PBI-Honduras visits community where mining and solar power are pending issues
On August 12, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted, “Last week, PBI-Honduras Project traveled to the department of Choluteca together with CEHPRODEC [the Honduran Centre for the Promotion of Community Development] to observe the completion of a census of the inhabitants of the Nanasigure community.”
The PBI-Honduras Facebook post highlights, “Following this precise census, it is expected to consult with the community about possible future mining and photovoltaic [solar power] concessions in the area.”
In April, this media release from Montreal-based Glen Eagle Resources Inc. noted a meeting with the Ministry of Mines of Honduras, the Small Miners Cooperative of the municipality of el Corpus, Choluteca, and Cobra Oro (Glen Eagle’s subsidiary in Honduras) “to explore various opportunities” related to two mining projects.
In May, this Business & Human Rights Resource Centre post noted, “Choluteca defenders have been arrested and sent to trial on charges of Scatec Solar.”
“More than 20 residents of Choluteca in southern Honduras have been charged by the Scatec Solar company and consequently detained in some cases irregularly. Villagers have led an opposition movement against the project to build a solar energy park.”
That BHRRC post reports that, “They accuse that at no time were they consulted and that the project is also putting their access to water at risk as well as the possibility of freely moving around the area.”
The headquarters for Scatec Solar is in Oslo, Norway, but it also has an office in the Honduran capital city of Tegucigalpa.
PBI-United Kingdom has noted, “CEHPRODEC provides legal and technical assistance to indigenous and small- scale farmer organisations that are defending their territory against extractive industries and hydroelectric schemes.”
PBI-Honduras has accompanied CEHPRODEC since May 2014.
In an April 2016 interview with PBI-USA, attorney and human rights defender Donald Hernandez from CEHPRODEC highlighted, “CEHPRODEC was the first institution in Honduras to receive accompaniment from Peace Brigades. We are very thankful and content because this accompaniment has permitted us to carry out our work in a better way.”
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