Official Communication of the Confederation

of Native People of Honduras

Number 5

May 9, 1997

The Confederation of Native People of Honduras (CONPAH)

communicates the following to the government of the Republic of

Honduras, the National and International Human Rights

Organizations, the National and International Mediums of

Communication and the Honduran population in general:

1. After five days of negotiation between the Negotiating

Commissions of the Goverment and the Indigenous and Garifuna

people, we have been subjected to five days of harrassment,

repression, intimidation and threats by the Goverment of the

Republic. We condemn this attitude because supposedly this

government operates under the Rule of Law and as such should respect

us and not violate our human rights, which includes the right to "not

the be the object of physical, psychic or moral violence."

2. At 9:00 on Friday morning, May 9, 1997, the Hunger Strike of

Indigenous and Garifuna people had reached 48 hours. The existence of

this hunger strike has allowed us to advance in the negotiations

because the Negotiating Commission of the Government of Honduras has

finally announced that it will give 2,000 hectares to the Chorti

population and 2,000 hectares to the Ocotepeque population. Both

parties are in agreement with in this proposal, however this is not

definate because we have the following observations:

a) The use of terms by the government which characterizes this as

a donation and protection, offends the dignity of the Indigenous

and Garifuna people. In this case and in the judicial mark of the

169th Covenant of the International Workers Organization, we

consider these terms offensive. We are not in accord with the use

of these words since we have not come to ask for favors, we have

come to demand that our rights are respected.

b) In order to recieve the land, the Institute of Anthropology and

History has to realize a census within the Indigenous and Garifuna

people. This offends the dignity of the people because we do not

believe that the Institute of Anthropology and History can or

should be able to determine who is and who is not indigenous.

Continuing within the mark of the 169th Convenant of the

International Workers Organization, the Indigenous and Garifuna

people are firmly committed to free determination.

c) The proposal of the government, represented by the Negotiating

Commission, is asking that in signing the document, all the members

of the pilgramage will return to their towns. We say that

although we have come to an accord in the delivery of the 4,000

hectares of land for the Choti population, we believe that to sign

the final document and leave without seeing in practice the results

of this document, will not guarantee anything. Since only twenty

percent (20%) of the Acts of July 1994, July 1995 and July 1996,

which were signed by the government have been fulfilled, we

already have sufficent reasons to doubt their word. For this reason,

we propose that at the signing of the final document, a commission

made up of representatives of the government and Indigenous and

Garifuna people travel to the lands which have been promised and

upon their return, the members of the pilgramage will return to their

towns.

3. We have struggled and resisted for many years-- 505 years to be

exact. During this time we have seen the forced taking of land,

repression, robbery, crimes and discrimination. We are no longer

willing to support these abuses. For this reason, we prefer to die

struggling, from hunger and cold than to die with our hands tied by

the landholders and ranchers.