President of the Republic of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo Sosa
Secretary of Justice and Human Rights, Ana Pineda
Judges of the Department of Intibucá
Antonio Calix Hernandez, Magistrate Coordinator of the Penal Chamber of the Supreme Court
The Public Ministry
Minister of Ethnicities, Luis Green:

Next Thursday, September 12, the Intibucá Court will oversee a new hearing in the judicial persecution of Berta Cáceres, General Coordinator of COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), and Tomás Membreño and Aureliano Molina, indigenous representatives and also members of COPINH.

The public prosecutor, Henry Alexander Pineda, on behalf of the Public Ministry, has accused the indigenous leaders of wrongful seizure, coercion and continued damages against the private property of the company Energy Development (DESA), which blames the leaders for damages that exceed more than three million dollars, according to the company. It is odd that the Public Ministry is serving the interests of the private corporations DESA and SINOHYDRO in such a servile way. DESA and SINOHYDRO intend to go ahead with the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project that is being constructed in violation of ILO Convention 169 and was plainly rejected by the Lenca communities of Río Blanco, which are organizing through COPINH.

The highly politicized case is aimed at criminalizing COPINH and breaking the strong Lenca indigenous resistance to illegal damming, logging, and mining in their territories.  

 Beyond the plunder of their lands, forests, and waters, the physical, legal, and political attacks on COPINH members and other indigenous peoples have been increasing rapidly. Assassinations, kidnapping, machete slashing, arrests, and threats are weekly events in the communities which are resisting.

We, social and human rights organizations from Honduras and different Latin American, North American and European countries, have been to Río Blanco and have clearly seen the determination with which the Lenca communities in the region are rejecting this project that has destroyed their crops, threatens their way of life, and which will mean death to a river that is sacred for their culture.

We demand that the government of Porfirio Lobo, his judges, public prosecutors, and legislators:

– Drop all judicial charges against Berta Caceres, Tomás Gomez, Aureliano Molina, and all others peaceably defending their lands;

– Cancel the damming concession on the Rio Gualcarque and stop the project; 

– Respect Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization requiring free, prior, and informed consent by indigenous peoples before development projects may proceed on their lands, and the Honduran constitution requiring protection of the lands and rights of indigenous communities. Respect all ancestral territories;

– Stop the violence against indigenous communities.