Article by PBI-Canada
Indigenous feminist leader María Felícita López is the women’s coordinator with the Lenca Indigenous Movement of La Paz, Honduras (MILPAH).
MILPAH was established in response to the irregular concessions of rivers and territories to mining companies and hydroelectric projects – and the Lenca demand for the right to free, prior and informed consent on their territories.
It is supported by the Honduran Centre for Communal Development (CEHPRODEC), which has been accompanied by PBI-Honduras since 2014.
López has noted: “PBI helps us when there are difficulties with instances like the police or when communication no longer works. We are very grateful for this.”
PBI-Switzerland has noted: “López grew up in an indigenous community called San Isidro del Volcán. …MILPAH was founded to defend the river that flowed through López’s village. López was part of the fight to defend the river from the beginning.”
The Irish Examiner has explained: “Her community near La Paz in western Honduras was divided in two when work on the hydro-dam first began in 2009. …López knows that her life would be much easier if she hadn’t stood up to the hydroelectrical company that encroached on the indigenous territory surrounding the Chinacla River.”
In the department of La Paz, there are currently four hydroelectric concessions and at least 26 management plans and environmental permits for the exploitation of wood.
In these cases, López explains, the Forest Conservation Institute (ICF) grants permits without consulting communities and without finding out the environmental impact this will have on the community’s water sources.
Last April, the Irish Examiner reported: “Recently, María Felícita passed by a gatepost with a skull painted on it. Underneath it said ‘Felícita — death’. Her family has also been the victim of smear campaigns. Her husband was forced to flee to El Salvador due to false accusations levelled against him.”
She told the newspaper: “You risk your life by challenging economic power here. It’s difficult, but we must do it.”
To read the fuller article by PBI-Switzerland on the PBI-Honduras website, please see The fight for the next generation.