Friendship Office of the Americas

The Friendship Office of the Americas is a social justice organization that fosters solidarity between the peoples of Nicaragua, Honduras and the United States and pursues polices of peace and friendship.

Drumbeats Answer Gunshots: Garífunas struggle to protect lands under threat in Honduras

 
Triunfo de la Cruz, on the Caribbean coast of Honduras, seems idyllic – a white sand, palm-lined beach, and children playing in the surf. However, it is one of many sites in a long-running battle for the land and culture of the Garífuna people, descendants of Afro-indigenous people from St Vincent who were exiled to the Honduran coast by the British in the 18th century. 

Relatives of victims of military operations demand justice

 
Relatives of victims of military operations demand justice
Tegucigalpa, December 13, 2012.

Relatives of people who have died at the hands of military personnel, as well as surviving victims, demanded justice at a press conference held today at the headquarters of COFADEH (Committee of the Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras). Decree 223-2011, using the second and last paragraphs of Article 274 of the Constitution as its basis, allowed the Armed Forces to perform police functions when there is a ‘state of emergency in public security’ and has been renewed 4 times through executive decrees. It has resulted in the involvement of military personnel in the violent deaths of civilians, including children.