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The struggle for water and life in Guapinol, Honduras

In 2017 the company Los Pinares started mining for iron ore in the Carlos Escaleras National Park in Honduras.

Children play in the Guapinol river in San Pedro, Honduras. Since the initiation of mining activities of the company Los Pinares, the river is now polluted and its flow much reduced. Photo: Gerardo Aguilar/Trócaire. Children play in the Guapinol river in San Pedro, Honduras. Since the initiation of mining activities of the company Los Pinares, the river is now polluted and its flow much reduced. Photo: Gerardo Aguilar/Trócaire.

In 2017 the company Los Pinares started mining for iron ore in the Carlos Escaleras National Park in Honduras. The park was created to protect biodiversity and ecosystems. The mine is located near the source of drinking water for 42,000 people, the Guapinol and the San Pedro rivers, near the town of Tocoa.

The mine is tied to the legacy of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. In 2013, while serving as president of Congress, he oversaw the approval of a decree that reduced the core area of the National Park by 217 hectares, allowing for mining concessions that would directly affect water supplies to communities in the departments of Colón and Olancho.

Since 2017, the communities of Guapinol and the San Pedro sector in the Lower Aguan Valley, northern Honduras have had to endure the gradual drying up and pollution of the rivers they depend on for their survival and livelihoods.

Women from the community of San Pedro in Honduras look through a fence into the Los Pinares mining facility which is polluting and severely affecting access to the water their community depends on. Photo: Gerardo Aguilar/Trócaire. Women from the community of San Pedro in Honduras look through a fence into the Los Pinares mining facility which is polluting and severely affecting access to the water their community depends on. Photo: Gerardo Aguilar/Trócaire.

Peaceful protest for clean water faced with murder and incarceration

In August 2018, the Guapinol Camp in Defence of Water and Life was established in opposition to the mine. Protestors stayed at the camp, situated on the road leading to the mining zone, for 88 days before they were violently evicted.

Since then, community members have been murdered, criminalised and imprisoned for attempting to protect their water source. They continue to face death threats and intimidation. In 2023, three members of the community were murdered, Aly Domínguez, Jairo Bonilla and Oquelí Domínguez Ramos.

Since the 2009 coup d’état that ousted President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, nearly 200 environmental defenders have been murdered in Honduras.

Orbin Hernández, from the remote village of San Pedro Sector, in the Lower Aguan Valley, Honduras, was jailed for two and a half years in 2019 for peacefully protesting against the exploitation of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers by mining company Los Pinares. Photo: Gerardo Aguilar/Trócaire. Orbin Hernández, from the remote village of San Pedro Sector, in the Lower Aguan Valley, Honduras, was jailed for two and a half years in 2019 for peacefully protesting against the exploitation of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers by mining company Los Pinares. Photo: Gerardo Aguilar/Trócaire.

The Guapinol 8

Orbin Hernández, was jailed for two and a half years in 2019 for peacefully protesting against the pollution of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers. Orbin and seven other defenders spent 914 days in prison on false charges.

Partner Fundación Sal Alonso Rodríguez (FSAR), supported by Trócaire, with funding from Irish Aid , provided legal and psychosocial support and advocated for the release of the eight defenders, who were eventually freed in February 2022. Orbin says ‘it helped, while I was imprisoned, other comrades continued the protest, continued raising public awareness, and continued gathering comrades for the hearings, marches, and the walks we organised. There were more than 300 to 500 people. So, that’s the importance of having the whole community involved.’

‘To me, the river means life in its entirety, right. I was born and raised in this place, swimming in that river since I was seven years old. With the help of my brothers, I learned to swim. It was a completely clean, strong river with incredible nature around it, with incredible trees and fish and other things. And now that it is being threatened, I feel the responsibility to protect it. And it’s up to the state to protect it, because it is responsible, because it has the means.’

Juana Ramona Zúniga, a member of the environmental Committee in Defence of the Common and Public Property of Tocoa, says, ‘the reason we decided to organise as a group was due to the situation where our river was sedimented for seven months. The water became unusable for both animals and us. We couldn’t even use it to wash our uniforms or our children’s clothes. We had to buy large bottles of water.’

Juana’s husband Abelino was one of the men imprisoned.

‘We know that Trócaire has been an organisation that has supported us from the beginning, right? Well, thanks to that support and solidarity, we can say that today we have them back home.’

Juana Zuniga, photogaphed in 2019 campaigning for the release of the Guapinol 8. Photo: GiuliaVuillermoz/Trócaire Juana Zuniga, photogaphed in 2019 campaigning for the release of the Guapinol 8. Photo: GiuliaVuillermoz/Trócaire

Juana has been targeted and subjected to threats, intimidation, and sexist slurs because of her gender. She says attacks on women are all too common because they are easy targets. ‘We have dealt with campaigns, where they have portrayed us as women who are only meant for giving birth, caring for children, and staying at home. However, we have demonstrated to this system that women are a pillar.

‘We face fear. We have received direct threats. The first one was that they were going to burn down our house.

Right now, from January to March, three different motorcycles have been circling around, with people who are not from the community.’

However, the river calls us because if this river disappears, it’s of no use for Guapinol to have large infrastructure without water. The love for the community, I believe, makes us organise more and more, regardless of the risks we face daily.’

José Daniel Márquez, one of the Guapinol 8, imprisoned for peacefully protesting against the activities of mining company Los Pinares who are polluting his community's water supply. Photo: Gerardo Aguilar/Trócaire. José Daniel Márquez, one of the Guapinol 8, imprisoned for peacefully protesting against the activities of mining company Los Pinares who are polluting his community's water supply. Photo: Gerardo Aguilar/Trócaire.

José Daniel Márquez, one of the Guapinol 8 who were imprisoned says “I am very grateful to all the international organizations that have supported us, and we ask that they continue to support us to carry this struggle to the end.” We want you to take our message to the entire European Union so that they help us.

Support us in liberating our national park and freeing our river, our mountain, our forest, and to inherit for our children a healthy environment, to have clean water that we can drink.

I would ask the highest authorities of this country not to sell Honduras in pieces. Honduras is not for sale. Water is not to be wasted; it needs to be protected. Also, to the mining companies, I would ask them to seek another way of working. Let it not be a way of enriching themselves at the expense of the poor, taking their lands,threatening them, imprisoning them, killing them.”

The permit to mine in the San Pedro expired on Sunday, January 28, 2024. The company seeks a 30-year renewal, but the community, which unanimously voiced its opposition in a public consultation on December 9, 2023, wants no mining at all.

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