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Rio Blanco, Intibucá

Organizacion depredadora/predator: DESA, Clan Madrid, Clan Facussé

Rio/River:  Gualcarque

Community/Comunidad: Lenca

Berta Cáceres 

Articles/Artículosarriba

La comunidad de Rio Blanco declara
el Río Gualcarque como río sagrado
Honduras: Atacan a defensora de Río Blanco  9/30/2019 RMR: "Rosalina Domínguez, lideresa de la comunidad, se acercó a Donato y le dijo que se alejara y dejara de molestar a quienes trabajaban, fue entonces cuando Donato Madrid la agarró del cuello de la camisa e intentó golpearla con el machete en el cuello en un claro intento de asesinarla. Rosalina logró defenderse y un grupo de la comunidad logró sacar a Donato del predio donde estaban trabajando."

The Bank Trap: A Statement from COPINH on the Agua Zarca Dam Investors  6/22/2017 Grass Roots International: "Since 2013, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) has demanded the definitive withdrawal of funds from the FMO [Dutch development bank], Finn Fund [Finnish development finance company] and CABEI (Central American Bank for Economic Integration, or Banco Centroamericano de Integración Económica, BCEI, in Spanish) from the Agua Zarca project on the sacred Gualcarque River because of their association with displacement and death in the Rio Blanco community. To date, none of the three banks have completed their exit from the project, although FMO and Finn Fund banks have been announcing they will withdraw since May of 2016."

Indigenous Hondurans Fight ‘Right-Wing Invaders’ Burning Crops  5/11/2017 teleSUR: "The culprits, according to COPINH, are intentionally setting fire to corn, bean and coffee plantations along Honduras’ Rio Blanco, or “White River.” The river, considered the “cradle” of Mayan civilization in Honduras, is the same one that slain activist Berta Caceres defended from exploitative multinational corporations for decades. COPINH claims wealthy, right-wing landowning families like the Madrids and the Facusse are behind the burnings. The organization, which claims these families are also hiring armed groups to intimidate Indigenous land defenders, has vowed to take action."

Murdered While She Slept: Shocking Death of Berta Cáceres, Indigenous Leader and Activist  3/3/2016 Indian Country: "Cáceres was the Director of the National Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), which has been in the forefront of protests against the dam being constructed by the DESA Company of Honduras. Cáceres and other activists assert that the Agua Zarca project would cause great harm to the Lenca community known as Rio Blanco through displacement of the people and environmental damage to an area considered sacred by the Lenca. In a press statement from 2013 Cáceres outlined the reasons for the protests. “There is a displacement of the population that has traditionally lived on those lands, practically an eviction,” Cáceres said. “...DESA [of Honduras] and SINOHYDRO (a transnational Chinese hydroelectric project builder no longer involved in the project) have exerted brutal pressure against the communities, with maneuvers such as co-opting leaders and the offering of bribes, and on the other hand repression, systematic harassment, and the occupation of the territory by the army, the police and security guards and gang members."

Indigenous Activist Berta Caceres Murdered  3/3/2016 Prensa Latina: "According to sources contacted by the multi-state Telesur channel, the attack against Caceres, a coordinator of the Civic Council of Indigenous People Organizations of Honduras (Copinh), took place in the early hours of the morning, when several armed men forced down the door of her home, shot her and wounded her brother, Awarded the Goldman Prize in 2015, the highest recognition for environmental activists, Caceres was also a renowned human rights defender. She fought the expropriation of the ancestral lands of the Lenca people and the establishment of U.S. military bases on their territory, which is located in western Honduras. Her last fight was directed against a hydroelectric project in the town of Rio Blanco, approved by the government without a prior consultation."

Movilización del pueblo lenca enfrenta intimidación y hostigamiento en Río Blanco  2/20/2016 Witness for Peace: “Esta lucha no es sólo para Río Blanco, no es sólo para los indígenas,” explicó una mujer Lenca en camino al río sagrado de su pueblo, “sino que es para todo el país, para todo el mundo. Para nuestra Madre Tierra.”

Indigenous Lenca Mobilization Meets Intimidation and Harassment in Rio Blanco  2/20/2016 Witness for Peace: “This is struggle is not just for Rio Blanco, not just for the indigenous,” explained a Lenca woman as she approached her town’s sacred river, “but for the whole country, for the entire world. For Mother Earth.”

Honduras: Who Should Really Be On Trial For the Rio Blanco Dam?  3/19/2014 Upside Down World: "María Santos was walking home on March 5th, 2014, when seven people suddenly jumped out of hiding, surrounded her, and then attacked her with machetes, striking her head and chest. María has been a vocal leader in the struggle against the Agua Zarca Hydroelectric Dam, defending the Lenca territory of Rio Blanco and the Gualcarque River for her children and grandchildren to come. She is an active member of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH, Consejo Civico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras), and a tireless fighter in the struggle of the Lenca people of Rio Blanco to prevent DESA, a private dam company, from privatizing and building a dam on their river."

Defending Indigenous Lands and Waters in Honduras: The Case of Rio Blanco  9/15/2013 Truth Out: "On September 12, Berta Caceres, Tomás Gomez, and Aureliano Molina, leaders of the indigenous Lenca organization Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) must appear in court. Their charges? Usurpation of land, coercion, and causing more than $3 million in damages to DESA, a hydroelectric dam company. Berta, the general coordinator of COPINH and an internationally recognized social movement leader, is also facing separate charges of illegally carrying arms “to the danger of the internal security of Honduras.” The Honduran-owned and foreign-financed company has been attempting to build a dam on the sacred Gualcarque River in the Lenca community of Rio Blanco."
 
 

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