Post-Coup Honduras: Canadian Support and Investments in the country
In June 2009, the military of Honduras carried out a coup to illegally remove the democratically elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, from power. Following this coup, a wave of brutal repression associated with the coup regime claimed the lives of hundreds of people, including human rights activists. This repression was followed by forced elections in which communities were threatened if they refused to vote and resistance leaders targeted and killed. Under this climate of fear and impunity, the elections resulted in the current administration led by Porfirio Lobo, a known coup supporter. Now, two years after the coup, human rights abuse in Honduras continues to skyrocket, making Honduras one of the murder capitals of the world.
Honduras has had a long history of struggle over land distribution. The vast majority of the land is owned by a handful of wealthy landowners, leaving campesinos with little land and/or resources for farming purposes. This unequal distribution of land has contributed to the vast majority of the country living in extreme poverty, while large agribusinesses and corporations continue to reap the land of its natural resources and profit from goods exported to countries like the United States and Canada.
A recent article written by Karen Spring from Rights Action, a non-profit organization that works for human and environmental rights in the Americas, discusses the implicit involvement of Canada in supporting the military coup in Honduras in order to allow further access to commercial investment in the country, namely sweatshop, tourism, and mining industries.
Since the 2009 military coup, the Canadian government has discussed plans to develop a bi-lateral free trade agreement in Honduras. This agreement would allow Canadian mining companies such as Goldcorp to expand an open-pit mining operation in the Northern Siria Valley.
While in power, President Manuel Zalaya issued a moratorium on all mining operations in Honduras due to the large scale resistance of mining-affected communities and organizations in Honduras. The resistance denounced the large amount of environmental degradation, health problems and human rights violations associated with open-pit mining. As a result of this resistance, a national alliance was formed called the Civil Alliance for Democracy, and the Zelaya administration responded by enacted this 2008 moratorium on handing out any further mining licenses.
In this article, Karen Spring highlights this mining moratorium issued by Manuel Zelaya as "one of the reasons the Honduran military, oligarchy, and Catholic Church conspired to oust his government in the June 28, 2009 coup." Mining companies such as Goldcorp stand to lose millions of dollars if these mining operations and the potential bi-lateral trade agreement continue to be halted.
The mining license that will favor companies like Goldcorp include "little to no environmental regulations, will likely permit the continued use of cyanide and low-cost, open pit processes. ..will provide large tax breaks, and will not oblige companies to consult and obtain the free and prior consent of local communities before initiating mining operations."
The Lobo Administration, with its ongoing record on human rights violations throughout the country, face a decision to end the moratorium and issue a mining license that will only increase the repression of the Honduran people and contribute to further environmental degradation in the region. Communities in Honduras continue to resist such a law and demand that the Lobo administration hear the demands on the Honduran people rather than comply with the demands of private investors such as Goldcorp.
To read Karen Spring's article go to: http://www.rightsaction.org/
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