that the guilty parties be investigated and punished, but that this extermination policy be ended once and for all.
The defender emphasized the need to demand compliance with two guilty verdicts against the Honduran government issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for violations of the human rights of the Garífuna communities of Triunfo de la Cruz and Punta Piedra.
We of IM-Defensoras call on the international community to stand in solidarity with the Garífuna people, show our support, and engage in the actions called for by our compañera Miriam Miranda.
VIOLENT GARÍFUNA DEATHS IN 2019
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