Constitutional Chamber accepts admission of appeal from the Committee in Defense of the Common and Public Goods
PBI-Honduras has posted: “On Tuesday [June 11] we accompanied the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods to the Supreme Court of Justice where they filed a writ of amparo [injunction] against the open town meeting called for today [June 13].”
Now, Crtierio.hn reports: “The effects of the resolution of the questioned open town hall held in Tocoa, Colón, were suspended, after the Constitutional Chamber notified the admission of the appeal for amparo filed by the members of the Committee in Defense of the Common and Public Goods of Tocoa.”
“The decision of the Constitutional Chamber was made on Wednesday, June 12, one day before the celebration of the town hall, and notified until this Friday, June 14, that is, one day after the controversial consultation in which only four people chosen by the mayor participated.”
The article adds: “Until there is a final sentence, it will be known whether or not the Supreme Court of Justice validates the decision made at the town hall, which was carried out when it was notified belatedly of the Supreme Court’s decision.”
The full article can be read at Corte Suprema suspende efecto de ilegal cabildo realizado en Tocoa por Adán Fúnez (Criterio.hn, June 14, 2024).
The megaproject
The EMCO Holding Group megaproject appears to include an open-pit iron oxide mine and a petroleum coke-based thermoelectric plant to provide the electricity to power a pelletizing plant in which the iron oxide extracted would be processed to convert it into pellets (semi-processed iron) to be exported to the United States.
Criterio.hn adds: “The Ecotek thermoelectric project is one of the seven components of the mining megaproject installed in the Montaña de Botaderos National Park, Carlos Escaleras Mejía. The license for the ASP mining component expired in 2024, while ASP2 was never granted a permit.”
On October 26, 2023, Inversiones Los Pinares asked for a renewal of its ASP mining concession for up to 30 more years.
Opposition and criminalization
Criterio.hn also notes: “Eight water defenders in Tocoa were criminalized and arbitrarily deprived of their liberty for more than 900 days, for opposing the mining megaproject in the nature reserve. …In 2023, defenders Jairo Bonilla, Alí and Oquelí Domínguez, the latter two brothers of fellow defender Reynaldo Domínguez, were murdered.”
We continue to follow this.
Selected dates
August 1, 2018: The community establishes a Camp in Defence of Water and Life that blocks the construction of the access road for the mine.
August 11, 2021: PBI-Honduras visits with the criminalized water defenders at Olanchito prison where they had been held since September 1, 2019.
February 9, 2022: Six of the eight water defenders are found guilty in a Honduran courtroom.
February 10, 2022: The Constitutional Chamber annuls the trial and orders the release of the water defenders from prison.
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