Obituary: Aurelio Martínez (1969-2025)

Aurelio Martínez, a Honduran musician who brought the music of the Garifuna people to worldwide attention, has died aged 55 in a plane crash on March 17. He was onboard a Lanhsa Airlines flight that crashed into the sea off the coast of the Caribbean island of Roatán. The aircraft was travelling to the port of La Ceiba on the mainland and “made a sharp turn to the right of the runway and fell into the water”, a civil aviation official, Carlos Padilla, told The Guardian.

Aurelio was born in La Ceiba, Honduras, into a Garifuna family – the Garifuna are descendants of enslaved West African who were shipwrecked on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent before being deported to Central America, where they settled in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras. He grew up participating in traditional Garifuna rituals from a young age, using the traditional sounds and instruments in his music. Aurelio’s music combines Garifuna-language vocals and fluid guitar on compositions blending Caribbean, Latin and West African elements. “It’s through music I can reach everyone,” Martínez told us in 2017. 

He first came to prominence for his appearance on the compilation Paranda (2000) from Belize’s Stonetree Records label where he appeared alongside another Garifuna icon, Andy Palacio. His debut album Garifuna Soul arrived in 2004, after which he moved into politics and served as the first Black Honduran congressman between 2006 and 2010, where he fought for the rights of the Garifuna. He returned to music with 2011’s Laru Beya, followed by Lándini (2014) and Darandi (2017), all three of which were joint releases between Stonetree Records and Real World Records and solidified his status as an international ambassador of Garifuna music, helping bring the culture of this little-known people into the global spotlight throughout his career.

On social media following his death, Stonetree Records wrote: “The Garifuna nation has lost an irreplaceable cultural champion, but his example will forever live in the countless hearts that he touched with his music and his humanity.” Peter Gabriel, co-founder of Real World Records, wrote his tribute on Instagram: “The deep love he had for his own Garifuna people will always be remembered, but it is most of all his own generosity and warmth that will be badly missed by all of us who loved him.”