We summarize here information concerning cases of repression against Rights Action community development partner organizations. These are two among the endemic climate of repression against community development and indigenous movements in Honduras and the region. We can provide institutional donors with full proposals and budgets for the following groups.

Attack on Gregoria Flores, OFRANEH

On May 30, 2005, Gregoria Flores, General Coordinator of OFRANEH (Organización Fraterna Negra de Honduras) and a leader of the Garífuna people, was shot in the arm in La Ceiba, north coast of Honduras. She was going, in a vehicle, to the community of Triunfo de la Cruz to collect testimonies of human rights violations to present to the Inter-American Human Rights Commission when an unknown male shot at her vehicle. On March 25, 2005, State authorities illegally entered and searched the house of OFRANEH activist Miriam Miranda, supposedly searching for weapons. The government has not clarified this act of persecution, one of several cases of political repression against Garífuna community leaders. OFRANEH has been working to defend Garifuna communal territory from the advances of mega-tourist projects, large landowners, and other initiatives such as PATH, the Honduras Land Administration Project, financed by the World Bank.

Targetted killing, Edickson Roberto Lemus

On May 24, in the northwestern city of El Progreso, Yoro, Edickson Roberto Lemus, regional coordinator of the CNTC (Central Nacional de Trabajadores del Campo), left a meeting and took a city bus, where an unknown individual shot Edickson 4 times, killing him immediately. Edickson was on his way to the nearby community of El Pajuiles, where the campesino group 'Renacer' (Rebirth) had suffered a violent eviction on May 19, 2005. He was also an important organizer in several communities, accompanying various campesino groups in the department of Yoro and coordinating solidarity and follow-up in other cases of repression against local community leaders.

With your support, Rights Action will continue to fund the long-term, community-controlled development work of OFRANEH, the CNTC and other community-based groups in Honduras