Country:Belize
Group: Garifuna
Date Finalized: 10/29/2020
Team: Johanna McCombs (lead), Vianney Mancilla, Nusrat Nijum, Michael Demangone
There is limited information from sources on whether the Garifuna experienced forced labor in Belize but according to one of the sources used there was a brief time period where they were forced into military service.
The Garifuna are an Afro-indigenous community originating from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent (Minority Rights Group, 2018). In the late 1790’s the British forced more than 4,000 Garifuna to move to Belize from Honduras because the British considered them prisoners of war (Minority Rights Group, n.d.). On this journey more than 2,000 garifuna died. Once in Belize the British attempted to force the Garifuna to fight for them against the Spanish. Some of the Garifuna were used for slave labor in the early 1800’s but many land owners believe the Garifuna would “forment rebellion among the slaves” so the Garifuna were not commonly seen as slaves before the abolition of slavery in 1838 (Moberg, 1992). The Garifuna people advocated for their rights in order to maintain their freedom (Minority Rights Group, 2018). In other parts of Latin America, the Garifuna also experienced forced labor alongside African slaves (Mober, 1992).
The data quality is 2 because all the sources are reputable but there is limited information of the garifuna experiencing forced labor specifically in Belize.
Sources
- Minority Rights Group. “Belize.” (2018). Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/country/belize/.
- Minority Rights Group. “Garifuna.” (n.d.). Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/garifuna-2/.
- Moberg, M. (1992). Continuity under Colonial Rule: The Alcalde System and the Garifuna in Belize, 1858-1969. Ethnohistory, 39(1), 1–19. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.2307/482562.