Activists in Honduras’ Garífuna community of Punta Gorda, Roatán were violently removed from their ancestral lands on Nov. 7.
)), showed the moment when members of Honduras’ military and national police showed up in tactical gear and rousted Garífuna activists from a plot of land they had taken over in September after it appeared to have been illegally sold.
Punta Gorda was the Garífuna’s first community, formed 225 years ago when they were exiled from St. Vincent and left in the Bay Islands by the English crown. The Garífuna established homes in Punta Gorda and their community remains there to this day; Garífuna diaspora communities also formed along the Atlantic coast of Honduras and there is a strong Garífuna community, today, in the New York City area.
But Punta Gorda has been a source of contention in Honduras for more than 40 years; it is the only Garífuna community in Honduras that the community lacks title ownership to. Recently, Punta Gorda has also become a tourist hot spot where foreigners are buying up property with the permission of the government.
The activists removed from Punta Gorda on Nov. 7 had established themselves on what they deemed reclaimed land. The plot of land was an extension of Garífuna ancestral land—they had taken possession of it on Sept. 3 and named it “Wagaira Le” .