Sambo Creek, November 14, 2017.- The Trujillo City Court of Letters once again issues a subpoena for 4 Garifunas leaders, including OFRANEH General Coordinator, charged with defamation by Canadian businessman Patrick Foreseth. The hearing is scheduled for the 24th of this month.

Sentencias Triunfo Cruz y Punta Piedra señala al estado como culpable violar derecho a consulta previa Ley consulta impulsada por gobierno y @PNUDHN no se apega estándares internacionales y puede intensificar violencia contra garifunas
Vivos se los llevaron
Vivos los queremos pic.twitter.com/njDZlz1sIf

— ofraneh (@ofraneh) August 14, 2020

Mr. Forseth is allegedly defamed by the use of the word mafia, referring to the group of foreigners who have been owning land in the Garífunas communities of Trujillo Bay. The use of the term mafia has become a serious personal offense, prompting him to stand a complaint against the four Garífunas leaders,

The word mafia means in the Garífuna language evil spirit or demon. For the Garífuna people the kind of intervention of the Canadians, is not only considered as a spoiler but also the work of evil beings willing to expel us from our ancestral territory.

It should be noted that in the dictionary of the SAR, the word mafia in its third meaning defines it as an "organized group that tries to defend its interests without too many scruples". In English in the Webster dictionary the word mafia in its second meaning means "a group of people of similar interests or backgrounds prominent in a particular field or enterprise".

It appears that the Canadian "investor" suffers from enormous susceptibility in relation to his image, however in terms of social responsibility, he has no scruples, to the point of legal proceeding against four women, using the legal system as an instrument of intimidation, intended to silence existing claims for his inappropriate conduct as an entrepreneur.

It should be noted that in Honduras, there is a broad and convenient ignorance of indigenous law jurisprudence among justice operators, a fact which can be described as supine ignorance. There is sufficient jurisprudence issued by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, bypassed by the State of Honduras and its institutions, a situation that has become of having to appear before the Inter-American Court dd Human Rights (IDH Court) where the Honduran State was condemned in 2015, for the violation of the right to community property set out in Art 21 of the Inter-American Declaration of Human Rights of the communities of Triunfo de la Cruz and Punta Piedra.

Since 2009, community members have initiated the relevant allegations about the appropriation of the territory that was being given to Randy Jorgensen. Subsequently, Mr. Patrick Forseth appeared on the scene, who undoubtedly became fully aware of the existing opposition to the sales of land to outsiders, in addition to the existence of international conventions and treaties aimed at the protection of the territories of indigenous peoples.

When we pointed to Mr. Forseth as a usurper, we referred to the land occupied by the Garífunas MUTU Women's Community Project – which was funded by AECID and UNDP's Small Donations Programme – ended up in the hands of the foreigner who acquired the land in question, through a questioned chairman of the Board of Trustees, who illegally dismembered the land , subsequently entitled to a third party, involved in its delivery.

As for Randy Jorgensen and his nickname "King of Porn", it is a reference that emerges in his home country, when in October 1993, Maclean magazine published on its cover a photo of the Canadian calling him the "king of porn" the media began to use that nickname, after a connotized case that had a huge media impact.

In the case of the usurpation of the land in question in Guadeloupe, the Public Prosecutor's Office (M.P) issued on its Twitter account a post in which he indicated on June 27, 2016, "In the initial hearing against registrar of the Property Institute (I.P) Tania Santos for irregularly inscribing land of Garífunas communities in Colón". For June 29 of the same year, the MP issued another twitter, stating that "Next Wednesday they would notify initial hearing resolution against IP registrar who registered titles in Garífunas de Colón lands.

Subsequently the Public Ministry was called to silence, La OFRANEH requested from the Public Prosecutor's Office information on the decision issued by the Court of Trujillo. According to the Prosecutor of the Ethnicities, the lawyer Jany del Cid, the court granted a definitive dismissal, in relation to the case of Registrar Tania Santos, thus demonstrating the absence of a state of law in the country, and the protection afforded to alleged investors to the detriment of the rights of the peoples over their ancestral territories.

It should be noted that the IACHD Court noted regarding community ownership in its judgments in Xakmok Kasek vs Paraguay and the Sawhoyamaxa vs. Paraguay indigenous community that "members of indigenous peoples who have inadvertently lost possession of their lands, and these have been legitimately transferred to third parties in good faith, have the right to recover them or obtain other lands of equal extent and quality".

As a consequence of territorial offal in the bay, persecution of defenders of motherland, and existing legal protection, OFRANEH recently made a petition to the IDH Commission concerning the Garifuna communities in Trujillo Bay.

Honduran Black Fraternal Organization, OFRANEH