December 10 is Human Rights Day. We’re sharing this video about communities in Rio Blanco, Honduras, whose protests against an illegal dam on their land have been met with a violent and repressive backlash from their government.People there have already endured months of threats, violence and persecution. People in the area have firmly rejected the dam project, but the police, the courts and the government appear to be more concerned with the interests of the big international financiers of the project, regardless of the consequences for the local population.
The repression against the Lenca community has escalated so rapidly that it now disrupts their daily lives. On November 1 this year, heavily-armed, masked members of the Honduran police raided homes in the indigenous community of La Tejera in Rio Blanco. They forced open the doors of many homes, searching for the president of the Lenca indigenous council and threatened to shoot infants, girls and women. These actions are just the latest chapter in an already long story of attacks and abuses perpetrated by the Honduran state through the criminalization and persecution of the members of COPINH (Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), who have been outspoken opponents of the controversial dam.
Please watch and share this short video with testimonies from the Lenca community, where they explain how the police have repeatedly threatened them.
If you speak Spanish, please consider placing a call to one or more of the people below, tell them your name and which country you are calling from. Mention that you just watched this video and that you are deeply concerned about the situation and ask them to do everything in their power to prevent further human rights abuses.
Luis Green, secretario de los Pueblos Indígenas y Afrohondureños SEDINAFROH : Telf: +504 995 84 364
Juan Carlos Bonilla,Director de la Policia Nacional: Telf: +504 970 02 801
Comisario de la Policía de Intibucá: Telf: +504 971 18 034 y +504 278 31 006
Martiniano Domínguez Meza, Alcalde de Intibuca: Telf: +504 783 06 60/0069
Ana Pineda, Ministra de Justicia y Derechos Humanos: Telf: +504 998 26 801 y +504 223 56 119
Sr. Ramón Custodio López, Comisionado Nacional de los DDHH.Telf: +504 223 10 204
