11 B. The Garífuna Community of Triunfo de la Cruz: territory, organization, and mode of subsistence 59. The Garífuna Community of Triunfo de la Cruz is located in the Department of Atlántida, Municipality of Tela, on the Caribbean coast. The town known as Tela today was founded as “Triunfo de la Cruz” by the Spaniards on May 3, 1524. In 1805 it was inhabited by Garífunas, most of whom had cone 20 from the Department of Colón. The Garífunas began to be displaced in 1880 and went and re-founded 21 the “Triunfo de la Cruz” Community in the area they occupy today. 60. The Triunfo de la Cruz Community borders to the north with the Caribbean sea; to the south, with Cerro El Tigre; to the east, with the Punta Izopo National Park; and to the west, with Cerro 22 Triunfo de la Cruz. Thus it is located between Cerro Triunfo de la Cruz, which has been declared a historical monument, and the Cerro Punta Izopo buffer zone, which was declared a “National Park” protected area in 2001. 61. Triunfo de la Cruz is one of the largest Garífuna communities in Honduras and is a focal 23 point for the reproduction of Garífuna culture. It is a rural area with a population of approximately ten thousand (10,000) inhabitants who have maintained their own cultural forms, organization, and social and cultural institutions, ways of life, cosmovisions, practices, customs, ceremonial rites, language, clothing 24 and special relation to the land. 62. The Garífunas of Triunfo de la Cruz subsist on agriculture, hunting, small-scale fishing – out at sea and in the Plátano River – and tourism-related activities. These activities provide for the 25 community’s needs and some products are traded in Tela and the city of San Pedro Sula. Although farming has always been part of the Garífunas’ life, the loss of their lands has meant that it is now less prominent than it once was. They used to grow more bananas, cassava, old cocoyam, sweet potato, and other tubers. These losses were caused by the seizure of land by outsiders who arrived in the community and found it 26 to be a suitable place for agriculture and building homes. 20 Annex 2. Study by the Caribbean Central America Research Council on the “Ethnography of the Triunfo de la Cruz Community”. Appendix 1 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006. Some authors indicate that even in 1789 some Garífunas already occupied a neighborhood in the area known today as Tela. - López, García, Víctor. La bahía del Puerto del Sol y la masacre de los Garífunas de San Juan [The bay of Puerto del Sol and the Massacre of the Garífunas of San Juan]. Guaymura Editorial. Honduras. 1994. p. 13. Cited by: Caribbean Central America Research Council. Diagnostic Study on Land Use and Tenancy in the Garifuna and Miskito Communities of Honduras 2002-2003. Available at: http://ccarconline.org/Honduraseng.htm. pp. 32-33. 21 Annex 2. Study by the Caribbean Central America Research Council on the “Ethnography of the Triunfo de la Cruz Community”. Appendix 1 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006. According to a study carried out by the Caribbean Central America Research Council, between 1860 and 1880, the Garifuna families lived in the main ports known today as the Tela and La Ceiba areas. As the population increased, the Garifuna people were pushed out of the ports (…) establishing thriving villages near the ports in order to keep up their commercial activities and maintain their livelihoods. Here, they united with other Garífuna people originating form other parts of the coast. When the large agroindustrial companies such as United Fruit, Standard Fruit, and Cuyamel Fruit Company established set up their operations in the beginning of the XIX Century, the contemporary Garifuna communities of this area had already been established (…) At: Caribbean Central America Research Council. Diagnostic Study on Land Use and Tenancy in the Garifuna and Miskito Communities of Honduras 2002-2003. Available at: http://ccarconline.org/Honduraseng.htm. p. 33. 22 Annex 2. Study by the Caribbean Central America Research Council on the “Ethnography of the Triunfo de la Cruz Community”. Appendix 1 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006. 23 IACHR, Public Hearing dated March 2nd, 2007 on “Case 12.548 – Garifuna Community of Triunfo de la Cruz, Honduras”, 127th period of sessions. Expert appraisal by Edmund Taylor Gordon. 24 Annex 2. Study by the Caribbean Central America Research Council on the “Ethnography of the Triunfo de la Cruz Community”. Appendix 1 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006. 25 Annex 2. Study by the Caribbean Central America Research Council on the “Ethnography of the Triunfo de la Cruz Community”. Appendix 1 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006. 26 Annex 2. Study by the Caribbean Central America Research Council on the “Ethnography of the Triunfo de la Cruz Community”. Appendix 1 of the petitioner’s written communication of May 23, 2006, received by the IACHR on May 30, 2006.