On February 9, PBI-Honduras tweeted: “PBI accompanies the Lenca indigenous community Tierras del Padre before the eviction ordered for today. @OACNUDHHN [the Office in Honduras of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights] urge the State to suspend its execution since guarantees and conditions for the effective protection of human rights are not observed.”
Yesterday, the UN in Honduras tweeted: “The Office urges the State to consider suspending its execution, for not observing the guarantees and conditions for the effective protection of the rights of the community, particularly its right to housing and food.”
This morning, Miriam Miranda of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) also tweeted: “At this time, the intention is to evict the Tierras del Padre Indigenous community, by order of the Facusse Clan, who believe they own the country. The community has a Royal Certificate, which gives them ancestral rights over their territory. We demand respect for ancestral law!”
At 7:40 am Honduras time, Radio HRN reported:
“A judicial eviction registered on Wednesday morning (02.09.2022) in the Tierras del Padre Lenca indigenous community, located on the southern exit of the Honduran capital, turned violent and had to be stopped.”
At about 6:30 in the morning, several police agents appeared in the area, ancestral to the Lenca ethnic group, located in the south-eastern direction of the department of Francisco Morazán, in order to evict the residents of the Lenca community.
In this sense, the residents of Tierras del Padre opposed the eviction and closed ranks to prevent the access of the uniformed men and, seeing that the actions continued, women and older adults began to cry and beg not to be removed from the land.
“We are protected by law, we are poor, we have nowhere to live, we are fighting so that the eviction does not take place,” said one of the residents.
The members of the indigenous community, which borders the municipality of San Buenaventura and Santa Ana, at kilometer 11 on the southern highway, called on President Xiomara Castro to intercede on their behalf.
The residents stated that they are not invaders. Human Rights representatives, for their part, are present on the site. The executing judge and a contingent of security elements confronted those affected, minutes before they received the order to stop the eviction.
According to what was reported until 7:00 in the morning, the authorities are in dialogue, in order to find a way out of the situation, where around 120 families would be affected by the eviction.”
The full article can be read at Pobladores indígenas lencas claman ayuda a Xiomara Castro ante desalojo en comunidad Tierra del Padre.
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