Miriam Miranda

As the leader of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), Miranda has coordinated efforts to counter land theft by big tourism businesses, reclaim ancestral territories formerly belonging to Garífuna communities, stop drug traffickers, promote sustainable environmental practices, and support community leadership development for local youth and women.

She eventually decided to focus on advocating for the rights of Garífuna people: mixed-race descendants of West African slaves who escaped to the Caribbean in the 1600s before settling in Central and South American countries such as Honduras.

[7] One of the radio stations funded and organized by OFRANEH, named Faluma Bimetu (Garífuna for "sweet coconut"), is located in the northern Honduras village of Triunfo de la Cruz.

The station was established in 1997, and broadcasts a 24-hour cycle of traditional music and shows on topics such as environmental issues, domestic violence, substance abuse, health, spirituality, and leadership development for youth and women.

Although the police made no arrests, some activists alleged that the arson was the work of the Indura Beach and Golf Resort, a tourism corporation that has been accused of evicting Garífuna families and illegally redrawing land boundaries in order to build new hotels.

[2] On March 28, 2012, during a time when non-violent public protests were taking place across Honduras, Miranda was beaten by police and military, then arrested and detained for twelve hours.

[9] In 2014, OFRANEH activists discovered that drug traffickers had clear-cut swaths of forest to build an illegal air strip in northern Honduras.

[citation needed] The arrest happened in spite of the fact that Honduras authorities had been ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to provide police protection for Miranda.

[4] Miranda was also named co-recipient of the Óscar Romero Human Rights Award, alongside Honduran environmental activist Berta Caceres.