libertad de las defensoras y los defensores de la comunidad de Guapinol
International Honduran Diaspora
The members of the International Honduran Diaspora demand the immediate release of the defenders of the Guapinol community located in Tocoa, Department of Colón. As of August 30, 2019, they have been deprived of liberty for accusations made by the Public Prosecutor’s office in a court of national jurisdiction at the request of the mining company Inversiones Los Pinares. The defenders of Guapinol, as a sign of their honesty and decency, voluntarily presented themselves in the courts of San Pedro Sula and Tegucigalpa, to answer for alleged crimes of usurpation, damage, arson, and illicit association. They were then charged by a court of National Jurisdiction who issued arrest warrants despite the fact that
this type of court was created to prosecute only crimes of organized crime.
We join the Coalition Against Impunity and other Honduran similar organizations standing in solidarity.
We believe that the deprivation of liberty that our eight comrades are experiencing is part of the bigger criminalization and repression targeted at the community of Guapinol and the organizations that make up the Municipal Committee in Defense of the Common and Natural Assets of the Municipality of Tocoa.
We call on national and international organizations in solidarity with social struggles to denounce the constant attacks on this community. These attacks are a direct result of the opposition against the illegal mining concession granted by the regime of Juan Orlando Hernández to the company Inversiones Pinares, owned by Lenir Pérez and Ana Facusé, that is endangering the water sources located in the area. Additionally, the defense of the “Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras Mejía” National Park, a protected area according to national legislation, is a necessity because mining extraction and construction of roads or other access routes are a threat to the communities. The park is a water recharge and water intake area that supplies water to the inhabitants of the municipality of Tocoa.
The members of the Honduran Diaspora International (DHI) condemn these actions, since in addition to violating the basic principles of due process and criminal law, they seek to create terror in communities that defend the right to their territories, common goods and life. We strongly denounce the violation of human rights that our compañeros and compañeras have suffered. We hold the state of Honduras responsible for any attempt against their physical and emotional integrity We demand that the regime of Juan Orlando Hernandez release the Guapinol defenders, imprisoned since August 2019. By releasing them, the administration would be fulfilling the recommendations issued by various international human rights institutions that have expressed respect for their work as
human rights defenders.
Our solidarity lies with the organizations, people and families criminalized by the State who are simply acting in defense of a development model that is stripping communities of their livelihoods, especially the human right to water.