Jose Maldonado, 14 years old, and Alcides Rodrigues were arrested by the Nicaraguan navy in the Gulf of Fonseca on 10 August.
APAGOLF, a Honduran member of the WFFP, demanded the immediate release of the Maldonado and Rodrigues and successfully resolved the conflict through a dialogue with the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro. The two fishers were released 2:40pm on 12 August.
The arrest of Maldonado and Rodrigues is another evidence of the increasing criminalisation of the fisher people, and to make it even worse, the Nicaraguan navy also sunk their 20-feet motorboat.
According to Moises Osorto Caceres, President of APAGOLF “the two fishers simply exercised their rights to fish in the Gulf”. Moises further explains how Honduran fishers struggle more and more by the day because of infringements of their livelihood rights, “we are loosing access to our fishing grounds because of tourism development, shrimp farming and privatisation of our common resources and this forces us fishers to push the boundaries and go deeper into the sea to catch fish”.
APAGOLF will continue to assist the two affected fishers and demand that they are compensated for the loss of their boat and for the unjust arrest.