In Conversation with Melissa Fabiola Martínez Reyes: Defending the Garifuna People’s Culture, Land and Rights
Below, join us in conversation with Melissa Fabiola Martínez Reyes, a Honduran human rights defender and member of the Honduran Black Fraternal Organisation (OFRANEH). Melissa's work is deeply rooted in defending the culture, environment and territorial rights of the Garifuna people in Honduras. During her recent European speaking tour facilitated by PBI, we had the chance to sit down in conversation before she gave her speech at our ‘Defending Collective Territories in Honduras’ event, in partnership with Amnesty International. In this interview, Melissa sheds light on the challenges faced by her community, the relentless fight for their land, and the need for international support and action.
Can you start by introducing yourself and telling us more about what you do and why you’re here today?
Thank you very much for the invitation. It's been an incredible trip - good and bad - but all incredible. My name is Melissa Martínez. I am from the Punta Gorda community, the first Garifuna community in Honduras and Central America. I am a woman. I am a feminist. I also belong to the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) and I am a coordinator of one of the ancestral health houses of the Garifuna people. I am a human rights defender for everything related to land and territories.
What do you hope Indigenous communities can achieve a decade from now?
The number one objective is to keep our land. I hope that the government will respect the right to the land of the Indigenous people.
Melissa with staff from PBI UK and some of the attendees from our 'Defending Collective Territories in Honduras' roundtable event.
In 2015, the IACHR held the state of Honduras responsible for violating the right to collective property of Garifuna communities. The State has not complied with the sentences and there is limited literature available on the issue, so is there a sense of misinformation amongst Hondurans outside the Garifuna communities?
I can say that no. As a result of the non-compliance to the judgments which was confirmed in 2020, we started quite an intense fight and have made a lot of noise about the forced disappearance of four of our colleagues from the Triunfo de la Cruz community. I can say that there has been a lot of work done to raise awareness within Honduras and the international community. I think it is more the lack of doing from the government, in spite of the pressure we have exerted since their non-compliance was registered and after the disappearance of my colleagues.
Do you think fear of political revenge influences people, and do you think there's a general distrust amongst communities that prompts inaction?
Yes. We have two communities and six judgments already issued by the inter-American condition. One of which we are still waiting to hear the judgment on, and two of which we are still waiting for the court to call us to start the proceedings.
There is a lot of fear from the leaders. I currently have colleagues within the Punta Gorda community who are following the process of the judgments and have been threatened, so they are worried about how to proceed. We have colleagues from Triunfo de la Cruz who are still disappeared and another colleague who was recently killed. So, the fear is always there. We are at risk every day fighting for the compliance of those judgments.
Concerning the lack of complementary action, such as state sanctions, what is the UK’s role in safeguarding the Garifuna community’s Indigenous rights?
I have some information that supports asylum which is good, but what we would like is stronger demands for the state of Honduras to comply with these judgments, to respect the life of the Garifuna people and for the UK government to make it clear to the Honduran government that the Garifuna community are the rightful owners of those territories. The Garifuna people need our land because it’s part of our ancestry, our spiritual life. It’s part of our daily living existence, so we need decisive actions to help us maintain our life on our land. This is what I have told the UK Foreign Office.
What threats and reprisals have you and your colleagues faced due to your activism?
Death. Disappearance. The Honduran government favours the tourism companies and businesses, so they're trying to remove our land from the Garifuna people entirely. We receive threats daily. Recently, our colleague - Miriam - the organisation's general coordinator, suffered an attack. Before I left for this trip, I also had two direct threats. Before that, another colleague had also been the victim of an attack. However, we can't stay quiet. It is the livelihood of our people - who are at risk every day - so we have to keep telling the stories, talking and asking for humanitarian help through all the states and governments, just to be heard.
How do you think this speaking tour organised by PBI will help your situation?
We hope there will be follow-ups to these meetings because we have a massive job to do. We hope the attendees from these meetings will keep providing support and opening doors for us, even just continuing to follow what's going on will help us keep moving forward.
Yesterday, you talked about the ZEDEs. Could you tell us more about that?
There are currently five ZEDEs - the government calls ‘Zones for Employment and Economic Development’ - in Honduras. The one I have more information about is the one that is near us. In 2011, when our organisation first heard about ZEDEs, we stated that we were against them. Then, in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, the community of Crawfish Rock - a sister community that calls itself an English-speaking black community - asked for support from us because they had signed a document and been lied to by Próspera {a technology and services ZEDE}. When we arrived at the Crawfish community, there was a new patron with two powerful women fighting to avoid disappearance.
An OFRANEH protest against the enforced disappearance of their colleagues. Their whereabouts is still unknown.
Próspera has caused severe ecological and environmental damage that has impacted the Crawfish community. As a result of the pollution, there are many ill people, no longer good water, and people are at risk of disappearance. Despite there being a law passed by the new government, Próspera has not complied. They have increased their investments in the community, and everything around it is Próspera. Now, the question I'm asking myself is, what will happen to Crawfish? What's going to happen to these people? Where are they going to go? Because even if they don't want to go, they will be forced to abandon their land. I even have colleagues who have been threatened by the fight and are extremely worried.
As the situation with Próspera continues, the government only appear to read the documents, because, in reality, it is not doing anything but making the international community believe that it is respecting all international conventions and treaties.
You have built and maintained what should be a safehaven for Garifuna communities in the coastal community of Vallecito . Can you tell us a bit about that?
When I speak about Vallecito, my life changes. Vallecito is 1,500 hectares of land that we got back from the narcos, but it is an ongoing fight because that is where our leader Miriam Miranda was attacked this week. Despite that, Vallecito is a paradise where we have started planting coconuts to save the land. We also wanted to create a factory when we began coconut production two or three years ago. As a result, the first coconut factory in Honduras will be inaugurated very soon, in addition to a casabe [cassava bread] factory. Vallecito is a community where we grow food, raise animals to eat and distribute this to other communities. That’s why we say Vallecito is the centre of the Garifuna community. We hope to one day create a type of Vallecito in all the Garifuna communities. We are already starting to do this by recovering our land in Punta Gorda. On the 7th of September, it will be a year of being there. It will also almost be a year after a violent eviction in which we were nearly killed. Despite that, it’s wonderful.
What do you hope to do next?
First, I would love to - although I can't say - stop fighting for rights. That’s just not possible. In our country, it is the only way to survive. However, I will continue to fight for sustainable communities, a healthier way of life, for our people to be safer, and to keep our culture and traditions intact.
Download our short briefing paper on Garifuna rights in Honduras here.
Information on quick actions you can take to help Melissa and land and environmental defenders here.
Donate to help us organise more visits by human rights defenders to galvanise international support here.
