On January 11th our colleague, Ignacia Lopez Martinez, died. She was shot on December 28th in the Garifuna community of Masca.
Doña Coty -a name she was known by- was 70 years old and was shot seven times at 8 pm on December 28th. She survived until January 11th.
Apparently there is a strategy to expel one of the last Garifuna families from that community, founded at the end of the 19th century by Garifuna families established in the area, before Manuel Bonilla granted the territory of several Garifuna communities to US businessman Sam Zemurray, as part of the Cuyamel concession.
The killing spree in Masca and other Garifuna communities is part of the strategy of a new expulsion, framed in the population displacements that Central America is currently experiencing, with the climate crisis being one of the driving factors. However, the most serious background is the speculation that has been taking place about the coastal strip in Honduras, especially in the areas that have been designated as model cities.
The territorial crisis in Masca is in part linked to the fragmented titles in polygons granted by the National Agrarian Institute (INA), which on multiple occasions has generated enormous problems within the Garifuna communities, because it disrespects and ignores community property by granting individual titles that are superimposed on community titles.
The situation in Masca worsened as the municipalization of the Garifuna communities increased, since through their cadastres they proceeded to legalize land to outsiders to the detriment of the Garifuna people who gradually see their beaches, swamp forests and lagoons pass into the hands of third parties; since the titles issued by the INA do not pass from the urban centres of the communities.
With Ignacia Lopez Martinez this would be the second leader killed in Masca in recent months. The first victim was Mirna Suazo Martinez, who served as president of the board of trustees. Everything indicates that there is a conspiracy to eliminate the matrifocal structure of Masca, with the objective of sowing terror, and causing the abandonment of Masca by the families that still remain in that community.
The murdered women are part of the family of the spiritual leader Amada Lopez Martinez, who is also a member of the Board of Directors of OFRANEH.
Enough of the assassinations of Garifuna leaders.
We demand the prompt investigation and punishment of those guilty of these crimes that have arisen in the community of Masca and other Garifuna communities in the country.
Given in the city of La Ceiba on the 14th day of January 2020