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News -> Gari-News
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The Maya Chorti indigenous community in the Copan area of Honduras were killed |
03/17/00
By: Comite De Emergencia Garifuna de Honduras
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On March 12, four members of the Maya Chorti indigenous community in the Copan area of Honduras were killed. The suspects are the Cuevas
family and their employees, who have mounted an increasingly pitched battle for the land the Chortis (descendents of the Maya) have always occupied. According to CONPAH (Confederacion de Pueblos Autoctonous de Honduras) in the past decade, the Cuevas family, a major cattle raising business, began to fence in the land surrounding the Chorti's towns and fields, and then demanded that the Chortis deliver 50% of their
harvest to them in a form of neo-feudalism. Refusing to do this, around '95 or '96, the Chorti began to organize opposition to this exploitation. They eventually succeeded in vindicating their rights through official channels, though not before houses were burned down, and one child was killed in such an arson attack. Around '97, after sufficient pressure, the government recognized the Maya Chortis' rights, paid the Cuevas for the land and 'gave' it to the Chortis. The response of the enemies of the Maya Chorti in April of '97, was the killing of the President of the
Regional Counsel of the Indigenous of Copan, Candido Amador Recinos, on his way back from negotiating land rights with the National Agrarian
Institute, and that case has never been resolved, though the Cuevas were suspects then as well.
The Cuevas then began with the strategy of blocking the Maya Chorti community's access to their water source. This, too, the Chorti opposed through official channels, and eventually the government pressured the Cuevas to eliminate the fencing in '98 or '99. Threats and hostilities continued, and now 4 Maya Chorti active community members have been assasinated: Vicente Arias, Henecon Arias, Antonio Garcia y Balbino
Hernandez.
The Maya Chorti and their allies, including the Comite de Emergencia Garifuna de Honduras, demand an open and thorough investigation, and that
the killers of these four and Candido be brought to justice. To support this demand, send letters to the Comite at:
s_shende@yahoo.com
or
A.P. No.
67 / Trujillo, Colon / Honduras.
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