Recognizing Indigenous Miskitu Territory in Honduras

Abstract

For five decades, indigenous Miskitu communities have fought for legal title of their lands in the Muskitia region of eastern Honduras. The central geopolitical force of this territorial movement has been the Miskitu federation, (Muskitia Asla Takanka, or Unity of Muskitia). This descriptive case study shows how Miskitu engagement with state and other actors, amid a sea of powerful and sometimes dangerous local and global forces, has led to the peaceful development of twelve new indigenous territorial jurisdictions (s). These s, called concejos territoriales (s) or territorial councils, have newly designed intercommunity titles that recognize the overlapping land uses and broader functional habitats (subsistence zones) of Miskitu communities. These features—inherent in their customary practices—were first plotted through participatory research mapping () in 1992 and thereafter becoming requisites for titling. The Miskitu example demonstrates how indigenous territoriality can be peacefully accommodated within the context of the state.

• concejo territorial
• Honduras
• indigenous territory
• Miskitu
• participatory mapping

Notes

1. Other native groups in Honduras include the Ch'orti‐Maya, Garífuna, Lenca, Pech, Tawahka, and Tolupán. The spellings of the region as “Mosquitia” or “Moskitia,” and the language as “Miskito,” are no longer considered correct by native speakers and linguists because the letters “o” and “q” do not exist in the language. We use “Muskitia” and “Miskitu” here.

2. These include the 1974 Agrarian Reform Law; the 1994 Law for Modernization and Development; 1995 Honduran ratification of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention Agreement; the 2004 Honduran Property Law; the 2007 Forestry Law; and the 2007 United Nations Declaration on Indigenous Peoples.

3. See footnote 2.

4. Geographer Peter Herlihy and MOPAWI's Land Legalization Program Coordinator and Geographer, Andrew Leake, wrote the project proposal and designed and implemented the new cartographic methodology (MASTA and MOPAWI 1993; Herlihy and Leake 1997).

5. The term “functional habitat” is, in our opinion, less precise and more ambiguous, but has become widely used, even by the Miskitu.

6. Donaldo Allen, a Miskitu leader and teacher, formed the federation in 1990, now called RAYAKA. Today Allen is president of CONPAH (Confederación de Pueblos Autóctonos de Honduras) and one of Muskitia's most influential leaders. He worked as a local investigator on the 1992 and 1997‐98 PRM projects and has served as MASTA leading “land expert.”

7. RAYAKA in 1990; KATAINASTA, Auka‐Laka, and Zona Recuperada in 1993; Patuca Medio in 1994; and Zona Wampusirpi and FINZMOS in 1995 (CAHDEA and MOPAWI 1997).

8. RAYAKA ceded part of its territory to create DIUNAT and BATIASTA; KATAINASTA ceded territory to create Auhya Yari; FINZMOS maintained its jurisdiction over communities in the forested interiors. Wampusirpi federation was renamed BAKINASTA, while Patuca Medio became BAMIASTA. Finally, Auka‐Laka federation was divided into the three CTs WAMAKKLISINASTA, TRUKTSINASTA, and LAINASTA. Zona Recuperada became WATIASTA. Three are proposed for the Tawahka, Pech, and Garífuna communities. In total, the CTs cover all of Gracias a Dios, except half the BRP nucleus.

9. IP/PATH II worked in KATAINASTA, Auhya Yari, FINZMOS, and BAMIASTA; ICF/PROTEP (Programa de Ordenamiento Territorial y Protección del Medio Ambiente en el Río Plátano as part of the Cooperación Alemana (GiZ) worked in BAKINASTA, BATIASTA, DIUNAT, and RAYAKA inside the Río Plátano Biosphere, and with the Tawahka, Pech, and Garífuna outside its limits; INA worked in WAMAKKLISINASTA, TRUKTSINASTA, LAINASTA, and WATIASTA.

10. The government had passed ownership of the lands within the BRP to the Honduran Forestry Agency in 1997 (Herlihy 2001).

11. In 2018, for the first time, each CT will nominate its own candidate for MASTA's presidential election.

12. Both individuals were “local investigators” on the 1992 Tierra Indigenas map (Herlihy and Leake 1997, 716). They worked over twenty years on Miskitu land legalization efforts.

Additional information

Funding

Office of the Secretary of the United States Department of Defense

U.S. Army Research Laboratory

U.S. Army Research Office

Notes on contributors

Peter H. Herlihy

Dr. Herlihy is a professor of geography in the Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045. Email: [email protected].

Taylor A. Tappan

Mr. Tappan is a doctoral candidate in geography, Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045. Email: [email protected].