Message from RIT Staff: We are grateful to feature this account by Amy Argenal, Board Member at RIT and Assistant Professor at University of San Francisco. As those who work with immigrants (and most of us are immigrants ourselves), it is our honor to study and share the deeper stories related to migration and the communities we serve, stories that go beyond mainstream narratives. The situation that Amy and her colleagues bear witness to in Honduras - communities fighting for sustainable environment and against intolerable oppressive conditions - resonates far beyond Latin America.
From Amy Argenal, Board Member at RIT and Assistant Professor at University of San Francisco:
In July 2021, 24 U.S. delegates from the Vamos a la Milpa campaign visited Honduras.
Milpa: a traditional food cultivation method where corn, beans, and squash are grown together for sustenance. It is a symbol of resilience and interdependence, especially when it comes to food security and sovereignty.
The goal of the delegation was to walk in solidarity with communities fighting for a new vision. A vision that counters the violence: the physical, environmental, and political violence that communities in Honduras have been facing under the regime of Juan Orlando Hernandez, the impacts of a crippling pandemic, and the two extremely destructive and climate induced hurricanes of Eta and Iota.
I have been active in the planning committee of the Vamos a la Milpa campaign and had the huge honor to be part of the delegation. As a board member of Refugee & Immigrant Transitions, I feel deeply called to understand what pushes the families that RIT supports here in the U.S. to leave their countries of origin.
Pictured: some of the delegates and some of the community in Guapinol.
(Amy is on the lower right, seated.)
The delegation arrived in Honduras in early July. On our first day together, we visited two communities that had lost homes to the devastating hurricanes. We found that they are experiencing more repression as they struggle to find access to land to grow crops and live safely without the fear of further flooding. Those are communities who had been able to grow and surround themselves with abundance, only to be threatened by landlords.
Some of the people we met were leaders in the Garífuna community, Afro-Indigenous people in Central America, who were still mourning the kidnapping of their five leaders a year ago. The Garífuna people have been defending their right to their territory and land for generations. Per North American Congress on Latin America, “the Garífuna Coast’s vast biodiversity makes the region extremely attractive to destructive foreign investors, who with the help of Honduran elite and corrupt politicians, have for years been appropriating beaches and wetlands for the construction of tourism projects.” Last year, five Garífuna leaders were abducted by people allegedly wearing police uniforms.
We made a solidarity visit to another community: Guapinol, and witnessed directly the political persecution and criminalization of the water protectors in that area.
Throughout our visit, the constant theme of access to land to sustain communities was so apparent. And yet, these are not the narratives that we hear in our U.S. media outlets on why people are fleeing the United States. We only hear of gang violence and lack of opportunities. However, the lack of opportunities is a state constructed crisis. Honduras is land rich with natural resources, and yet communities struggle to protect and preserve those, while the Honduran government auctions them off to the highest bidder - oftentimes friends and family.
Pictured: the Guapinol river
On Tuesday, July 6th, our delegation stepped foot into the Olanchito jail in the Bajo Aguan region to visit seven members of the Guapinol 8. These men have been in prison for over 500 days for defending the Guapinol river against a mining company that began construction in the Carlos Escaleras National Park. Inside the jail, we were able to hear testimonies from the water defenders on how dangerous the project is to their community. Their prosecution is a clear attack on their activism, and they are innocent.
This is just one of the examples of the many communities in Honduras fighting for the right to remain, fighting for their land and their resources. Two of the community leaders shared that they do not want to have to join a Caravan to migrate to the United States, this is their home, and if they leave, who will defend the river? And those water defenders not in prison are experiencing increased repression, with threatening phone calls and cars driving past their homes. Forced migration - this is what the mining companies, Inversiones los Pinares and EcoTek, want. They want the water protectors to leave the land for mining companies to exploit. (There is a U.S. based company, NuCor Corporation with investments in both of these mining companies.)
Stories like the resistance of the Guapinol community, and the struggles they are facing are often left out of our discussions of migration. We focus on the caravans, the gang violence and even, sometimes, a little mention of the hurricanes and other climate disasters. However, we need to fully understand the ways in which our government is complicit, the ways in which U.S. companies are complicit in forced migration. We need to stand in solidarity with communities fighting to stay, and protect the land and the natural resources.
The demands of the Guapinol community are clear. They shared with us that the Guapinol 8 are innocent and the charges must be dropped immediately. They have been criminalized for defending their water and it is time they are allowed to return home.
The community demands the end to concession of the mining permit, an annulment of the contract granted to the mining corporation, and the cancelation of the environmental licence. All of these, the permits and the licences were obtained through corruption. While we were there, it was discovered that a letter had been submitted that granted permission from the community leaders, however, this letter was forged. We also witnessed the immediate damage of this project in the San Pedro River.
The community demands that the Honduran government protect the lives of the water defenders and stop the criminalization of environmental activists.
The community recognizes and understands that the violence and repression that Guapinol is experiencing is part of a larger national situation of state violence and corruption by the government of Juan Orlando Hernandez.
The Vamos a la Milpa delegation demands that the United States government respect international laws in relationship with Honduras, and honor the process of democracy demanded by the people of Honduras. Any relationship with Honduras must be dependent upon the Honduran government respecting the human rights and the voice of the Honduran people.
The first time I visited Guapinol, a wonderful leader and activist, and partner of one of the Guapinol 8 in prison, taught me the Environmentalist cumbia, and I share it here now. I share it in honor of the Guapinol Community.
Esta es la cumbia, la cumbia ambientalista, la que defiende el agua y la vida.
Esta es la cumbia, la cumbia ambientalista, la que defiende el agua y la vida.
This is the cumbia, the environmentalist cumbia, those who defend water and life.
Guapinol, Guapinol estamos con vos. Guapinol Guapinol, estamos con vos.
Guapinol Guapinol we are with you.
Guapinol, Guapinol, resiste Guapinol !
Guapinol, Guapinol, Resist Guapinol
No son criminales, no son delincuentes
Son defensoras del medio ambiente
No son criminales, no son delincuentes,
Son defensoras del medio ambiente
They aren’t criminals, they aren't delinquents
They are defenders of the environment
Guapinol, Guapinol estamos con vos, Guapinol, Guapinol estamos con vos.
Guapinol Guapinol we are with you.
Todos somos Guapinol.
We are all Guapinol!
Learn more:
Freedom for Guapinol - website about the Guapinol 8 water defenders & action items
The Nation: article about the water conflicts in Honduras
NACLA: Garífuna Community Demands Return of Kidnapped Leaders