/REPEAT/HONDURAS: Native People on Hunger Strike in Costa Rican Embassy

By Thelma Mejía Reprint | | Print |

Thelma Mejia

TEGUCIGALPA, Jul 31 1997 (IPS) - The 16 Honduran indigenous people seeking political asylum in the Costa Rican embassy here went on hunger strike Wednesday when their request was turned down.

Their action formed part of the Lenca and Chorti peoples’ efforts to pressurise the Honduran government, demanding they hand over land offered in May and protect security in the western zones of the country, where these indigenous peoples live.

Group leader Marcos Gutierrez said the hunger strike in the diplomatic headquarters would continue until Costa Rica “reconsiders” its decision, and the Honduran government meets the Lenca and Chorti demands.

The occupants of the Costa Rican embassy supported their call for asylum as the indians claimed they had been illegally evicted from their homes, received death threats and been robbed of their lands in Copan, Ocotepeque and Intibuca – three western areas with high poverty indices.

Costa Rica’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it would not be granting asylum as there was lack of real evidence of a situation of instability and political persecution in Honduras.

Ambassador of Costa Rica, Manuel Carballo, said his government would do what it could to guarantee life and rights to the indigenous people in the embassy building.

Carballo stressed these “univited guests” should now leave the embassy, which they entered peacefully on Monday.

Indigenous movement leader, Nohemy Aranda said her group had received Costa Rica’s rejection “with sadness, because we are really being persecuted and now fear even more for our lives.”

“We put our lives and hopes in the hands of the Costa Rican government, and now we feel more threatened, because we had the nerve to publically denounce the harassment and persecution” against the Lenca and Chorti peoples, said Aranda.

Meanwhile, human rights and religious groups said the 16 indigenous people acted hastily in seeking political asylum in Costa Rica.

The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Honduras (Codeh) refused to comment on the fact, saying they “lacked information,” asking for this “delicate” case to be treated carefully.

At the same time, the Catholic order of Jesuit priests refused to participate in a mediation committee between the asylum seeking indigenous people and Costa Rica’s foreign ministry.

The Jesuits said that although they support the indigenous peoples’ fight for land security, they would not take up the invitation to join the negotiating group.

In their opinion, all action should be directed through the Council of Guarantors, a group designated by the government and indigenous people to supervise the fulfilment of the agreements signed by both sides on May 13.

The Council of Guarantors, which includes Codeh and Jesuit representatives amongst its members, said two weeks ago the government was not fulfilling its promises to provide land to the indigenous peoples nor was it protecting their security.

One member of the Council told IPS the Lenca and Chorti people in the Costa Rican embassy had been badly advised.

“They are in a delicate situation, and we must be careful (the ethnic) movement does not lose sight of its goals, which are land claims and security,” said the source.

The government promised to give the Lenca and Chorti people some 11,000 hectares of land, but has not done so, and is now planning to hand over only some 9,000 hectares in three month’s time.

In response, the indigenous people created a Permament Resistence Committee last week and sent a delegation to the capital to demand the fulfilment of the government commitment and call for political asylum in Costa Rica.

There are seven different indigenous groups totalling 500,000 people living in the north, centre, south and west of Honduras.