Environmental defender Juan López, the coordinator of the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT), was killed in Tocoa, Honduras on September 14, 2024, due to his opposition to the Los Pinares megaproject.
Peace Brigades International-Canada remains particularly attentive to any connections between Canadian and U.S. capital in the Los Pinares megaproject.
In January 2023, Elvin Fernaly Hernández Rivera, a researcher at ERIC & Radio Progreso (ERIC-RP) documented the ownership structure of the megaproject: “The two iron oxide mining licenses known as ASP and ASP2 were awarded to Inversiones Los Pinares belonging to the EMCO Group whose main partners are the married couple Lenir Pérez and Ana Facussé, who belong to one of the wealthiest families in the country. The mining licenses were preceded by the installation of the iron oxide pelletizing plant, located fifty meters from the Guapinol River. To carry out the iron processing, the EMCO Group created Inversiones ECOTEK S.A. because the licenses granted to Inversiones Los Pinares are for non-metallic mining, so they cannot be involved in the processing stage.”
An investigative report published in October 2024 by Contra Corriente and Drilled revealed that U.S.-based Nucor maintained a relationship with Inversiones Los Pinares, the company behind a controversial mining megaproject in Honduras, at least until September 30, 2023, despite having claimed to have ended their ties in October 2019.
A previous investigative report published in November 2020 by Contracorriente, the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP) and Univision Investiga, found that the U.S. firm has partnered with the project since March 2015 with the Panamanian company NE Holdings Subsidiary and since August 2016 through a second Panamanian firm with a similar name, NE Holdings.
A spokesperson for Nucor said in November 2020 that the company decided to sell the shares in NE Holdings in October 2019.
The Charlotte, North Carolina-based Nucor has an office in Burlington, Ontario.
As of June 2024, the top investors in Nucor include the Royal Bank of Canada ($70 million), the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ($35 million), the Toronto-Dominion Bank ($19 million), TD Asset Management ($14 million) and the National Bank of Canada ($11 million).
Simply Wall St has noted: “The Vanguard Group, Inc. is currently [Nucor’s] largest shareholder with 12% of shares outstanding.”
Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. explains: “The Vanguard Group, Inc., is owned by its U.S.-domiciled funds and ETFs [exchange-traded funds]. Those funds, in turn, are owned by their investors. …As a result, Canadian investors benefit from Vanguard’s low costs, client focus, stability and experience.”
The Valley Forge, Pennsylvania-based Vanguard Group has an office in Toronto, Ontario.
Photo: Vanguard Investments Canada Inc. is located in the Bay Adelaide Centre at 22 Adelaide Street West, Suite 2500, in Toronto.
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.
On October 29-30, 2024, Peace Brigades International-Canada visited Tocoa (where Mr. Lopez was killed on September 14, 2024) and the village of Guapinol (and saw the Guapinol River threatened by the Los Pinares megaproject that Mr. Lopez opposed).
We remain attentive to this situation and the safety of Guapinol River defenders.
