Winter 2000-2001 - HR in Honduras

continued . . . Honduras, by Brenda Norrell

Candido Martinez, leader of the Lenca Indigenous movement on the border of Honduras and El Salvador, speaks quickly and rhythmically like the ticking of a clock measuring time.

"I am in the military's plan for execution." Without pausing, Martinez adds, "Every day is harder." Speaking during dinner at La Indita Restaurant, Martinez said he does not know how long he will live when he returns to Honduras. He urges a silent world to protest the slaughter and displacement of his people-the largest Indigenous group in Honduras-in the name of development.

Already, Lenca children have been burned alive in their homes, 50 Lenca protesters murdered by military and police, and Indigenous leaders imprisoned for crimes they did not commit, he said. "Children have been assassinated. Landlords and military police have set fire to Indigenous people's homes."

One-hundred and eighty-four Lenca "have been disappeared," the term for the extermination of protesters in Latin America. Their crime was to protest the destruction of their medicine plants and deforestation by 37 sawmills; opposition to a proposed hydroelectric dam on the border of Honduras and El Salvador; and theft of their intellectual property rights. Now, in the struggle to protect aboriginal land of the 300,000 Lenca, Martinez said the Internet could be a means of getting their message out to the world and ultimately saving their lives.

"We have no e-mail or Internet and part of our mission is to install this. We have a need for this network to inform the world," he said, speaking in Spanish through a translator. Martinez is among the leaders of COPIN (National Civic Committee of Indigenous and Popular People) targeted for death by the military in Honduras.

Although he is under constant watch in Honduras, with the help of US human rights organizations, Martinez secured a visa and traveled to the United States to carry the Lenca's message and their fear of the Honduran military's next attack. "We don't doubt that they are getting ready to commit a massacre."

In their struggle, Lenca in desperate conditions carried out 35 pilgrimages, marches and strikes. As tens of thousands protested, others maintained hunger strikes. They have sought political asylum at the Costa Rican Embassy when lives were threatened; protested in solidarity with Mayans from Chiapas outside Mexican and Guatemalan Embassies; protested the US military presence outside the US Embassy. Outside the Embassy of Spain, they protested colonization and in front of France's Embassy, they rallied against nuclear testing. They are now opposing a proposed hydro-electric dam that would displace 40,000 Lenca. "The product of our struggle is that we have been able to expel larger companies. They were doing a lot of damage to our ecology. Flora and fauna were being destroyed, medicine plants damaged."

With 15 percent to 20 percent infant mortality and annual monthly income of $50 to $70 (US), Lenca struggle for survival. Only three out of every 1,000 attend universities, he said. "The government has never shown any interest in developing education in our territory."

Martinez said Lenca lack technical skills to produce manufactured products on their own. They have no labor rights, evidenced by the fact new factories leave without paying wages owed to Lenca. "They open and close quickly and argue they have gone bankrupt."

The privatization of public water and utilities threatens to raise even higher the cost of living. Already, the local currency is worth one-seventh what it was eight years ago, Martinez said.

"We firmly believe that in Honduras the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. In Honduras, people become rich overnight." Except for the Lenca. "Indigenous people can vote, but we are not recognized as part of the social system."

During US military occupation in the area, DNA sampling was done and experiments performed on Lenca to determine their resistance to disease, Martinez reported. "They want to extract microorganisms from human beings and plants. It is one more form of genocide."

Their struggle is costing Lenca their lives. During a protest last year, police hurled 500 tear gas canisters into a crowd of 25,000 people, killing two, wounding 40 and resulting in fetal deaths and birth defects, Martinez said. "We have our hearts for the struggle. This power doesn't come from money, but the desire and strength that comes from our veins."

Dr. Joy Mockbee, medical doctor in Tucson serving with Doctors for Global Health, said it is organizing medical and human rights support for Lenca. Witness for Peace, a grass-roots human rights organization supporting justice and sustainable economies through non-violent means, and Doctors for Global Health were hosts for Martinez' Southwest visit.

Martinez urged letters to the World Bank, requesting consultation be carried out with Lenca before development de-stroys their land and culture. An appeal was made for letters to the government of Honduras to respect the United Nations International Convention 169, regarding consultation and participation of ethnic people in decisions regarding livelihood, lands and cultures.

"The new conquerors are disguised as democracy, but they want our land," Martinez said. "It has grave consequences for our human rights."

— This article was first published in Indian Country Today.
It has been reprinted here with the permission of the author, Brenda Norrell.

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