Garifuna people
Garifuna People
The Garifuna people are the only inhabitants of Cayos Cochinos Archipelago. They are originally from St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the east side of the Caribbean sea and they are descendants of an unique and very fascinating mixed-race combination of Amerindian Arawak, Carib from Kalinago and African people. Their first ancestors, the Amerindian Arawak and the Carib migrated from South America and settle down on St. Vincent way before the Europeans arrived, probably around the 1200. Later on in 1635 two Spanish ships carrying hundreds of Nigerians shipwrecked nearby, the surving slaves found help and hospitality on the island among the Carib-Arawak population adding the last contribution to the Garifuna ethnicity. Since then they lived peacefully until the early 1700s when French showed interest in the islands, starting a war that the Garifuna who fought bravely for their freedom and independence forcing the French to forging an alliance that lasted for decades. Unlikely when the British took over the French interests in the area they were not interested in a peaceful cooperation with the Garifuna giving start to the 1st Carib war in 1776 that lasted 7 years until 1783 when the British were beaten and forced to sign a peace treaty. British broke the treaty 22 years later starting the 2nd Carib war, this time with more soldiers, army and better organized were able to defeat the Garifuna that very hardly finally surrendered in 1796. Many Garifuna were captured and exiled to a closer island where many of them died of malnutrition and disease. A year later the approximately 2000 surviving Garifunas were sent by ship to Roatán. Nowadays over 800,000 are the descendants of the original Garifuna ethnic group. Some of them still live in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines but other communities are in Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico and Belize and a large group have moved to the United States. Garifuna people are very proud of their origins and history, they have kept their language, costumes and cultural traditions.
In 2001, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) declared the Garifuna culture a “Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity”, same for the Cayos Cochinos Archipelago declared a World Heritage Site later in 2015
Cayos Cochinos national park is a group of two small islands and 13 more small coral cays situated 20 miles northeast of La Ceiba, Honduras.
Exson Alejandro Flores Aranda is a 36 years old Garifuna fisherman father 5. He was born and raised on the little island of east end in Cayos Cochinos, He goes fishing everyday with his wooden canoe still fishing in the traditional ways. His family living depend mostly on lobster fishing. Garifuna people joined the Cayos Cochins/ Honduran Coral Reef Foundation, working toward a better and sustainable fishing, they have developed a respectful awareness toward the environment and the sea. They are the only ones allowed to fish in Cayos Cochinos national park.
Silvia Ramirez Pipian is one of the women that works at the little Eco hotel in East End. She cooks for the hotel guests, manly the fish fished from his son in law Mario Flores and other community fishermen.
Mario Flores Aranda along with his brother Exson are 2 of the community leaders. They work with the Cayos Cochins Honduran Coral Reef Foundation toward a better and sustainable fishing. Garifuna are the only ones allowed to fish in Cayos Cochinos. According whit the park, they fish lobster using a line loop instead of a hook, in this way they don’t kill the lobster in a brutal way and allow them to check if the lobster meet the standard measurement otherwise they will release it alive and unharmed in the sea.
Regina Nunez was married to a Garifuna from East End island, she was born without her left arm. Her husband died few years ago and left her with 5 kids, the oldest one is now a fisherman. Few months after her husband died, Regina lost her house set on fire by accident. The Garifuna community of East End gave her hope, they helped her to rebuild the house. She has a new life now, a new house a canoe and wooden traps her son uses to fish lobster. Their life depend on lobster fishing. The Garifuna people are the descendants of the West Africa slaves who washed ashore in the Caribbean around 1635, on their way to the New World, to work in mines or plantations. Now days, there are approximately 300,000 Garifuna People, many of them lives in US or in Canada, the rest lives in little villages around the cost of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua. Some times they live in extremely poor condition, they are meanly fisherman since generation and they are lately generating some income from eco tourism and sustainable fishing as well, specially in touristic places like Cayos Cochinos in Honduras.
Garifuna people are the only ones allowed to fish in Cayos Cochinos. According whit the park they fish lobster using a line loop instead of a hook, in this way they don’t kill the lobster in a brutal way and allow them to check if the lobster meet the standard measurement otherwise they will release it alive and unharmed in the sea.
The East End school was first build in 1987 as a little shack with one only teacher, later on the school was finished thanks to charity money from some US citizen. The school is named after Dr Alfonso Lacayo, the first cardiologist Garifuna and it offer education for all the Garifuna that live in the Cayos Cochinos islands, giving them education and hope along with the possibility to improve their life.
Malaquias Zuniga is an old fisherman that builds lobster tramps for himself and other fishermen. He lives in Chachahuate, a little cayos on the West End of Cayos Cochinos. He is always been a very important figure in the Cayos community, however he has been a bad fisherman with a bad influences on others for many years. Finally he understood the importance of a better and more sustainable fishing and now he defines himself a good fisherman, respectful towards the environment and the sea. He now represents a good example of sustainable and respectful fishing for is community, specially for the young fishermen.
East End island has recently received a new water system, now the community has clean water coming directly to their houses and guests accommodations. This will help the people working with Eco tourism and have a better life.
Keathun G, originally from Cayos Cochinos left Honduras when he was a young man, He lived in the States for 45 years. He worked on commercial vessel also touring the world. When he retired he went straight back to his native island. He found a lot of member of his old family still alive. With his saving he build a house on a family property by the sea. His son recently went to visit him from Florida, and with his wife decided to build a little resort on his father property.