PBI-Honduras accompanies Guapinol river defenders as they call for cancellation, not temporary suspension, of Los Pinares iron oxide mine

On July 26, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“Yesterday we were present at the call issued by the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa addressed to social organizations and the media in front of the Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment.

The Committee demands the definitive cancellation of the mining project that was established in the protected area of the Carlos Escaleras Montaña de Botaderos National Park.

From PBI we highlight the work of defending the community and the organization in favor of common goods.”

On July 25, Guapinol Resiste had tweeted:

“Defenders of Guapinol, San Pedro Sector and Tocoa present opposition against the temporary suspension of mining exploitation in the Carlos Escaleras national park.

The *definitive* cancellation is required now!”

They also tweeted:

“It is not possible that with all the technical and documentary evidence -including falsified public documents to obtain an environmental license and illegal exploitation in a protected area- that Grupo Emco/Lenir Perez and Ana Facusse benefits from a 2-year temporary suspension.”

This follows Criterio reporting on June 29:

“The head of the Secretariat of Natural Resources and Environment (Serna), Lucky Medina, made official the beginning of the process of suspension of the Los Pinares Investments mine that was installed without consultation in the Carlos Escaleras National Park, in Tocoa, Colón, northern Honduras.

Medina’s brief message left more questions than answers and was raised by [CESPAD] socio-environmental analyst, Lucía Vijil, who through a tweet pointed out that the ecological ways in which the suspension and closure of the mine will be carried out should be explained.

Vijil told Criterio.hn that her comment is directed to the fact that Medina’s tweet [announcement of the suspension process] “is so brief, that you do not know if it is going to be partial or total closure, the closure measures, indicators for the closure, compensation and restoration measures, why it is closed,” among other points.

The socio-environmental analyst recalled that the mining megaproject has other components to which Medina does not refer, such as the iron oxide pelletizing plant, operated by Inversiones Ecoteck – always of the Emco Holding Group and parent company of Inversiones Los Pinares – built and also located in the Carlos Escaleras National Park.”

We continue to follow this situation.

Further reading: PBI-Honduras concerned by the murder of Guapinol water defender Oqueli Domínguez who resisted the Los Pinares iron oxide mine (June 17, 2023) and “Rather than die of thirst, it is better to fight standing up” – Guapinol River defender Reynaldo Domínguez (April 7, 2023).