Land Rights and Garifuna Identity

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2004

REPORT ON RACE, PART 1

These consequences will remain unclear, in turn, until well be the most reasonable means at hand. If so, it will ihe process of Maya rearticulation begins. Given the be especially crucial to name that space, to highlight the genocidal brutality of Guatemala's ruling elite, amply menace it entails, and to subject its occupants to strin- demonstrated in recent histor)', this process is sure to gent demands for accountability to an indigenous con- turn ugly. It would be fatalistic to abandon hopes for stituency with an alternative political vision. Otherwise, rearticulation in anticipation of this ugliness, but irre- It will be safe to assume that those who occupy this sponsible to advocate Maya ascendancy without imagin- space have acquiesced, if only by default, to the regres- mg some means to assuage the fears and lessen the polar- sive neoliberal project that the indio permitido is meant ization. To occupy the space of the indio permitido may to serve. •

The undeveloped beachfronl of Tela, Honduras, an increasingly popular tourist destina- tion.

byEvaT. Thorne

HE HISTORY OF THE GARlFUNA PEOPLE HAS tered fierce resistance from the Garifuna. The long been tied to land. The Garifuna conflict erupted into a yearlong war in 1772, Toriginate from the 17th century when, ending in a treaty considered by most accounts on the windward Caribbean island of St. to be the first signed between the British and Vincent, the island's indigenous Arawak- an indigenous Caribbean population. Caribs integrated runaway and shipwrecked A second war broke out over the failure of Eva I Thome is African slaves into their communities, Meyer and Waller the British to honor the terms of the treaty, but Jafje assistant European colonists first referred to their prog- this time the overpowered Garifuna surren- professor of politico eny as "Black Caribs" and later "Garifuna," as dered on British terms. The entire population at Brandeis they are still known. When the English pushed was imprisoned for a year in a camp on a near- l/niversity in out the French settlers of St. Vincent and by island, where more than half perished. The Waltham, Massachusetts. sought possession of the island, they encoun- survivors were then loaded onto the H.M.S. 21 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS

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Experiment, no less, and transported thousands of miles a vital role in reducing rural poverty and remains an away to the Honduran island of Roatan. Erom there, important political and policy issue in the region. Most they fanned out throughout the Caribbean coast of Afro-descendant communities in Latin America are still Central America, Garifuna communities now ring the heavily reliant on access to land for their cultural, eco- coast from Belize and Guatemala to Honduras and nomic, environmental and social security In recent Nicaragua. years, these communities have asserted collective claim to the lands they have inhabited since the colonial era, pressuring national governments to provide them formal title. As a central element of this struggle, rural blacks across Latin America are demanding recognition as distinct ethnic groups vrtth group-specific rights, including to land and territory Here, the distinction between race and ethnicity is important. In the juridical context of most countries of the region, historically derived ethnicity, and not race per se, forms the legal basis for col- Garifuna lective claims to a distinct territory Not all rural black children in communities can successfully claim such rights: only rela, Honduras those able to document their history as communities sell cassava founded by escaped slaves. Thus, most Afro-descendant bread to a groups pursuing collective land rights have begun their tourist. struggles for land by first upholding a set of claims relating to ethnic lineage and historic residency Honduras currently has the largest population of Typically, these groups first seek legitimation based on Garifuna at 250,000, according to the country's Special social memories of their battles, dating from the colo- Office on Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage. Their com- nial era, against racial oppression. They also affirm their munities reside, as they have for generations, along the distinct ethnic identity and link this to longstanding northern coast of the country and La Mosquitia in the occupation of a given territory, dating from before the east. There, they have managed to preserve their lan- founding of the independent Latin American nation- guage and many cultural practices, including unique state. These claims confer upon them indigenous-like musical, culinary and religious forms. The high degree legal status. of coherence and continuity that characterizes their cul- This strategy stems from the constitutional reforms tural identity and residency patterns has become central that became an integral part of the Latin American polit- to their renewed struggles to secure land. ical landscape as democratization swept the region in In fact, the increasingly powerful Gartfuna communi- the 1980s, While these reforms often legally enshrined ty in Honduras leads one of the more successful Afro- authoritarian enclaves that shaped the emerging demo- descendant land rights movements in Latin America. As cratic regimes, they also contained elements of promise part of their political mobilization, they have affirmed for the promotion of popular interests. In particular, their racial and ethnic identity to strengthen their col- they allowed for land reform, one category of which was lective territorial claims. Indeed, the partial victories of ethnic-specific, introduced to address Afro-descendant the land rights struggles of Honduras' Garifuna cannot and indigenous land claims. These reforms reflected be understood without taking into account the ways in increasing governmental acknowledgment of the pluri- which this community has successfully politicized and cultural and multiethnic character of the region's popu- linked identity and land, and forced the Honduran gov- lations. ernment to recognize this linkage. As a result, in some Latin American countries rural Afro-descendant communities are now legally recog- LAND CONFLICTS HAVE OCCURRED REGULARLY IN LATIN nized as having a distinct ethnicity and as commanding American societies for centuries, and they continue to the right to collective and communal land title. In 1988, do so despite the regional trend toward rapid urbaniza- the Brazilian Constitution adopted Transitory Article tion. Access to land has long been documented to play 68, which recognized the land claims of descendants of 22 SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2004

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the country's escaped slave communities, known as THESE COMPLICATED ISSUES ARE ALL AT PLAY IN THE LAND quilombos.^ In Colombia, the land rights of blacks on struggles of Honduras' Garifuna, The Garifuna are one of the Pacific coast gained constitutional recognition in nine recognized ethnic groups in Honduras, which col- 1991 with Transitory Article 55, which was implement- lectively represent about 13% of the country's popula- ed with the 1993 approval of Law 70,^ Article 83 of the tion. The Garifuna alone account for approximately 2%. 1998 Constitution of Ecuador granted Afro- Among those practices that distinguish the Garifuna Ecuadorians collective rights to ancestral lands. as a separate ethnic group are a particular set of subsis- Indigenous groups have often been granted addition- tence activities and a related gendered division of labor, al rights not afforded to Afro-descendant groups. In Garifuna men engage in non-commercial, low-intensity Colombia, for example, indigenous communities were fishing in both the ocean and rivers. They also hunt, granted not only rights over land but also political, mainly deer and iguana. In agricultural production, jurisdictional autonomy, so that local, indigenous-led men are usually responsible for soil preparation as well governments now govern their own territories. In sharp as slashing and burning, while both men and women distinction, no such privileges have been granted Afro- are involved in the sowing, harvesting and storage of descendant communities. the crop. Women cultivate and grate yucca, dry it, and The legal logic behind ethnically based land claims then bake it over hot coals into the finished product, can be both empowering and exclusionary. It is empow- cassava bread, some of which is reserved for local mar- ering insofar as it accepts the ket consumption. Women are also responsible for the The victories of the legitimacy of deeply rooted, sale of surplus fish and agricultural products. (With massive male migration abroad from Garifuna commu- Garifuna's land rights ethnically distmct community identities. It is exclusionary to nities, a growing non-traditional male subsistence role struggles in ^y^^ extent it demands strict is the provision of remittances, while women increasingly assume the formerly male responsibilities of prop- Honduras cannot be ethnohistorical "proof" that , , , draws potentially controver- erty transactions and maintenance.) understood without i L J .U J The Garifuna maintain other unique cultural prac- sial boundaries withm and tices such as the Garifuna language, a particular set of taking into account between communities, religious beliefs and associated practices, as well as cul- theways in which excluding those unable to turally specific festivals. Many of these practices are generate acceptable documen- this community has tation. In the notable cases of inextricably linked to the group's conceptions of land successfully Brazil, Colombia and and territory; Community festivals mark the planting Ecuador, for example, to be and harvest seasons and particular fishing activities, for politicized and linked ^i^g^ble to claim land rights a example, and Garifuna cosmology invokes very specific identity and land. community must be able to notions about the land and how it is to be treated. clearly demarcate the territory With respect to land nghts, the Garifuna occupy a linked to its historically rooted identity In Honduras complex position. Legal and constitutional instruments and Nicaragua, groups must show that they have tradi- are often too narrow to acknowledge the diverse ways in tionally used their lands. Such requirements imply the which Garifuna self-perceive and position themselves prerequisite of cultural or ethnic distinctiveness. externally Although they have been racialized within Although some Afro-descendant communities define the categories of negro (black) and moreno (dark- themselves in ethnic terms, the dominant societies in skinned), the Garifuna see themselves, and are seen, as which they exist insist upon viewing them still as strict- both a racial and an ethnic group. As a group, they have ly racial groups, negating these communities' diverse experienced high levels of discrimination ever since self-conceptions,^ Their social and political marginal- their arrival in Honduras, characterized by the denial of ization partly stems from their identification as racially social and civil rights. Historic indicators of their exclu- Other and, complicating matters further, in some sion include their concentration in low-wage labor posi- instances the communities themselves claim both eth- tions and their lack of access to public spaces and high- nic and racial identities,"^ These issues of racial and eth- er learning. In these ways, their experience recalls that nic identity further overlap with land titling and natural of blacks in the United States during the Jim Crow era. resource use and require better integration, both Their "blackness" has also excluded them from analytically and practically Honduran national identity, which, as in most Latin 23 NACLA REPORT ON THE AMERICAS

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American countries, is characterized as mestizo. This their claims. Ironically, however, the same international concept incorporates a mix of European and indigenous bodies are also mdirectly undermining Garlfuna gains. qualities, but largely ignores and/or marginalizes The World Bank has provided the government of Honduran society's African legacy. This exclusion from Honduras with a loan for coastal and tourism develop- the hegemonic understanding of national belonging ment, which may have profoundly negative conse- previously undermined the abiUty of the Garifuna lo quences for Garlfuna communities and their struggle make group-specific claims. Active political mohiliza- for land.5 tion, however, has largely attenuated the Latin Since Garifuna communities are located along the American myth of the mestizo nation. country's spectacular northern beaches, the To the extent that the reality of cultural While other growth of tourism imperils their land claim difference has been acknowledged and efforts. Tourism has become Honduras' sec- commercial interests addressed in conceptions of national iden- ond largest source of foreign exchange. tity, legal frameworks and public policies have historically According to the National Tourism in Honduras, this largely has been the threatened Institute, in 2001 tourism generated accomplishment of indigenous people. $256.2 million from 483,300 tourists—the These groups have successfully command- encroachment on maj ority from neighboring Central ed official recognition as distinct, collec- Garifuna lands, Amencan countries, about a third from the tive subjects with specific languages, cos- United States. The government projects a mologies, and relationships to land and tourism has greatly more than 5% annual increase in tourism territory. Moreover, they have won special amplified the intensity and anticipates Honduras will attract one legal status by virtue of their pre-European million foreign tourists and generate and dimensions of this presence in Honduras. 30,000 direct and 40,000 indirect jobs over It is within this rubric of "the indige- threat the next four years.^ nous" that the Garifuna have gained polit- Honduras' tourism plan centers on a ical leverage. First, the Garifuna originated from a mix- combination of six attractions: archaeology, colonial ing of Africans with an indigenous Caribbean popula- cities, nature and adventure, beaches and culturas vivas tion. Significant elements of their language are {living cultures). As the centerpiece of the country's Amerindian in origin, as are other elements of their tourism effort, its ecotourism program offers an exten- unique, indigenous-like identity. For example, they sive system of national parks and protected areas creat- organize their communities communally, especially ed over the past 20 years. Through the coordination of with respect to iand tenure and agricultural practices, the Honduras Tourism Institute and the Ministry of the much like their indigenous counterparts. Second, they Environment (SEDA), the government has made a con- are "indigenous" to Honduras in that they arrived before certed effort to attract foreign investment to the indus- the republic won independence from Spain in the try. 1800s. Foreign investment in the tourism sector necessitates Garlfuna leaders have used this indigenous frame- clarity around existing land ownership. Honduran con- work to promote their case with the Honduran state. stitutional recognition of Garifuna land rights puts valu- They have also reached out for international points of able lands under a communal titling regime that is, at leverage, taking advantage of the overarching institu- least theoretically, immune to market logic. The repre- tional framework characteristic of this era of globaliza- sentative political institutions of Garlfuna communities, tion. For instance, they successfully pressured the known as patronatos, hold the communal land titles. Honduran state to recognize the applicabiUty to their These titles grant the community rights to a given area status of International Labor Organization Convention in perpetuity. They may not sell the land or transfer its 169 on indigenous peoples. They have also gained con- ownership outside the community. Improvements, such siderable ground through analogous policies within as houses and other buildings, can be bought and sold multilateral development banks, such as the World within the community, but the land remains inalienable. Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank. These Meanwhile, the tourism boom of recent years and the legal instruments and institutional policies, with their consequent demand for valuable beachfront property provisions for group land rights, have offered the has created incentives for land invasions and intimida- Garifuna a critical foothold by which to proceed with tion, as well as bribery and outright violence against 24 SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2004

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Garifuna communities. While other commercial interests have historically threatened encroachment on Garifuna lands, tourism has greatly amplified the intensity and dimensions of this threat. Some community members have responded by illegally selling their land to outsiders, often fearing they will lose their land without financial compensation if they refuse to sell. Some patronatos have also engaged in illegal land sales to outsiders. Because of such sales, and because Honduran political and legal institutions are often ineffective and corrupt, nearly all Garifuna territories suffer from multi- ple ownership claims. This has made foreign investment in coastal tourism contentious and difficult to manage. These threats to Garifuna land have generated a massive grassroots political response. Since the late 1980s, a number of Garifuna-led organizations have arisen. Two are especially prominent: the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH) and the Ethnic Community Development Organization (ODECO), both of which have offices in La Ceiba, on the Atlantic coast. OFRANEH is a grassroots support organization. A Garifuna man ODECO, the more powerful of the two nongovernmen- in Tocamacho on Honduras' tal organizations (NGOs) in terms of its international north coast. reach and funding, serves as an intermediary between international aid agencies and Garifuna communities. Both have played a key role in pressuring the Honduran Between 1997 and 2002, most Garifuna communi- government to honor its constitutional commitment to ties received formal ownership titles to a significant title Garifuna land. They are active in public education portion of land. This major accomplishment reflects and consciousness-raising, political advocacy and lobby- the Garifunas success in pressing for the recognition ing, community organizing, development work and of their ethnic distinctness and their linking of this fund raising. identity to lands of traditional occupation. In most Until 1992 all the Garifuna communities in cases, however, the titles are limited and apply only to Honduras, with the exception of those of Cristales and the casco urbano of the community. In other words, Rio Negro, possessed only titulos de ocupacwn (titles of communal titles have generally been granted only to occupation) for their lands. These titles acknowledged areas where Garifuna houses are actually located, leav- the community's presence on the land but not its right to ing untitled areas where the communities' agricultural full and legai ownership. In 1996, Garifuna NGOs and activities take place. Yet these areas—in addition to patronatos united under the umbrella of the National those used historically by the community for hunting, Coordinator of Black Organizations of Honduras fishing and other activities—comprise the majority (CNONH) to mobilize more than five thousand people of Garifunas' territorial claims. Mestizo cattle ranchers, for the "First Grand Peaceful March of the Black People real estate speculators, large businesses and foreigners of Honduras." This demonstration sought to pressure target these territories for invasions. Powerful the Honduran government into addressing titulacion Honduran military, business and political actors hold (titling), ampliacion (enlargement) and saneamiento land in these areas and have sponsored a number (dealing with third parties) in Garifuna communities. of legislative efforts designed to reduce the size of The Coordinadora, as the coalition was known, succeed- Garifuna territory Although several Garifuna ed in securing a meeting with a presidential commission, agricultural cooperatives did surmount these powerful which resulted in an agreement to set aside the equiva- competing interests and receive title in 1998, the strug- lent of $227,000 for the National Agrarian Institute to gle is clearly unfinished and the obstacles remain title Garifuna lands. substantial. • 25