Delegation to Honduras includes Belizean musicians, NGO, community members and government officials

INDEPENDENCE VILLAGE, Stann Creek District, Thurs. Mar. 20, 2025

This morning a chartered boat with some thirty-one Belizeans left Independence Village enroute to the Honduras coast and then by bus to the Caribbean port city of La Ceiba, Honduras, hometown of music icon Aurelio Martinez. He was born in 1969 in the remote village of Plaplaya and died tragically in a plane crash, off the coast of Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras on the evening of Monday, March 17.

The group made the journey to pay their respect and condolences, showing solidarity with the people of Honduras on the loss of a legend that Belize adopted as their own son.

Expressions of condolences will be read at the funeral on behalf of The Prime Minister of Belize John Briceño, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Culture Francis Fonseca, and the People of Belize to the family, friends and many thousands of fans of the beloved Parandero, a man of generosity and warmth.

Aurelio, along with Andy Palacio and Paul Nabor of Belize, elevated Paranda and other forms of Garifuna Music to world acclaim. They took the world by storm in the early 2000s with the legendary band, The Garifuna Collective. Their work in collaboration with others led the United Nations to proclaim the Garifuna language, music and dance as a “masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001.”

The delegation represents the true spirit of love and friendship among the peoples of Belize and Honduras, between the many Garifuna communities that make up what Aurelio called the Garifuna Nation.