Assad Shoman, Said Musa, Lisa Shoman, Eamon Courtney, and Godfrey Smith, have joined other Belizeans in denouncing the kidnapping of 5 prominent members of the Garifuna Community in Honduras, which occurred about 3 and a half weeks ago.

Press reports out of Honduras assert that on July 18th, 2020, 27-year-old Alberth Snider Centeno, a prominent Garifuna Human right's activist, 39-year-old Milton Joel Martinez Alvarez, 29-year-old Suami Aparicio Mejia, 33-year-old Junior Rafael Juarez Mejia, and another man known only by the nickname, "Mamba", were all forcibly taken from their homes in Triunfo de La Cruz. This is a community on Honduras' north coast that, according to the international press, has been embroiled in a longstanding struggle to save their ancestral land from encroachments by nefarious business and criminal entities in Honduras.

The community of the victims insists that the kidnapping was carried out by the state.

Well, in a letter dated July 27th, the 5 former PUP Foreign Ministers urged Prime Minister Dean Barrow to quote, "...cause the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a note to the government of Honduras explaining the deep concern of our government over the systematic abuse of Garifuna communities…and in particular to ask for information regarding the five men abducted on 19 July." End quote.

In the letter, the 5 former foreign ministers write, quote, "The Garifuna people have been trying for years to save their beachfront lands from the hands of those who want them for tourist use, and they have suffered decades of violent land grabs, which have been carried out with total impunity." End quote.

Other members of Belize's Garifuna community have also condemned the kidnapping of their Honduran brethren.