Environmental Oppression in Honduras

Hartford Undercurrent | April 2004

By Laura Rozza

On a rainy Wednesday night, about fifty people gathered to hear a presentation 
at CCSU given by Katherine Golub of the Progressive Student Alliance and Gilberto
 Flores, a Honduran minister and movement leader, regarding the privatization of 
natural resources in Honduras. Katherine became involved in the struggle as she 
spent time in Honduras last fall and plans to return for a longer stay this summer. 
Katherine clarified the issues Hondurans are facing and acted as a translator 
for Gilberto Flores.

The citizenry of this Central American country has fallen victim to the perils 
of globalization. The following is a description of some of the 
conditions presently posing an imminent threat to the survival of the 
fragile Honduran ecosystem. Mining has created open pools of cyanide 
which have entered the drinking water and rivers, killing fish. Deforestation
has caused soil erosion and the drying up of water resources. River damming 
for hydro-electric power in rural Honduras has been taking place on inhabited 
land, threatening the flooding of inhabited areas and the subsequent 
displacement of people from their homes. The land on which corporations are 
building is home to native Hondurans and portions are part of a 
wildlife refuge.

A significant number of Hondurans, whose livelihood depend upon 
agriculture and farming, have been displaced by land and resource development. Many 
of those displaced are indigenous peoples who have been severely 
marginalized and repressed; both in the struggle for land as well as human rights. 
COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations) has been active 
in the struggle for the preservation of land and natural resources. 
Conversely, many of the aforementioned “development” projects are being funded by 
international organizations including the IMF and the Inter-American 
Development Bank. The Hondurans are taking serious actions against 
these projects, unfortunately not without violent backlash and repression 
from thegovernment.

Gilberto Flores is a minister and community development activist from 
Gualaco, Olancho, Honduras and his name is among a list of 12 people 
targeted for assassination by people associated with the logging 
industry. 

This has resulted in two attempts on his life. He is a member of an 
organization created in response to the construction of a hydroelectric 
dam on a river in his region. Flores is also a member of the 
Environmentalist Movement of Olancho (MAO), a group opposed to deforestation, 
repression, and freedom from harsh penalty by the government and corporations. A cousin 
of Flores, also a member of CEPAVEG, was assassinated in 2001 by the dam 
company’s security guards. Gilberto Flores along with several of his 
comrades has been intimidated, threatened, and physically harmed by 
local authorities and individuals with suspected connections to the companies 
involved with the construction.

Over fifty activists have been assassinated in the last fifteen years, 
many of whom are indigenous peoples. The fight to preserve natural resources 
and home lands has angered the government and development corporations. 
This has led to fictitious legal charges and imprisonment for activist group 
leaders, as well as beatings and severe torture. Systematic injustice has become 
rampant in these cases and Honduran law has been repeatedly violated.

Activist groups have been extremely successful at mobilizing the people 
of Honduras. The “March for Life” in June, 2003 drew 12,000 people for a 
week long march from Olancho to the capital, Tegucigalpa. There have also 
been many other forms of civil disobedience including road and highway 
blocks, blocking the passage of logging trucks, and hunger strikes. The 
blockage of logging trucks halted deforestation in their area.

Although the groups have been very successful in mobilizing people, 
there is a severe lack in infrastructure in rural Honduras and information is 
hard to disseminate and receive. Activists have had trouble finding out who is 
responsible for the construction projects or the corporations involved 
as the situation is very complicated and access to the internet and other 
information is difficult to come by. This poses a major problem for the 
movement. There is a great need for international attention and aid in 
the struggle. There has been no coverage of this struggle in the mainstream 
U.S. media and Gilberto Flores traveled to the United States to inform 
people of the struggle and to issue a call to action. According to Flores, 
monetary donations, investigative support, international attention, and 
resources are sorely needed as well as actions against structures and institutions 
including CAFTA (Central American Free Trade Agreement), the FTAA (Free 
Trade Area of the Americas), Plan Puebla Panama, and international 
financial institutions such as the IMF, the World Bank and the IDB 
(Inter-American Development Bank). For more information and ways to help visit: 
www.rightsaction.org, www.commondreams.org, www.lasolidarity.org, 
www.stopcafta.org, (416) 654-2074