On July 15, PBI-Honduras posted: “We note with concern the low water levels of the Guapinol River, a source of life for communities.”

PBI-Honduras quotes Reynaldo Dominguez, President of the Guapinol Water Board, who says: “Water, forest, can’t be negotiated. If they did, they would be negotiating the future of the next generations.”

They also note Guapinol defenders “express the importance of the international presence in the judicial process that will begin in the coming months.”

Criterio has reported: “Daniel Márquez, Kelvin Romero, José Abelino Cedillo, Porfirio Sorto, Orbin Hernández, Arnold Alemán, Ewer Cedillo Cruz and Jeremías Martínez Díaz are being held in illegal pretrial detention for the defense of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers.”

“This is despite the opinion and recommendations issued by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions and the amparos presented by Honduran civil society organizations to remedy the ruling issued by the judiciary.”

PBI-Honduras says: “We remember the important work of the 8 environmental and water advocates, deprived of liberty for 1 year and 9 months.”

On June 29, PBI-Honduras accompanied the media conference, convened by the Municipal Committee of Tocoa with representation from Guapinol and San Pedro communities, that presented a technical report on the impact of the mine project.

Criterio reported: “Members of the Municipal Committee for the Defense of the Commons and Public Goods presented on Tuesday [June 29] to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment a technical environmental report on the pollution that affects the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, a product of the exploration and mining exploitation of Inversiones Los Pinares in the Montaña de Botaderos National Park.”

“The presentation was made in Tegucigalpa by environmental defender Carlos Leonel George and engineer Limber Velásquez, who said that they hope that through this technical report, the Secretariat will cancel the environmental license granted to Inversiones Los Pinares, owned by the business couple, Lenir Pérez and Ana Facussé, son-in-law and daughter, respectively, of the late businessman Miguel Facussé Barjum.”

“In the engineer’s opinion, the environmental license should not have been granted or at least should be canceled now that the environmental consequences of the concession to the mining company are known.”

“The author of the technical report presented to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment explained that currently, the road section that serves as access to the mine area is contaminating with sediments the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, both tributaries of the Aguán River that flows into the Atlantic coast.”

“Velásquez [also] warned that more than 35 micro-basins would be directly affected by mining.”

We continue to follow this situation closely.

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