PBI-Honduras accompanies ASODEBICOQ on 5-kilometre walk in Santa Bárbara

On October 17, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted, “ASODEBICOQ is an organization that works for the defence of water and rainforest in the municipality of Quimistán, Santa Bárbara.”

They add, “This week, PBI-Honduras Project accompanied members of this organization in a walk they made between the cities of Pinalejo and Quimistán to make their work visible.”

It’s about a 5 kilometre walk between Pinalejo and Quimistán.

The Association of Defenders of Common Goods in Quimistán (ASODEBICOQ) was founded to defend land, rivers and human rights.

In February 2019, Radio Progreso reported that the department of Santa Bárbara is “threatened by more than 15 hydroelectric projects and 23 concessions for mining.”

That same article notes, “In the municipality of Quimistán, there is an imminent danger from the installation of the Santa Lucia hydroelectric dam, which is advanced by 90%. And, despite the fact that there is a strong rejection by the population, they currently intend to build a second hydroelectric dam also on the Cuyagual River.”

ASODEBICOQ is opposed to the construction of the Santa Lucia I and Santa Lucia II dams. It has called on the Government of Honduras to stop construction of the dams because the project violates the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, an International Labour Organization Convention, also known as ILO-convention 169.

PBI-Honduras has accompanied ASODEBICOQ since May 2018.