The banks' exit responds to the denouncements and indefatigable struggle the communities organized in COPINH have carried out against the financing by banks of projects that openly violate the rights of Lenca communities and have been imposed and developed through the murder of leaders like Berta Caceres and Tomas Garcia.
This exit has been a long and difficult process where COPINH has been constantly ignored and invisibilized. The exit of the banks is a victory for communities organized in defense of the sacred Gualcarque River and the rights of the Lenca people. This victory is a product of cosmic justice/reckoning in which our ancestors have accompanied us constantly.
However, we denounce that the FMO and Finn Fund have ignored COPINH's recommendations about a responsible exit. To the contrary, the banks continue promoting a decision-making process about a hydroelectric dam project that could generate more violence and repression. This process contemplates impunity for the murders and crimes committed and the tries to make invisible the responsibility of DESA and the state of Honduras for the violence in the region. COPINH denounces that this process has already been rejected by the Lenca people of Rio Blanco and that COPINH has informed FMO and their consultant of the serious problems with this process on multiple occasions, however, they have ignored us.
In the same way, in their public declaration, FMO and Finn Fund do not consider their responsibility for the death and human rights violations that have resulted from the project. We continue demanding that the banks recognize their responsibility and that they apologize to the affected communities and COPINH, which they have refused to do.
We thank the organizations that have accompanied us in this struggle against the financing of death in our communities and we invite you to continue to join us in demanding justice, truth, and reparation.
