This is a local conflict that says everything about what is happening not only in Honduras but in many parts of the world. The community of Azacualpa (in the Department of Copan, western Honduras) has been fighting Aura Minerals (based in Miami, Florida) for years. Aura Minerals has been illegally exhuming bodies from the community’s cemetery in order to dig up and mine the area. They have also been dumping or leaking cyanide into the Lara River, the community’s major water supply. Last week, horses belonging to community members died immediately after drinking from the river. And throughout all of this, for months, Aura Minerals has been blasting the hillsides around the community almost daily–rattling homes, scaring wildlife, unnerving people, and deeply scarring the hillsides, accelerating massive erosion.
The Honduran government has sent police and soldiers to prevent the community from protesting and blocking the mining. Peaceful protest leaders are accused of crimes, while Aura Minerals and the Honduran government are the lawbreakers and thieves.
This kind of destruction also undermines the ability of communities to grow their food crops and farm the land. Result: Honduras is a hungry country that must import food. But it is also rich in minerals, metals, and good land that is being sold to foreign companies. The greed of this resource grab is so corrupt, it desecrates even the graves of the dead! And our own authorities wonder why Hondurans seek asylum abroad!
Cyanide pollution and death, by Aura Minerals
To the national and international community, we inform:
This morning (May 31, 2021) we received alarming information from our colleagues in the community of Azacualpa, Municipality of La Union, in the department of Copan, about the death of animals due to the alleged discharge of cyanide by the company Aura Mineral / MINOSA.
Residents of the community of San Miguel alerted their neighbors in the community of Azacualpa about what happened, between 06:00 and 07:00 hours in the morning of that day.
So far, five (5) dead horses have been found in the community. It is suspected that there were other species of animals that also died in the same situation, but there is still no evidence of this because employees of the company (Aura Minerals / MINOSA) prevented them from accessing the area with threats.
According to the villagers, there was a discharge of cyanide in the community’s river, which is located near the Aura Minerals / MINOSA leaching heaps. Thus, the animals drank water from the already contaminated river and died a few moments later, almost immediately.
From ACI Participa, to the local and national authorities, we request protection for the people of the community, their animals and their common goods.
ACI Participa, also to the local and national authorities, requests the unrestricted application of the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998, particularly with regard to Article 1, 5.a and 12.2.
