Guapinol is hit again: Two more defenders murdered

(Castellano) (Euskera)

On 7 January, Aly Domínguez and Jairo Bonilla, defenders of the Guapinol community, were killed while riding a motorbike. Both were involved in the defence of the Guapinol river and the Carlos Escaleras National Park, which is threatened and affected by mining exploitation by the company Inversiones Los Pinares and the Honduran state. The defence of this territory has provoked a great repression that resulted in the imprisonment of 8 activists for more than 2 years, as well as threats and the consequent exile of others (see one of the last interviews with Dalila Argueta).

Despite the change of government, as PBI Honduras and the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa denounce, «the state authorities refuse to guarantee the physical integrity of the communities at risk for defending their water and territory from the illegal mining project». The change of government brought hope, especially in the face of the extractivist advance and human rights violations, in a country where the defence of territory and the environment has had such tragic consequences.

They also denounce that «Neither do they put an end to the environmental contamination caused by mining in a national protected area». According to the Central American Alliance Against Mining, ACAFREMIN, and the committee for the defence of the Public and Common Goods of Tocoa, despite the governmental decision not to allow open-pit mining, the company Inversiones los Pinares-Ecotek has obtained «illegal and unconstitutional mining concessions».

From Euskal Herria, Basque Country, where some of these repressed defenders have been able to find refuge, we once again stand in solidarity with the families of those murdered and with their comrades in resistance. With them, we once again demand respect for their just demands and respect for their ecosystem and territory.

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Communiqué of the Central American Alliance Against Mining, ACAFREMIN

La Alianza Centroamericana frente a la Minería, ACAFREMIN, expresa su más profunda solidaridad con las familias de los defensores Jairo Bonilla y Aly Domínguez quienes fueran brutalmente asesinados el sábado 7 de enero en la Comunidad de Guapinol, municipio de Tocoa, Colon, Hondu

ras.