By James Phillips
Along the river valleys and hillsides of this rugged sector of Honduras are the Lenca. The Lenca have inhabited areas of western Honduras for centuries and may be culturally related to the Chorti, one of the many branches of Maya peoples of Central America. The Lenca, who depend on the rivers for physical and spiritual support, have a long history of resistance to European colonialism; they claim Lempira, the great warrior who fought against sixteenth century Spanish conquest, as their own. Today, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) has become a leader in promoting the rights of the Lenca and other Hondurans. However, there is often a heavy price to pay for such activism, as the use of threats—and murder—to silence the opposition has become routine.
Lenca communities, with the assistance COPINH, are engaged in resistance to a new form of colonialism: this time the damming of the local rivers that are so vital to the community. The proposed dam of the Gualcarque River, which would be financed and developed by both foreign and Honduran investors, would provide hydroelectricity and water for mining operations in this part of the country. Gold, silver, iron, antimony, and other mining is a major industry in Honduras; thousands of tons of iron ore are shipped to China every month from Honduras and a sizable mining operation consumes huge amounts of water. US, Chinese, Canadian, Italian, and other internationally-based companies are all mining in Honduras, and most of these transnational mining operations are located on or near Indigenous land and communities.
Foreign mining companies sometimes contribute to a special fund administered by high police and military officials, giving the security forces incentive to support the companies and stifle popular opposition. They may also offer incentives to local mayors whose support can ease the way for the companies; this tactic may give a misleading appearance of local acceptance. In other cases, the State is more directly involved. In the case of the Agua Zarca dam, Honduras’s First Battalion of Engineers is actually working on the construction.
A law passed in January 2013 suspended a moratorium on new mining concessions that had been in effect since 2005. Additionally, the new law allows for open-pit mines and the use of cyanide. The end of the moratorium has meant a flurry of new mining concessions granted across Honduras. But the law also requires that local communities be consulted and give their approval before mining operations begin. While this reflects at least a token acknowledgment that Honduras is a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People and International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169 on Indigenous rights, reports from communities in different areas of Honduras indicate that the legal requirement of local consultation is routinely violated, and that threats and violence are used to force communities to accept mining and dam operations.
The Lenca and COPINH have received expressions and acts of solidarity from other Hondurans, both Indigenous and non. Together they have engaged in traditional forms of nonviolent resistance, including the ancient Indigenous practice of caminata (walking the land), which has long been a form of spiritual observance and renewal. It is a practice that other native peoples have also been reviving in recent years, as exemplified by the Idle No More movement in Canada.
On April 1, 2013, members of the local communities of Rio Blanco began blocking the road between the Agua Zarca dam project headquarters and the river, not allowing project machinery to pass. They also began nonviolent protests at the dam project headquarters nearby. The Lenca have long claimed the area as their traditional territory, a claim recognized, at least in theory, by previous Honduran governments. Members of other Indigenous communities, together with other organizations, Hondurans, and international visitors and observers, joined members of COPINH and local Lenca in walking the road to the company plant. At times the walk was led with prayer and burning incense in traditional fashion.
During their protest, the walkers were faced daily with a contingent of the Honduran Army guarding the the company compound of Sinohidro, the Chinese company contracted to build the Agua Zarca dam. On July 15, witnesses report that a soldier opened fire on the group, shooting and killing COPINH member Tomas Garcia and seriously injuring his teenage son, Alan. A third Lenca man was also injured in the incident. Shortly after, in an apparent perversion of justice, three COPINH leaders—Berta Cáceres, Tomas Gomez, and Aureliano Molina—were formally accused of inciting violence and causing economic harm to the company due to lost time and revenue. The court has so far ignored the Lenca claim that the company is trespassing on Lenca land, as COPINH leaders were ordered to appear at a criminal hearing in the city of Esperanza, Intibuca, on August 14, and then at another hearing in mid-September. In a show of international solidarity, crowds of Hondurans and others have gathered outside the courthouse during these hearings. Their banners include messages such as “Stop the violations against the defenders;” that is, the defenders of the land, water, and rights.
The community at Rio Blanco has a strong spirituality based both on the Catholic popular church and traditional Indigenous beliefs. One community elder put his experience of facing threats and violence in the context of his religious faith: “If they kill me, well God bless them. I am not going to be afraid of death because from death I will be born...No man with money made the earth or the sky or the sea. All these things of this world—God gave them to us. To these men of the dam, please leave. We have received threats that if we work our land, they will kill us. We ask that they respect our dignity as Indians.”
Another leader, who requested anonymity for fear of personal safety, said, “In the midst of all of this struggle, there are powerful and beautiful things. In our land and rivers and forests there are spirits that are helping us. We have faith in God and in the Holy Mother, and we are aided by the spirits of the ancestors. We have faith in everything we do in this place. We are really grateful for all the international solidarity we have been shown. We don’t feel alone, we feel supported.”
On September 20, a Honduran court ordered the imprisonment of COPINH leader Berta Cáceres while she awaits trial. Her lawyer is also being sued in another court case—a continuation of the criminalization of those who defend the defenders. The day after the arrest order went out for Cáceres, a petition demanding her freedom began circulating on a website in the United States, receiving 10,000 signatures on the first day. Since then, several other petitions for Cáceres’s freedom have also been circulating. Lenca leaders count on the show of international solidarity in this matter to further their struggle.
