Country: Belize

Group: Garifuna

Data Finalized: 3/1/2020

Team: Kimberly Prete (lead), Sophia Agne, Rayna Castillo

The Garifuna are an Afro-indigenous group that arrived in Belize in the 1830’s. Before that in July 1796, British forces expelled 4776 Garifuna from St. Vincent to Ballicaeaux island which had little fresh water, natural shelter or potential for agriculture (Newton 2014).  An epidemic on the island killed more than half of the population on the island.  On April 12th, 1797 they were then exiled to the Honduras Bay islands where they were left to fend for themselves in the inhabitable lands they could find (Minority Rights, n.d.). Many died on this journey.  Some contemporary descendants of the group consider the British actions genocide although the British did not directly kill Garifuna (Cayetano, 2016). Although there was not direct killing, the forced exiles resulting in many deaths would count as ethnically targeted lethal violence.  Given the historical depth of the incident, and the relative lack of historical documents, the data quality would be considered a 2.

Sources

  1. Minority Rights Group (n.d.). Belize. https://minorityrights.org/country/belize/
  2. Brandes, H. (2018) Belize’s thriving Afro-Caribbean community, BBC. http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20181118-belizes-thriving-afro-caribbean-community
  3. Cayetano, R (2016) 219 years after genocide attempt, Garinagu celebrate survivial. Amandala – Belize’s Leading Newspaper. https://amandala.com.bz/news/219-years-genocide-attempt-garinagu-celebrate-survival/
  4. Newton, M. J. (2014). “The Race Leapt at Sauteurs” Genocide, Narrative, and Indigenous Exile from the Caribbean Archipelago. Caribbean Quarterly, 60(2), 5-28.