PBI-Honduras observes hearing of three Los Pinares/Ecotek executive accused of illegal exploitation and damage to national park
On May 13, PBI-Honduras posted on Facebook:
“Today, together with other national and international organizations and the diplomatic corps, in solidarity with the Municipal Committee in Defense of the Commons and Public Goods (CMDBC), we observed the hearing of conclusions of the initial hearing against three executives of the company Inversiones los Pinares/Ecotek, accused of illegal exploitation of natural resources and damage to the Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escalera Mejía National Park. This case may represent a legal precedent for environmental corruption and the effects of extractive companies in Honduras.
For more information: https://www.guapinolresiste.org/blog
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Judge José Abraham Rosa set the preliminary hearing for the defendants for Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at 9:00 am.
Guapinol Resiste also posted on Facebook:
“Hearing of conclusions of the initial hearing of three senior executives of the companies Pinares and Ecotek.
THEIR CRIME
Illegally extracting minerals from Carlos Escaleras National Park without a permit by destroying trees, water and entire ecosystems, causing irreparable damage. According to the ATIC [Technical Agency of Criminal Investigation] agent, all through acts of corruption and influence peddling at the local level.
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
This is the first time in Honduras that senior executives of a mining company have been prosecuted for illegally exploiting natural resources and causing damage to a national park. This case may set an important legal precedent for the protection of the environment and natural resources in Honduras and the legal accountability of mining companies that generally use corruption to push their destructive projects.
#Yes To Life #No To The Megaproject”
“Comrade Juan Lopez would still be with us”
On May 13, 2025, Criterio.hn reported: “More than ten years after the continuous destruction of the Carlos Escaleras National Park due to the installation of a mining project in the area, Judge José Abraham Rosa issued a formal indictment against the legal representative and two employees of Inversiones Los Pinares.”
The article also notes: “In his resolution, Judge José Abraham Rosa exposed the accredited facts, pointing out that in Zone ASP2, enabled only for exploration, the experts of the Public Ministry verified the existence of a waste dump within the core area of the park. They also documented the presence of security guards on a road built by the mining company and the chocolate color of the water, attributed to the work carried out.”
It also quotes Rita Romero, legal representative of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa, who says: “If this complaint had been prosecuted years ago, the disaster that is now in the hands of the judge would not be so serious. We would not have more than 40 displaced families, nor so many comrades killed on the road, and we would still have our comrade Juan Antonio López with us.”
Contra Corriente also posted on X: “Attorney Rita Romero, a member of the Committee for the Defense of Common Goods of Tocoa (CDBCT), stated that the prosecution of Los Pinares executives for environmental damage and disruptions to community life has been lengthy, and that they hope to achieve justice in what will now be the trial of these three individuals.”
Photo of lawyer Rita Romero by PBI-Honduras.
Background on the megaproject
The Municipal Committee for the Defence of Public and Common Goods has long opposed the Inversiones Los Pinares open-pit iron oxide mine in the Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras Mejía National Park, and the associated Ecotek processing plant for iron oxide pellets that is located about one hundred meters from the Guapinol River.
Criterio.hn notes that Inversiones Los Pinares and Inversiones Ecotek are both subsidiaries of the Emco Holding Group.
The Pinares-Ecotek megaproject has seven components including: the ASP and ASP2 concessions to dig for iron oxide, a thermoelectric plant that would burn petroleum coke (pet coke) to power the operations, an iron oxide pelletizing plant that could produce 800,000 tons of iron oxide pellets in its first year of operation, generating US$190 million in foreign exchange, and the Guapinol River and Ceibita stream concessions that would extract one hundred gallons of water per minute for the pelletizing plant.
Photos from Guapinol Resiste. “Destruction of water sources and deforestation of Carlos Escaleras National Park.”
Photo: “A mining company operating at the ‘Botaderos’ National Park, ‘Carlos Escaleras Mejía’, near Guapinol, Honduras. ©OHCHR/Vincent Tremeau.”
Photo: The mining project and pelletizing plant.
Photo: On October 30, 2024, PBI-Canada visited Guapinol and saw the pelletizing plant associated with the Los Pinares megaproject.
Accompaniment
Peace Brigades International has accompanied Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) processes and Guapinol River defenders since January 2019. At PBI-Canada, we join with PBI-Honduras in remaining attentive to this situation and the safety of Guapinol River defenders.
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