Article by PBI-Canada

On February 16, PBI-Honduras posted: “Yesterday, we observed an action by the residents of Guapinol after filing a complaint with the Special Prosecutor for Transparency and Combat Against Public Corruption.”

PBI-Honduras adds: “Tocoa social organizations denounce that the mayor of the municipality, Adán Fúnez, and the municipal secretary falsified public documents to benefit the companies Los Pinares and ECOTEK.”

Adding to this, Pasos de Animal Grande reported: “The Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods [of Tocoa] filed a formal complaint with the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Transparency and Combating Public Corruption … for the adulteration of minutes … signed by the public official Norma Agripina García.”

The article adds that a complaint of “Abuse of Authority of Officials of the Secretariat of Natural Resources and the Environment [MiAmbiente]” relates to an iron oxide pelletizing plant “of the investment company ECOTEK, owned by Lenir Pérez and Ana Facussé and investors linked to the American company Nucor.”

And Radio Progreso further reports: “According to the complaint, municipal and MiAmbiente officials have committed the crime of Abuse of Functions to the Detriment of the Public Administration and Public Faith, due to the illegal extension of an operating license for 12 months in favor of Inversiones ECOTEK (Los Pinares) by MiAmbiente, violating article 44 of the Administrative Procedure Law.”

That article adds: “According to the Municipal Committee in Defense of the Commons, the second irregularity was committed by the municipal secretary of Tocoa, Norma Agripina García, by tampering with the act 083-2016 of the Cabildo Abierto, in order to prove that ECOTEK-Los Pinares socialized the iron pelletizing plant project ‘which was never made.”

And Defensores en Linea adds: “The press conference was attended by relatives of the political prisoners for defending the water and the life of Guapinol, such as Lidia Martínez Simeón, wife of Jeremías Martínez, who condemned those acts of corruption that are taking place to favor extractive companies in the area and pointed out that as a result her husband is imprisoned for defending water and life.”

Leonel George says the action corroborates the corruption between the company, municipality, and government who have persecuted and judicialized at least 32 people defending natural resources (against the Los Pinares iron oxide mine).

PBI-Honduras has been accompanying various processes in relation to the defenders of the Guapinol River since 2019.