HONDURAS, Tegucigalpa, (teleSUR) — Human rights activists pointed out that the Honduran state has not actually done anything to control the criminal gangs attacking the Indigenous territories; meantime the Garifuna Indigenous people on Wednesday denounced that gunmen murdered Martin Pandy, the leader of the Corozal community in Honduras.
Pandy was rushed to a hospital in the Atlantida department where he shortly passed away. The armed attack also caused the death of two other people.
Garifuna rights activist Luther Castillo noted that Pandy integrated efforts with young people, entrepreneurs, and Garifuna leaders abroad to address his community’s needs.
Police considered the hypothesis that the attackers took this action to solve differences arising from works in the community.
“My Corozal village is once again a victim of organized crime, which has installed itself in the permissive sight of the security entities in the area. They cynically facilitate the criminality that murders our people, extorts our entrepreneurs, and plunders our resources,” Castillo said.
The latest violent events in the Corozal community are no the first ones to be committed against the Garifuna people. On July 18, 2020, three vans arrived in the Triunfo de la Cruz municipality where they kidnapped four social leaders. Among them was Alberth Sneider who is reported missing to date.
The Garifuna people are a mixed African and Indigenous people group that descended from people who lived on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent. They speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language.
