Eight Heads of States to Attend Garifuna Summit
The first Summit of Garifunas in Central America will be held on the weekend in Corn Island, on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua.

Deputy Foreign Minister Javiers Williams said guests from Belize, Costa Rica, Dominica, Guatemala, Honduras, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Guyana and the hosts will sign a declaration urging for more attention and involvement in government structures.

The ethnic group resulted from the mixing of Arahuacs, Lalipunas (South American natives), east Caribbeans and black African slaves the English deported from St. Vincent to Roatan island in 1797.

The Garifuna extended throughout the Atlantic coasts of Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and Nicaragua. The Spaniards called them Caribes.

After Britain seized all of the east Caribbean Island, they tried to evict the Caribes, black free men and women. Those they could not kill, were shipped off to Central America, where they expanded.

The Garifuna -word that means 'cassava eaters' have a strong culture, lively music and dance and history. They have their own religion, a hybrid of Catholic, African and Indigenous religions.

However, they are the forgotten at their countries of residence. They own the highest rates of poverty, illiteracy and social exclusion and most communities lacks access to treated water and medical services.