Bahía de Tela: el tercer destierro
Summary
TLDREl proyecto turístico Tela Bay en Honduras, iniciado en 2003, ha generado conflictos con las comunidades garifunas que habitan la zona desde hace más de 200 años. Prometiendo desarrollo y empleo, el proyecto ha desestabilizado la vida comunitaria y enfrentado a los líderes a persecución política. La comunidad ha luchado contra la privatización de sus tierras y la supuesta genocidio cultural, enfrentando también la creciente migración de jóvenes hacia las ciudades o el extranjero. A pesar de los desafíos, la comunidad se aferra a su identidad cultural y a la importancia de sus tradiciones, incluyendo la música y los bailes garifunos, y continúa luchando por la protección de su territorio y sus derechos.
Takeaways
- 🌊 El proyecto turístico Tela Bay en Honduras ha generado conflictos con las comunidades garifunas que habitan la zona desde hace más de 200 años.
- 💼 El desarrollo del proyecto turístico se ha prometido como una fuente de empleo y desarrollo económico, pero ha traído consigo una serie de desafíos y daños a la vida comunitaria.
- 🏝️ Las comunidades garifunas viven de la tierra y el mar, y la destrucción de su entorno natural por parte del proyecto representa una amenaza a su forma de vida.
- 🤝 José Armando Guzmán, un líder comunitario, ha enfrentado persecución política y encarcelamiento injusto debido a su activismo en defensa de las tierras y los derechos de su comunidad.
- 🌱 Existe un esfuerzo por parte de las comunidades y líderes para mantener y proteger la cultura garifuna, que se encuentra en riesgo debido a la globalización y las políticas gubernamentales.
- 🏭 El proyecto Punta Izopo Resort y otras iniciativas similares han sido acusados de destruir campos de yuca y cocos, y de actuar de manera ilegal con respecto a los derechos de propiedad y el ambiente.
- 🚫 Las comunidades han enfrentado la criminalización y la usurpación de sus tierras, con el Estado a menudo otorgando títulos de propiedad a otras partes en contra de los derechos de las comunidades indígenas.
- 🌳 Las reservas ambientales gestionadas por Prolansate, como el Parque Nacional Blanca Jeanette Kawas, se ven afectadas por el desarrollo turístico, lo que pone en riesgo la biodiversidad y el equilibrio ecosistémico.
- 🚔 Hay relatos de represalias y violencia por parte de las fuerzas del orden y actores gubernamentales contra los defensores de la tierra y los derechos humanos.
- 📉 El desarrollo turístico se ha presentado como una solución para la migración masiva, pero en lugar de eso, ha contribuido a la creación de condiciones que obligan a las comunidades a migrar.
- 👵 La pérdida de la tierra y la cultura es considerada por las comunidades como un genocidio cultural, donde la identidad garifuna y su conexión con el territorio son esenciales para su existencia.
Q & A
¿Qué es el proyecto turístico de Tela Bay y cuándo se instaló en la región del Caribe hondureño?
-El proyecto turístico de Tela Bay, llamado Indura, es un proyecto instalado en el Caribe hondureño desde el año 2003. Se encuentra en una zona reconocida internacionalmente por su enorme riqueza natural.
¿Cuál es la relación de la comunidad garifuna con el territorio de Tela Bay?
-La comunidad garifuna ha vivido en la mayoría del territorio de Tela Bay durante más de 200 años, antes de la llegada del proyecto turístico.
¿Cómo se describe la vida en la comunidad de Barra Vieja antes del problema con Indura?
-La vida en la comunidad de Barra Vieja se describe como saludable y tranquila, contrastando con la situación actual debido a los conflictos con el proyecto Indura.
¿Qué estrategias del gobierno han afectado negativamente a la comunidad garifuna?
-El gobierno ha utilizado estrategias como envenenar cocos para justificar la vacunación de la comunidad, lo que ha llevado a la pérdida total de los recursos naturales y la necesidad de la comunidad de mudarse.
¿Por qué fue José Armando Guzmán encarcelado y cómo afectó esto a su participación en la defensa de la comunidad?
-José Armando Guzmán fue encarcelado en 1997 bajo la acusación falsa de tráfico de drogas, lo que fue una táctica para apartarlo y posiblemente eliminarlo. A pesar de esto, después de seis años y medio en prisión, fue liberado en 2003 gracias a la presión de organismos internacionales de derechos humanos y reintegrado al proceso de defensa de la comunidad de Triunfo de la Cruz.
¿Qué impacto ha tenido el desarrollo del proyecto turístico en la vida de la comunidad garifuna?
-El desarrollo del proyecto turístico ha interrumpido la tranquilidad ancestral de la comunidad, llevándola a una lucha por la supervivencia de su cultura y la permanencia en sus tierras, enfrentando la pérdida de sus medios de vida tradicionales.
¿Qué es el Plan de la Alianza para la Prosperidad del Triángulo Norte y cómo se relaciona con el proyecto de Tela Bay?
-El Plan de la Alianza para la Prosperidad del Triángulo Norte es un plan creado para detener las migraciones masivas y generar condiciones para que la gente se quede. En su componente de apoyo a la inversión para generar empleo, los megaproyectos turísticos, las ciudades charter y la industria textil son prioridades, incluyendo el proyecto de Tela Bay.
¿Cómo se describe la participación de la comunidad garifuna en la estructura del Fondo Hondureño de Inversión en Turismo (FHT)?
-La comunidad garifuna tiene un 7% de participación en la acciónaria del FHT, sin embargo, se menciona que este porcentaje se entregó al Estado de Honduras en lugar de directamente a las comunidades garifunas.
¿Qué desafíos ha enfrentado la comunidad de Triunfo de la Cruz en relación con la privatización de tierras?
-La comunidad de Triunfo de la Cruz ha sido víctima de la desprotección de tierras por parte de empresarios y políticos, lo que ha llevado a que el Estado sea llevado ante la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos para rendir cuentas.
¿Cómo se relaciona la cultura garifuna con su territorio y qué peligro representa la pérdida de este?
-La cultura garifuna está íntimamente vinculada con su territorio. Si la comunidad pierde su territorio, cambia completamente el sentido de ser garifuna, lo que podría considerarse como un genocidio cultural.
¿Qué impacto ha tenido la migración de los jóvenes garifunas en la comunidad?
-La migración de los jóvenes ha creado una división en la comunidad y ha llevado a una pérdida de la cultura y las tradiciones garifunas, al mismo tiempo que aumenta la dificultad de luchar por los derechos y la tierra.
¿Cómo se percibe el papel de la educación y la cultura en la lucha de la comunidad garifuna?
-La educación y la cultura son vistos como fundamentales para la lucha de la comunidad. La pérdida de la capacidad de hablar la lengua garifuna en las escuelas y la imposición de estilos de vida extranjeros han afectado negativamente la identidad y la resistencia cultural de la comunidad.
Outlines
🏝️ Proyecto Turístico Tela Bay y Exilio Garifuna
El primer párrafo aborda el proyecto turístico Tela Bay, establecido desde 2003 en la costa caribeña hondureña conocida por su rica biodiversidad. Se menciona que, a pesar de su potencial para el desarrollo económico y la creación de empleos, el proyecto ha generado conflictos que han perturbado la vida comunitaria de las comunidades garifunas que han vivido en la zona por más de dos siglos. José Armando Guzmán, de la comunidad de Barra Vieja, relata cómo las tácticas gubernamentales, incluyendo la intoxicación de cocos, han causado la desplazamiento forzoso de la comunidad.
🌱 Vida Sostenible y Persecución Política
Este párrafo profundiza en la vida sostenible de la comunidad y su conexión con la tierra y el mar. Se destaca la imposibilidad de vivir en otro lugar debido a esta conexión. La narración incluye la experiencia de un líder comunitario que fue encarcelado falsamente acusado de tráfico de drogas, lo que refleja la persecución política sufrida por los líderes de la comunidad. Además, se menciona la creciente ola de desarrollo turístico y la resistencia de la comunidad frente a él, incluyendo la destrucción de cultivos y la llegada de proyectos inmorales que amenazan la integridad de la comunidad.
🗺️ Garantía de la Permanencia Cultural Garifuna
El tercer párrafo se enfoca en los esfuerzos por defender no solo las tierras, sino también la permanencia de la comunidad garifuna. Se describe la realización del Plan de la Alianza para la Prosperidad en el Triángulo Norte, que tiene como prioridades el desarrollo de proyectos turísticos y la generación de empleo. Se destaca la importancia de integrar la economía rural al desarrollo y se menciona la creciente problemática de la usurpación de tierras y la criminalización de las comunidades indígenas como estrategias del modelo neoliberal.
🤝 Participación Comunitaria y Desafíos Ambientales
Este párrafo aborda la participación de la comunidad en el desarrollo del proyecto Tela Bay y los desafíos ambientales que presenta. Se menciona la creación del Fondo Hondureño de Inversión en Turismo (FHT) y la asignación del 7% de las acciones a la comunidad garifuna, que据称 se entregó al Estado en lugar de a la comunidad. Se discute la importancia de la gestión sostenible y la necesidad de minimizar el impacto ambiental de los proyectos de desarrollo. Además, se destaca el trabajo de la organización Prolansate y su papel en la gestión de las reservas naturales en la región.
🐟 Impactos en la Vida Tradicional y la Pesca Artesanal
El quinto párrafo relata los impactos negativos en la vida tradicional de la comunidad y la práctica de la pesca artesanal, que ha sido sustentada por los garifunas durante más de dos siglos. Se describe cómo las restricciones impuestas por organizaciones como Digipesca y la familia Facusse han limitado el acceso a las áreas de pesca y la supervivencia de la comunidad. Se menciona la lucha de la comunidad de Triunfo de la Cruz y la demanda ante la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos por la usurpación de tierras. Además, se destaca la pérdida de la cultura y la identidad garifuna debido a la imposición de estilos de vida extranjeros y la discriminación institucionalizada.
📚 Genocidio Cultural y Resistencia Garifuna
El sexto párrafo aborda el concepto de 'genocidio cultural' y la importancia de la cultura garifuna, que está íntimamente vinculada a su territorio. Se discute cómo la pérdida de este territorio altera completamente la identidad garifuna. La narración incluye la crítica a los gobiernos de El Salvador, Honduras y Guatemala por su enfoque en el lucro personal en lugar de las políticas de migración y la erradicación de la pobreza. Se destaca la resistencia de la comunidad y la importancia de la educación y la preservación de la cultura garifuna, a pesar de los desafíos y la discriminación racial.
🙌 Lucha por la Tierra y la Esperanza en la Comunidad
El último párrafo se centra en la lucha por la tierra y la esperanza que representa para la comunidad. Se destaca la fe en la ayuda de los ancestros y en Dios para recuperar las tierras y la determinación de luchar mientras exista vida y salud. Se menciona la importancia simbólica de la tierra como 'madre' para la comunidad y se relata la historia de los exilios y la migración de los garifunas, incluyendo la pérdida de sus instrumentos musicales durante su viaje. Además, se destaca la resistencia y la alegría de la comunidad a pesar de las dificultades.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Garifuna
💡Tela Bay
💡Exilio
💡Conflicto
💡Desarrollo
💡Pérdida de tradiciones
💡Privatización de tierras
💡Cultural Genocide
💡Reservas ambientales
💡Prolansate
💡Migración
Highlights
El Proyecto Turístico Tela Bay en Honduras, instalado desde 2003, promete desarrollo y empleo pero ha generado conflictos con las comunidades garifunas que habitan allí desde hace más de 200 años.
José Armando Guzmán, de la comunidad de Barra Vieja, relata cómo la problemática con Indura ha afectado negativamente su saludable y tranquila vida.
Se describe un intento del gobierno de desplazar a las comunidades garifunas, a través de la intoxicación de cocos y la creación de una narrativa sobre un problema de terreno.
La comunidad de Triunfo de la Cruz resalta la importancia de su conexión con la tierra y el mar, y cómo la pérdida de estos medios de vida significaría la pérdida de su identidad.
Se menciona la encarcelación de un líder comunitario durante seis años y medio por un delito de tráfico de drogas del cual resultó ser inocente, como parte de la persecución política.
Las comunidades garifunas enfrentan la pérdida de sus tradiciones y la imposición de estilos de vida foráneos, lo que amenaza con la desaparición de su cultura.
El desarrollo del proyecto Tela Bay y la creación de la FHT han llevado a la desposesión de las comunidades, lo que ha terminado en un juicio en la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos.
Las reservas ambientales gestionadas por Prolansate, incluyendo el Parque Nacional Blanca Jeanette Kawas, coexisten con las comunidades garifunas y enfrentan retos con el desarrollo turístico.
Las comunidades han luchado por años para defender no solo sus tierras, sino también por garantizar la permanencia de su pueblo ante los megaproyectos turísticos.
El Plan de la Alianza para la Prosperidad del Triángulo Norte se enfatiza como un esfuerzo para detener las migraciones masivas, pero que podría desplazar a comunidades enteras.
Se destaca la resistencia y la determinación de las comunidades frente a la criminalización y la privatización de sus tierras, a pesar de la presión del modelo neoliberal.
La comunidad de Barra Vieja enfrenta una disputa sobre la propiedad de sus tierras, a pesar de haber existido como comunidad por más de 100 años.
Se describe cómo la participación de la comunidad en el proyecto Tela Bay, supuestamente del 7%, se ha transferido al Estado en lugar de directamente a las comunidades.
Las comunidades afectadas por el proyecto Tela Bay han logrado obtener una mínima participación en los beneficios y una representación en la junta directiva.
La cultura garifuna, única y especial, está intrínsecamente ligada a su territorio; la pérdida de este último amenaza con la alteración total de su identidad cultural.
Se aboga por la educación y la lucha contra el racismo institucionalizado, que ha llevado a la negación y la discriminación de las comunidades garifunas.
A pesar de las dificultades, las comunidades mantienen su fe y esperanza en la recuperación de sus tierras y en la supervivencia de su cultura a través de la resistencia y la lucha pacífica.
Transcripts
garifuna song
Tela Bay: the third exile
The Tela Bay project with it’s name visible, Indura,
is a turistic project installed in the Honduran Caribbean since 2003
in an international recognized zone because of it’s enourmosly natural wealth
however Tela Bay has been not found abandoned
a great part of it’s territory has been the home of Garifuna’s
communities for more tan 200 years.
This turistic megaproyect promises development, job and part of the earnings.
In the middle of a conflict that goes disarranging the communitary life.
(speaking garífuna´s language)
good morning, my name is José Armando Guzmán
I am from Barra Vieja
Here life is a really healthy life, quiet, well,
before we had the problem with Indura.
There are conflicts and strategies of the government,
because firstly they poisoned our coconuts.
First, well they said: this is a Garifuna’s way of living together
from the Tela Bay zone, we’re gonna take them out like this,
they poisoned, sprayed the coconuts and said,
well they invented that it was a problem with the ground
and that it was the lethal yellowing,
so it came that time when the community had to move on
because it was a total lost, so we recapacitate, the young men with our same ancients, our fathers,
so we stayed implanted in the community,
Triunfo de la Cruz (garifuna community)
Multicultural kínder garden in Triunfo de la Cruz
It would be impossible for us to live in another place that isn’t here
because we’re used to this life,
and this is what we are,
we live from the land and the sea,
and without that, for us, there is no life.
(kids speaking garifuna language) Good morning
We involved since 1994
in this problematic in the own Callejas’ government,
this bring us for consecuence,
a process of difamation that in 1997 I ended up in jail,
accused for drug dealing
even if I never dealed with drugs
and without being in that type of business,
this take me to being in jail six years and a half
because their intention was to apart me, and maybe liquidate me in jail
but I was lucky and at the end, because of the pressure of the international human rights organisms,
I was liberated in 2003
and since then I reincorporate again in this process of Triunfo de la Cruz.
This is part of what is the politic persecution to us as leaders
because we are members of the defense committee of lands CODET,
it was very hard, however we don’t stop working.
Personally, I had to work double, a double character,
assume my role as a mother, as a woman, as a partner,
and a lot of overloaded work but
we still could go with it, the committee didn’t stopped,
the fight didn’t stopped,
and that demonstrated a really strong resistance
in the process we were carrying on.
We, on the wake of all this quietness that we had lived all, ancestrally;
that quietness has been interrupted
with the national politics that are
about turistic megaprojects in our territory.
Now is worst, because they use our own people to send us the messages.
There are drug dealers in this.
The last thing is that we have an Enterprise here
that is named Punta Izopo Resort,
but, the people that are coming here are the servants of the Cachiros,
and the Cachiros that were recently extradited, supposedly,
but
the organization is here in Honduras,
just see that they have projects like this
coming to threaten us as a community,
and they still have the courage
of
to defy
the measures to celebrate acts and contracts in this community
and even so they are bringing machinery.
It’s incredible how it has been destroyed,
all the yucca fields,
coconuts,
all of that they have destroyed with machinery
and we don’t know in what way they got the scriptures but
we know that is illegal.
(PROLANSATE worker declaration in the CorteIDH visit): our guardcoast didn’t tell us anything that was happening
And then the major office called us to tell us
that the police has stopped this machinery from working in these fields.
The garífuna town had lived
two exiles
and to be ubicated in the coast,
the coast is appetizing,
the atlantic coast has turned in on the last years, on the last decades,
the most appetizing zone
because of all the wealth that it has,
but because of something that has to do with the topic of the turistic industry,
so the garífunas communities has been fighting in the last years
to just not only defend the lands but
to look for to guarantee the permanence of the garífuna town.
The first encounter of the Plan of the Alliance for Prosperity on the northern triangle was realized in Indura,
in it’s component to support the investment to generate employment
the turistic megaprojects, charter cities, and the textile industry
are priorities in this plan,
a plan created to stop the massive migrations,
generate conditions for the people to stay,
a plan that can be moving entire communities
and generating migration.
Juan Orlando Hernandez (Honduras’ president):
Thank you a lot for receiving us here in your township
and we are very optimistic
about working this year together,
in benefit of this township that has great potential.
The great challenge that this countries have
is how to incorporate to the rural economy to the development,
Gina Montiel (BID representant in Latinoamerica)
and this place
Indura
is an exact example of how one can take advantage of the potential of the countries
to turn it into opportunities.
I mean, this place so beautiful,
I had the chance to meet it 15 years ago
when I was the economist for the country for Honduras,
and I could see that these were beautiful beaches
but with a really neglected vegetation
and look how that has turned in;
and that is a product of a private- public relationship.
I get to work with the administration of the president Maduro
to try to develop the first plans,
is something like this,
and look the populations around, Miami, and all the populations
and how the area somehow and people in Tela have employments
in the development of an industry like that.
Is something like this but the scale has to be a lot higher
because is a lot of people that are unemployed.
(Military eviction to Barra Vieja community)
It is illogical that if the community of Barra Vieja has been existing 100 years ago,
the portuary come and now they are claiming with an scripture
given by the state in 1975
they came to say that they are the owners of Barra Vieja
and they maintain an illogical tesis
the tesis of defense of themselves
is to say that the community of Barra Vieja doesn’t exist,
when that is practically impossible,
in there are people that were born in 1924, 1954, 1970, 1974,
and there had been charges authorized from the state itself
like judges of the police, auxiliar municpal judges
and all that type of series that exist in a community,
so, the community has proved in oral and public judgments
the one has been absolved
but now we are following the judgment for the Board of Directors.
I want to aclare that this is a strategy
of the neoliberal model
to criminalize the communities when they have interests to strip away of their lands.
They are been accused for the crime of usurpation.
As you can see,
we can say that from Mosquitia to this places here,
just the garífunas has been living here at the seashores
but it’s not possible, I don’t know why now
that people come and want to get us out of our lands,
because when they need votes
they come to walk,
they get in themselves even in places that you can get to go
in just to ask us for votes,
to win us,
they said to vote for us, that they are going to give us that and that
they want to build bridges where there is no water,
but when they are in goverment they forget about the offers that they made,
so how we are not gonna feel discriminated?
It’s called Barra Vieja because they called it
in garifuna language was Binau di Quemeu
and that means in spanish Barra Vieja,
but the real name of Barra Vieja was Cocal,
that is the real name of the community, The Cocal.
It was a concern that if in the start of the development,
we would see that types of humanitary destruction in our community,
just imagine how it would be when the development
gets to be successful,
and until the now, it hasn’t been a success
because they still have a lot of work.
What is going to come to our garífunas communities?
What are we going to do?
the iniciative of building a hotel coplex in Tela Bay
Is from 1974
But during Ricardo Maduro’s government, in 2003 it starts the gestation
to make real the project and it’s created the FHT, (Honduran Funds of Inversion in Tourism).
the first Association Public-Private (APP)
which principal objective is to make real the development of this iniciative.
The actionary composition of the 42% from part of the Honduran Institute of Tourism
51% from the Honduran Fund of Inversion in Tourism.
And 7% from the Garifuna Community
We went to Indura, to ask them for the supposedly 7%
and what the lady answered,
that I don’t know which is her role in there,
She answered us that the 7%
they give it to the State of Honduras, not to the garifunas communities
and the state of Honduras was going to see how they will resolve the problems to the Garifunas Communities,
that is something that is really hard to understand
and something really critic,
and regrettable that we can get in this type of polemics
because of our leaders
so the people, believing the people that are beneficiary things to the communities
because they don’t focus on what is the reality
this types of projects come and hurt the community.
Well, we have achieved something,
because in the start the communities didn’t even had benefits,
none of the five communities of the sector of the Tela Bay
so since we achieved that the community had a 7%,
and we have to take advantage of that thing,
7% is a minimal thing to the five communities because it’s a benefit of all the communities that are in the sector of the Tela Bay,
so later of that, that is a part of the negotation,
achieving that 7%, we also achieve that of the Board of the Directors,
they can give one seat or one charge to the communities.
Tela Bay has also territory in ambiental reservation,
the “Blanca Jeanette Kawas” park
the reservation Punta Izopo
and the reservation Wild Life Texiguat,
share with the Garifunas communities that live in the buffer zone.
The organization that handles this reservations is Prolansate,
founded by the environmentalist Blanca Jeanette Kawas, murdered in 1995.
Every job that a human being realizes for the production of goods and services has an environment impact,
it will always develop that entrepreneurship
that has lower environment impact and that can generate
to whom is doing the entrepreneurship or an economic utility,
of course, we see other facet that the develop always has, it’s negative impacts,
and to develop in there is a damage too, to the environment,
but yes, we want to look to emplement those enterprises,
that it can have the less possible damage to the environment.
We have a lot of good approaches as with the Miami community,
as with the Barra Vieja community, with Tornabe,
we have really good relationships with the community, right now,
we can’t say that we have had frictions,
but we might say and we recognize that Tornabe has been one of the communities that we have been working really good with them
and we really send them a cordial greeting
and that they should know that without the communities we can’t realize any job,
they are the ones that are in the areas,
they are more affected than other zone,
or sometimes maybe one settler from far away that comes and do something that it’s not according to the norms
and according to the laws that are inside the country.
There are some environment impacts that are given in the area
that are in an official form,
and it’s when they made a license, the State gaves an ambiental license
to an enterpriser or a coorporation and in that case,
the State has always asked for the opinion of the Prolansate foundation
and we count with the technic equipment
give our techinical opinions of that and until now it has always been listened.
The Tela Bay project is a project that has come to damage the communities
and to damage us the heirs and the poor people settlers of our own lands and territory.
Digipesca has joined Prolansate
and that are the ones that are affecting us.
Lately in the community as protectors of fishing and the fauna,
where they also, they prohibit tu us to use some types of fishing nets,
nets that aren’t prohibited to fish, like three and a half, or three inches.
Now, they are saying that we can’t even do fishing anymore,
we can’t do the artesany fishing.
We started doing the artesany fishing since the Garifunas had 218 years
here in Honduras and that has been our living,
the fishing, and the agriculture,
and the lands where we
planted
the bananas,
rice,
corn,
there is the part where is it INDURA.
In Punto Izopo the half of the nucleus zone is not managed anymore by Prolansate,
but by the Facusse family
and just like the south in Honduras with the excuse to preserve the environment
it has been empowered of great amounts of land and of sea
The community of Triunfo de la Cruz it’s been the victim
and because of that dispossession of whom Facusse and other enterprisers and politics are part
the State has been taked to the Interamerican Court of Human Rights to render account.
Well, this ground here, it belonged to my grandmother,
all the mornings, I came with my grandma here to make the cleaning of the yucca, all the mornings.
That is the ground that they stole from us.
LABEL(Fenced by Marbella in Triunfo de la Cruz, near the reserve of Punta Izopo)
The people that worked with yucca in this zone
doesn’t have access anymore to that areas
because even the same people are in charge of putting private property
and they simply use the men of the community putting them as security guards in this zone,
at which we don’t have access anymore.
The premise of employment,
the premise of development
is a farce,
and now in this communities, after this projects are consolidated,
we, at the end, get cero development,
and this spaces have been lost,
and this is an attack against our culture.
As the town says, firstly,
a lot of our people, can’t see that
to reach as how we are now,
there has been an arragement from part of the government,
because firstly what they did with the communities was like,
make them lose their traditions
and it wasn’t just with the Garifuna people, but with the Indigenous also.
First, lose their traditions, and then once you turn into a common and current citizen,
and you don’t have an ethnicity,
practically, the same right that correspond to each one,
we don’t care, and this is a fight that they did a long time,
because first they started with the school,
that we couldn’t speak “Garifuna” in our schools, this was the first thing,
then was the immigration of our people to the United States,
and after that they adopt the same system of life as in the United States
and implemented it in our young people in here,
and in reality they alreadydressed them as americans, all the american style they take it here,
so this is a fight,
so, we start to lose the life in community that we had,
to adopt others life,
of other town, so now it’s really hard the fight that we are having,
because return to gather what was the Garifuna culture is like,
really hard, it’s not impossible,
but it’s really hard now because we have been living like 20 or 30 years in this situation.
A lot of them feel the young ones particularly,
the need to migrate,
to go to work in the city or maybe to go to the United States,
so there are several factors that are converging,
is the factor of the development,
the factor of the privatization of the lands,
the factor of the need that have the same members of the community
and then it came the migration,
there has been a massive migration from part of the young people of
the Garifunas’s communities and that creates too a division in the community.
I have heard the word “Cultural Genocide”.
That Garifuna culture is really special, is unique,
and as I tell you in the start, is directly vinculated with it’s territory.
If they don’t have territory, it changes totally the sense of being Garifuna.
Meanwhile, they are talking about this resources, a billion dollars
to this scoundrels of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala,
that is the crib of the corruption,
so they don’t care about the migration politic,
they don’t care about solving the poverty,
they just need the resources to keep making their mansions,
to keep buying weapons,
to keep buying tear gases so they can keep spraying people,
that without any doubt we are gonna still be in the streets, in disposition to be sprayed,
because here there isn’t another exit.
Norma Quioto (Barra Vieja settler singing in garifuna language)
It came since our roots, since yesteryears,
my grandma spoke garífuna, sang garífuna, my mom consequently so
and other familiars and other people garífunas that had died from there from the Barra Vieja community.
We sing, we speak, we dance, and everything.
Now I don’t dance because of a knee problem,
the arthritis,
this has make me a little incomfortable,
but there are other people that make it really well, that rhythim.
I would like to be in good health so
I can take a drum and show you so you can see how we make it, how we move.
In the people´s imagination , Garifunas, just serve to three things
play soccer, cook,
and dance.
That is the imaginary,
even if in this just tree spots,
we are the best ones.
You understand me?
But despite of that,
it exists too,
that feeling and that form to see, to neglet that reality,
and there is an institutionalized racism,
and if not let’s see the media, the system that the white is the better,
the black is what stinks, the bad, the ugly,
there is a need of an education in this country
because they can bear us but they don’t accept us.
(rapper) Don’t try to play with me
I don’t eat your lies
The rich is getting richer
And poor people getng worst
We have the determination and the support of our ancestors,
because some may say, the people that doesn’t know a lot
the culture of the Garifuna comunity,
we believe a lot in this,
and that’s because all the elements that
can favor this fight of us,
we have to use them, invoke people,
that you wouldn’t easily see them,
but we really feel them.
They always said to us, that in bad time, good face,
so there is no sadness, despite the heart
sometimes is a little bit opressed because of the scare, the fear,
but there we go, always happy.
Imagine, now, what all happens to us in the community without a job,
it’s hard, but we are here in the fight,
because we have faith in God
that our ancestors would help us to win our lands,
and here we are.
Our life is the land,
we are gonna keep fighting while we live,
while we have life we are going to keep fighting,
if we have health, that is the most important.
The hope in us is in our land,
the land for us is like our mother, so as long as the land exists, we have for what to fight.
Garifuna children singing in garifuna language
The exiles of garifuna people, first fom France to Saint Vincent island and then to Honduras north coast.
Then, because when my sisters and my brother left,
simply because of that problem,
they decide to go as immigrants of the United States
so like that they can have a little bit of way to live in the road
they took the drums,
the maracas, and the turtle shell
so like that they can make a little bit of money on the road,
but apparently they arrived Palenque (Mexico)
they needed to get over the train,
and they saw that with the drums they couldn’t
so they leave the drums.
A drum still stick there,
so they keep going taking the maracas,
and one of the drums
and my brother said that one of that drums
that they were playing so they can look for a little of money to keep going,
and that was in Veracruz,
so the police came, the migration,
and they almost get caught,
and they also get out, leaving the other drum,
and like that leaving that drum, and the turtle shell,
and they just arrived with the maracas to their destiny,
just with the maracas, and like that,
we stayed here without drums because those were the only drums we had here.
Ver Más Videos Relacionados
Cherán. Territorio, Lucha y Autonomía
Todo lo que necesitas saber sobre los Derechos indigenas en Colombia
Otomíes en la CDMX: Una historia de racismo en México | Documental
Comunalidad como concepto para el análisis de la vida comunal
Tinku de Macha, dónde PELEAN hasta MORIR | Festividad de la Cruz
EN PORTADA | "RENOVABLES SÍ, PERO ¿ASÍ?", los temores del MUNDO RURAL a la ENERGÍA VERDE | RTVE
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)