Miralda Bulnes Describes Honduran Miskito Indian Plights

Miralda Bulnes Describes Honduran Miskito Indian Plights in Her Book

By Wendy Griffin

Latkwan Laka Danh Takisa Los Pueblos Originarios y la Guerra de Baja Intensidad en el Territorio de la Moskitia, Republica de Honduras Tomo I is a book by Honduran anthropologist and UNAH professor Danira Miralda Bulnes. Its title in Miskito means “Love (social, communitary, or the egalitarian tradition) is ending.” Its Spanish subtitle translate as The Original Peoples and the War of Low Intensity in the Territory of theMosquitia, Republic of Honduras, Vol. I. Just given the title, it is surprising that this book was published by the Honduran government itself. It was published by IHAH (Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History) as part of its commemoration of the 60^th year of its founding.

The Honduran government apparently had misgivings about publishing the book because after its publication, it was not distributed to bookstores. When the two book dealers who import Central American books for US libraries tried to buy copies, IHAH refused to sell the book to them. Only a few copies made it out of Honduras to international libraries as noted in Worldcat.

Danira Miralda Bulnes worked with the Miskitos in the Honduran Mosquitia during the time of the Contra War and the arrival of thousands of Miskito and Sumu refugees from Nicaragua. She returned to the Honduran Mosquitia and the border area of Nicaragua in 2008 and 2009.  She photographed the monument at Waspan with the name of all of those who died in the Contra War on the Atlantic Coast (the Mosquitia) and those photographs end the book.

She was also able to attend Sihkru Tara. In the past Sihkru was a celebration at the end of the year where the sukya or shaman would give thanks for a good agricultural year, pray for a good upcoming agricultural year, and announce eclipses and other natural phenomenon for the new year. There was singing, dancing, and feasting for several days. Now Sihkru Tara (Big Sihkru) is a binational (Honduras and Nicaragua) event when the Miskitos of both countries talk of the struggles for human rights of the Miskitos. It is held on the UN Day of the Indigenous People and alternates between being held in Honduras and being held in Nicaragua.

Miralda Bulnes analyzes the historical views of the Miskitos and the Mosquitia as reflected in official histories of Honduras. These reflect misunderstandings typical of ethnocentricism and racism. Then she looks at how the Miskitos were involved as labor first for the British and then for transnational companies trying to  exploit for profit the natural resources of the Moskitia.

The current industry taking advantage of Miskito labor and resources is the lobster diving and commercial fishing fleets based in the Bay Islands. Miskito divers are being killed or left paralyzed by the conditions under which they work including scuba diving to great depths without adequate training. Attempts by the Miskitos to include seafood diving (lobster, conch, sea cucumber and jellyfish) in the Honduran Labor Code have failed.

In the final chapters of the book she highlights new menaces for the Mosquitia and the Miskitos. These menaces have US backing as part of development plans for the Central American region. They include extensive plantations of African palm (for biodiesel and palm oil), hydroelectric dams especially on the Patuca River which will disturb transportation, fishing, riverine crop cycles, etc. petroleum exploration and exploitation and a US naval base on the Caratasca Lagoon. The US military bases in Central America are violations of the 1850 Clayton-Bulwer Treaty between England and the US.

Miralda Bulnes also highlights some of the problems of the Honduran Mosquitia being used as a transshipment point for cocaine destined for the US market. Some of the cocaine is being sold to Miskito lobster divers and other Miskito young people. According to Honduran newspapers 70% of the cocaine bound for the US goes through Honduras, especially through the Honduran Moskitia where it arrives via small aircraft landing on clandestine landing strips. The US military is active in the area, supposedly to protect Hondurans from the drug traffickers. MASTA, the Miskito ethnic federation, has a letter on its website asking for humanitarian and development aid, not military aid for theMosquitia.

Miralda Bulnes concludes that the US never left Central America, and that the war of low intensity against the natives of the Mosquitia has not ended. In 2009 there was an indigenous declaration calling for Autonomy of the Moskitia. Earlier attempts to request autonomy for the Honduran Mosquitia has met with negative reactions from the Honduran authorities in Tegucigalpa. When the treaty was signed between the Nicaraguan Miskitos and the Nicaraguan government in the 19^th century, the treaty guaranteed autonomy of the Mosquitia, which the Nicaraguan Miskitos were able to recover after the Contra War. The treaty between the Honduran Miskitos and the Honduran government in the 19^th century which was signed first, did not guarantee autonomy for the Honduran Miskitos.