Honduras: The Garífuna community of San Juan resists territorial dispossession

• The Garífuna community of San Juan on the Caribbean coast of Honduras is facing forced eviction and land dispossession.
• Despite a 2023 Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ruling ordering the Honduran government to recognize and protect the community's ancestral land, the state has largely failed to comply.
• A new law for the protection of agro-industrial and tourism sectors is being utilized as a legal instrument to criminalize residents and facilitate the seizure of community lands.

Forced Evictions and Judicial Harassment

• In early July, police forcibly entered the San Juan community, leading to the arrest of five activists from the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (Ofraneh).
• The land was reclassified by judicial order to belong to the commercial entity 'Promociones y Turismo,' marking the first time the new agro-industrial law has been used for such an eviction.
• Detained activists, though released with precautionary measures, remain under investigation by the National Territorial Competence Court for Organized Crime, facing charges of aggravated usurpation.

Political Context and Structural Violence

• Activists describe a shift toward a more repressive regime under President Nasry Asfura, who assumed power in early 2026 following elections characterized by right-wing consolidation.
• The National Network of Women Defenders in Honduras documented 2,484 attacks against defenders in 2025, with half targeting peasant cooperatives and Garífuna communities.
• Critics argue that Honduras is becoming a focal point for authoritarian control, citing regional shifts toward right-wing governance backed by U.S. influence.

Resistance and Community Survival

• The Garífuna community maintains internal support systems, including housing cooperatives and initiatives to reclaim lands damaged by monoculture African palm oil plantations.
• Women play a central role in the resistance, prioritizing food sovereignty by replanting traditional crops like coconut, yucca, and plantains to combat displacement and migration pressure.
• Massive development projects, particularly in tourism and energy, are criticized for overriding communal land rights and destroying the environment that sustains the local population.