On Saturday, December 9, 2023, the people of Tocoa were called by the Municipal Corporation to participate in an open town meeting regarding the Ecotek petroleum coke thermoelectric project, one of the seven components of an iron oxide megaproject promoted by the "Emco Holdings" consortium of Ana Facusse and Lenir Perez.
More than 2000 people showed up early at the Froylan Turcios Institute to ensure that their voice was heard, despite a stigmatization campaign against the human rights defenders of the Municipal Committee in Defense of the Common and Public Goods of Tocoa in the run-up to the town hall, with the intention of provoking fear in the population.
During the civic assembly, there was a strong police presence, as well as representatives of the Human Rights Secretariat, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for Honduras, the Observatory for Justice for the Defenders of the Guapinol River, national and international organizations, as well as international human rights observation organizations.
Municipal staff tried to prevent voters from entering the Institute and, upon seeing the large number of people who had arrived to vote against the project, Mayor Adán Funes refused to enter the Institute to hold the open town meeting. As a result, the people self-convened a popular assembly, in which the municipal councilors were present, and voted against the petcoke thermoelectric plant and Emco’s megaproject. The process was supervised by municipal councilors and the minutes were notarized. The popular decision reaffirms the result of the open town hall held in November 2019 in Tocoa that roundly rejected the mining project.
We are concerned that Emco’s energy project has been promoted by local and state authorities as a way to alleviate the electricity problem in Tocoa, despite the fact that, according to the same environmental impact assessment that the company Ecotek submitted to the Secretariat of Natural Resources - SERNA/MiAmbiente, most of the electricity generated is destined to the operation of the company’s plant to pelletize the iron oxide it extracts from the Carlos Escaleras National Park.
We welcome the position of the State of Honduras at COP28 in defense of forests and the generation of clean energy, but we are deeply concerned about efforts to produce energy through the burning of petroleum coke, which is highly polluting to health and the environment, especially because according to the opinion of SERNA’s Center for Contaminant Studies and Control (CESCO) dated April 23, 2023, the burning of petroleum coke is not regulated in Honduras.
For more than seven years, the Municipal Committee in Defense of the Common and Public Goods of Tocoa has publicly denounced, and through the corresponding Honduran Authorities, the illegalities, human rights violations and environmental contamination related to Emco’s mega-project.
These complaints have not resulted in any significant action by the corresponding authorities, despite the fact that the CMDBCPT has presented clear and substantiated evidence after a meticulous review of the company’s files and State documents, which support its denunciations.
The members of the CMDBCPT have been victims of arbitrary detentions, assassinations, threats, forced displacements and smear campaigns aimed at silencing their dignified struggle for life and the protection of the forests and rivers of the Montaña de Botaderos "Carlos Escaleras" National Park.
Since October 2023, the members of the Municipal Committee and their legal teams have been beneficiaries of precautionary protection measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) due to the imminent risk they face.
In light of the decision taken by the people of Tocoa, and in support of the Municipal Committee’s struggle for justice and accountability, we demand:
– The decision of the People of Tocoa validly expressed on December 9, 2023 through a popular assembly, be respected and implemented immediately by all levels of the Honduran government.
– The immediate and unconditional cancellation of the Emco Holdings megaproject, including the ASP and ASP2 mining concessions of Inversiones Los Pinares; the petroleum coke thermoelectric plant and the Ecotek pelletizing plant concession; the concessions for the use of water from the Guapinol, San Pedro and La Ceibita rivers.
– The immediate and comprehensive protection of the members of the Municipal Committee, their legal teams and their families through measures adopted by the State in consensus with the defenders.
– The investigation of the criminal and administrative complaints filed by the Municipal Committee in order to bring to trial and sanction those responsible for the illegalities related to the extractive project and the threats and stigmatization campaigns against the defenders of the Municipal Committee.
– The independent investigation, prosecution and punishment of those materially and intellectually responsible for the murders of Jairo Bonilla, Aly Domínguez and Oqueli Domínguez.
– The reparation of damages, both to the victims of the persecution by Emco and the State of Honduras, as well as to the core zone of the Carlos Escaleras National Park.
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