Honduras in Resistance: A Case Study in U.S. Imperialism and Corruption

The United States has always been to speak softly and carry a big stick purveyor of imperial might and violence, a term attributed to Theodore Roosevelt. Speaking softly meant the use of peaceful diplomacy, negotiations. The Big Stick is of course today’s nuclear war machine. In Roosevelt’s day this required intelligent forethought and just action.

The blessing of the Caribbean setting can also be a curse when it comes to the pressure from multinational tourism development. Photo By Jessica Aldridge on Cayos Cochinos.

Today we have manufactured intelligence and specifically unjust hegemonic and violent actions toward other countries. We kidnap leaders as in Venezuela based on fake charges of drug trafficking. We speak loudly for a minute, don’t wait for an answer, and then invade if they don’t comply with whatever whim of fearless and heedless leaders demand. This is what we did to Iran.

“The Garífuna people, for their way of being, were declared part of the Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2004. We don’t know what that means exactly, but we suppose it implies that the state must take action to protect and preserve the Garífuna people’s identity.” -Miriam Miranda, OFRANEH – Honduran Black Fraternal Organization. “Indio Barbaro” game in Barrio Cristales. Photo By Jack Eidt.

In this hemisphere, the SPEAK LOUDLY AND WIELD A BIG NUCLEAR STICK is in full swing with Secretary of War’s Greater North America push, not to be confused with Israel’s Greater Israel push, really…Pete Hegseth, whose days may be numbered as the military is in active rebellion of his heedless war crimes…unprovoked attacks, bombing civilians and their infrastructure, turning the U.S. into a cardboard bully-villain in his losing effort to advance the faltering U.S. empire…

While Honduras’ neo-liberal governments look to develop for tourism “unproductive Caribbean beaches,” they are home to the Garifuna people, existing in harmony with their surroundings. These hundreds of kilometers of “waste” are home to 46 villages, where people live as they have for a couple of hundred years, reliant on the sea for fishing, on the beach for coconut and fruit, on the wetlands for rice cultivation and the surrounding hillsides for growing yuca, firewood, and hunting. Photo By Jack Eidt.

In this episode, we engage in a discussion with Grahame Russell, co-founder and director of Rights Action, as we delve into the complexities of human rights and environmental struggles in Central America, particularly in Honduras. Grahame shares insights on U.S. military influence, the implications of political corruption, and the impact of tourism on Indigenous communities like the Garifuna. Join us as we explore the intricate web of power dynamics, resource exploitation, and the fight for justice in the region.

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Resources/Articles:

Grahame co-authored and co-edited TESTIMONIO–Canadian Mining in the Aftermath of Genocides in Guatemala.

Rights Action recently published Grahame’s report 13 BRAVE GIANTS-How We Won the Landmark Hudbay Minerals Lawsuits in Canada and the Mynor Padilla Criminal Trial in Guatemala, and at What Cost

Play Jankunu, Play Documentary

Grahame Russell is a Canadian and U.S. citizen. He has worked on human rights and justice, humanitarian relief, land defense and environmental issues in Central America since 1985. Since 1995, he is director of Rights Action, focusing particularly on Guatemala and Honduras. He is also a non-practicing lawyer and part-time professor at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Rights Action [http://www.rightsaction.org/] works (mainly) in Honduras and Guatemala in support of land, environment and human rights defense struggles resisting harms caused by sectors of the unjust global economy: mining and hydro-electric dams; for-export production of African palm, sugarcane and bananas; tourism and ‘sweatshop’ factories; and in denouncing political and military interventions, and economic warfare (“sanctions”) of the U.S., Canada and other ‘global north’ countries and actors.

Jack Eidt is an urban planner, environmental journalist, and climate organizer, as well as award-winning fiction writer. He is Co-Founder of SoCal 350 Climate Action and Executive Producer of EcoJustice Radio. He writes for a PBS SoCal Artbound project called High & Dry [https://www.pbssocal.org/people/high-dry]. He is also Founder and Publisher of WilderUtopia, a website dedicated to the question of Earth sustainability, finding society-level solutions to environmental, community, economic, transportation and energy needs. He also publishes articles and podcasts on Substack [

].

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Executive Producer and Host: Jack Eidt
Engineer and Original Music: Blake Quake Beats

Episode 283