It’s About Finding Strength in Numbers – Just Look at COPINH in Honduras. 28.9.13 “Honduras has been known for two things only: being a military base for the [contra] attacks on the Nicaraguan revolution, and Hurricane Mitch.” So said Berta Caceres, co-founder of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) - an organization of hundreds of communities of Lenca indigenous peoples and small farmers. Multinational corporations are moving into Central America to exploit gold and other minerals, rivers, forests, and agricultural lands, and, one area of high interest is the indigenous Lenca region in the southwest of Honduras. The government has given outside businesses concessions to dam, drill, and cut, in violation of national law and international treaties and the most pressing issue now affecting Lenca lands is a series of large hydroelectric dams which are already under construction. They are part of 41 dam concessions which were voted in by national congress after a coup d’’etat established an illegal government in 2009. The law allows for open pit mining as well as mining in populated areas, it limits access to public information, and it allows consultation with affected populations only after the concession has been granted. As a result of the draconian conditions in the country, COPINH was formed to fight for the democracy and civil rights necessary for their members to protect what is theirs. And, they are up against a dangerous adversary in the oligarchy that rules their country. On July 15, soldiers assassinated Tomas García, one of COPINH’s leaders, and, earlier this month three other members were taken to court under charges of being “intellectual authors” of the anti-dam movement. For years, government forces and corporate-paid death squads have been imprisoning, threatening, terrorizing, following, and falsely accusing COPINH members and other social movement activists. But COPINH has survived and their fearlessness has paid off. Over the years, they have successfully reclaimed ancestral lands, winning many indigenous communal land titles and they have stalled or stopped prior dams and virtually cleared their lands of outside logging operations. otherworldsarepossible.org/they-fear-us-because-were-fearless-reclaiming-indigenous-lands-and-strength-honduras
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 05:34:43 +0000
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