ALERT- Olban
Milla from COPINH’s community radios was detained by the police today around 2:20am
outside of a COPINH building while leaving to meet up with other COPINH members
to go to today’s mobilization in Tegucigalpa in front of the La Granja
Courthouse. While he was since released
without charges, this is yet another example of unfounded and ongoing persecution against COPINH!
COPINH protested in front of the First Circuit Criminal Court
in the La Granja neighborhood of Tegucigalpa today, Thursday September 8th,
at 9am, where a hearing against the ex-Vice minister for the Environment and
Natural Resources (SERNA), Jonathan Laínez, took place for having granted the
environmental permit to the Agua Zarca project in violation of the rights of
the Lenca people to free, prior and informed consultation. We also ask for
attention to the ruling that will be made today in the First Circuit Court of Intibucá
stemming from last Monday’s hearing against the former Mayor of Intibucá
Martiniano Dominguez.
COPINH demands the immediate incarceration of all public officials
who authorized the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project on the sacred Gualcarque River
in open violation of ILO Convention 169 and the rights of the Lenca people.
The case against ex-Vice Minister Lainez is the result of
the complaints filed by our General Coordinator Berta Cáceres with the Special
Prosecutor for Ethnicities and Cultural Patrimony against the officials who
approved dozens and dozens of hydroelectric concessions in Lenca territory in
violation of ILO Convention 169 and the right to free, prior and informed
consent, bypassing the authority and decisions of the Lenca communities,
serving as lackeys for international economic interests and the small group of
elites who govern this country.
The approval of the Agua Zarca Project and other illegal and
illegitimate projects have true campaigns of terror and repression against the
Lenca people for defending the rights of our people and of Mother Earth,
leading to the cruel assassination of our sister Berta Cáceres. So-called “development” has mean
assassinations, aggression and repression against the Lenca people. What kind
of development has to be implemented with the barrel of a gun and indignity?
We demand punishment for all public officials who attack the
Lenca people. We demand as a Lenca people that this justice system start to reflect
that name and act with impartiality in this case. We call for our people’s
rights to be respected and that the justice system respond to the demands of
the Lenca people.
RIVERS AREN’T FOR CORPORATE GREED! CARE AND DEFENSE IS WHAT
THEY NEED!
With the ancestral strength of Berta, Lempira, Mota, Iselaca
and Etempica we raise our voice full of life, justice, freedom, dignity and
peace!
La Esperanza, Honduras, September 8th, 2016
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