For the first time, an Afro-descendant reaches the Supreme Court of Justice in Honduras. His name is Walter Sabio and he sees the inclusion of all ethnic groups in the country as a challenge to his career.
“This was the way to get to the CSJ. I urge my countrymen, the other ethnic groups, that if we meet the requirements, we dare. This is historic. Honduras is at the forefront of Central America and a good part of Latin America,” said the new magistrate in statements to the voice of america, after your choice.
Sabio has a master’s degree in business law and a 25-year legal career.
The 600,000 Hondurans of the Garífuna ethnic group, an ethnic group of African and Caribbean aboriginal descent, see one of their own there for the first time, in the highest body to deliver justice.
There are 48 Garífuna communities along the Honduran Atlantic coast, in the departments of Cortés, Atlántida, Colón and Gracias a Dios. But chronic poverty and historical inequality have forced many of this group to emigrate.
Sabio believes that the judiciary should be more impartial and guarantee that all native ethnic groups, not just Garífuna, have interpreters at hearings.
“I am no longer just the magistrate for the Garífuna people, but for the Honduran people,” he asserted.
The magistrate acknowledges that the problem of the invasion of land that the Garífuna communities in the Atlantic zone of Honduras have demanded for years is a very important point on their agenda, but that it will be resolved according to the law.
“There must be people who are native in the rooms, Honduras is a multicultural country in languages. For example, in Garífuna communities there is no one who speaks Spanish, and that is why we must get interpreters or have judges from those ethnic groups,” she emphasized.
Sabio confirmed that in the United States the Garífuna community applauds his appointment and that they are already discussing new projects.
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