‘Today more than ever, we need to stand up to threats against the environment’
Honduran human rights defender Reynaldo Dominguez on the struggle for environmental justice in Guapinol
Reynaldo Dominguez is a member of the Municipal Committee for the defence of Common and Public Good (CMDBCP), an organisation that works to defend the environment in the Bajo Aguan region of northern Honduras.
In 2019, Reynaldo was one of 32 members of the CMDBCP prosecuted for peacefully opposing a mining project that contaminated local waterways, including the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers. Eight of his colleagues spent 914 days in prison, despite a complete lack of evidence against them and classification of their detention as ‘arbitrary’ by the UN. The eight Guapinol river defenders were released on 24 February of this year following a decision in their favour by the Supreme Court of Honduras. However, they are still awaiting formal letters from the Honduran judiciary confirming that the charges against them have been dropped and the proceedings dismissed. Until then, they and their families fear that the case could be revived at any time.
Reynaldo spoke with PBI while in London as part of a European advocacy tour by land and environmental defenders, who are calling on the European Union and the UK to enact due diligence legislation that protects the environment and the individuals and communities who defend it.
Read more about Reynaldo’s visit to the UK
Could you please tell us a little about yourself and your environmental work?
My name is Reynaldo Domínguez and I am a member of the Comité Municipal de Defensa de los Bienes Comunes y Públicos (Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods CMDBCP) of Tocoa, in the department of Colón. I am also president of the Guapinol community's water board.
I have been involved in this struggle since 2018 because I was struck by the way an open-pit mining project changed the colour of the waters of the Guapinol and San Pedro Rivers. I do this work willingly, nobody pays me. There is a bounty on my head for my work defending the environment in a protected area [the Carlos Escaleras National Park] in which the rivers are born.
Whoever interferes with the water, interferes with Mother Earth. I defend the communities and I defend humanity in its entirety, because without water we cannot live. I give my all so that these projects do not continue their destruction.
Why and how did the Committee come about?
The Committee arose in response to the arrival of extractive projects, and their impact on the local communities.
In 2015, the Mayor of San Pedro organised a town hall meeting to share what was happening with these projects. By 2018, extractive activity had begun, and the Committee alerted the communities that we were at risk and we should take action. We organised ourselves into local community committees and decided to start establishing water boards. Local organisations, the church and the communities united to face these projects because they contaminated the river on which we depend.
Defending water is defending life. We cannot negotiate the destruction of water resources.
What risks have you and your colleagues faced in the process of defending the environment?
We were criminalised by the company Inversiones Los Pinares. In 2018, 18 of us were accused of having committed very dangerous crimes. Then in a second round of criminalization, 14 more of us were accused, amounting to a total of 32 criminalised defenders from the community. What has worked in our favour is that the company accused people who are not even from the community and even included a person who had passed away in 2015. They were indicting anyone and were proved to be dishonest about everything.
During the previous government of [former Honduran President] Juan Orlando Hernandez, we felt obliged to present ourselves voluntarily to the authorities in response to these accusations of crimes that we did not commit. These were crimes that Inversiones Los Pinares, owned by Lenir Peréz, invented to ensure we were jailed so that they could be free to impose the mining project. This businessman has entered the area with total illegality, buying concessions and falsifying documents. Unmasking this corruption has led us to this battle.
Fortunately, the first group of 18, including myself, were only detained for 15 days, due to the pressure of international and national organisations calling for our release, including PBI.
My colleagues were detained in maximum security prisons, mixed with violent criminals which is extremely dangerous. The second group, who were imprisoned for over two years, experienced a higher risk inside the prison. These maximum-security prisons are of maximum insecurity. My colleagues saw how key witnesses and HRDs were eliminated inside the prison. Frequently there are riots inside such prisons, and violence with weapons. There is no control.
[Our incarceration] put us at risk. I am 58 years old, and I had never seen the inside of a prison before then, and neither had my colleagues. We are people of community values, who defend the water. Right now, there are four groups under threat: The Committee, the lawyers who defend us - who are stigmatised and criticised, the communities themselves, and our families. Some of us do not sleep in our homes at night. We fear that the company will continue its legal threats against us.
How did this criminalisation impact your families and the rest of the community?
It has changed our lives. Living in fear is complicated, and the families of Committee members live in fear. You just don't know when something might happen to you.
We have neglected our jobs, too. We have not been able to work for four years. Those of us who have adult children who can work live off the support they provide us.
Another impact has been displacement. Many community members have been displaced. Los Pinares has sent a clear message: ‘The same or worse will happen to you if you don't let the project continue. The others spent 914 days imprisoned, but you will face 20 or 30 years.’ This really affects people in the communities. They don't get involved because of the risks. We resist displacement and continue to fight, but it is dangerous.
Whilst some defenders carry out activism in person, others do it more through social networks, posting that we don't want this mining project because it is destroying the environment in a nature preserve. That is our clear message for the businessmen. They did not consult us.
We have called on the government to stop the project because of the danger it poses. When the water runs out, how will we survive?
What are you demanding of the Honduran government now?
We have told the government that our lives and those of our family are in danger. Some risk analyses have been carried out by government institutions. But this is expensive, it takes a long time, and we have called on the government for a quicker response. In some cases, what they do is give us police escorts, but we don't trust the police or the military.
We have said that we don't want these escorts and have opted for other types of security mechanisms, such as panic buttons, alarms, and community radios. We are short of radios, which are worth about $150 US dollars each. We need about six radios so that defenders can carry out an immediate alert when they are in danger.
In terms of the mining concessions, we have told the government that there will be no peace in the communities unless these projects are shut down. Our lawyers have proof of the illegalities committed, showing the corruption involved in these projects. It is imperative that the licence is suspended and the mine be closed down.
The response of the businessman Lenir Peréz is to sue the government for millions. But how can the government pay these demands if the projects were begun illegally? The communities would have to pay the lawsuit and we have already invested a fortune in this fight. This is another type of campaign that we must carry out: that these demands are not paid because they [the businesses] always take our money.
What can the UK government do to support your case?
The British government should call for an end to the extraction of this material and resist buying it. As long as there is a buyer, there will be a chance for destruction on the other side of the process.
Development must be for good. We welcome sustainable development. But if the waters, the forest, the environment, the ecosystems are going to be put at risk, and people displaced, their ways of life destroyed, then no, we do not accept this development. Therefore, the British government should call on Honduras' to respect human life, insist that people must be consulted, to see if they want these projects, to understand their impacts.
Projects cannot be implemented in a protected area because the forest represents the lungs of the planet. If we, as human beings, lack our lungs, we end there.
Humans should not have to disappear for the sake of capital. Article 59 of the Honduran Constitution states: “That the human being is the supreme entity of society.” If that were the case, then we would take better care of ourselves, we would have better health, better education, and we have the capacity to have all these things because we have a lot of natural wealth. But unfortunately, many funds are lost due to corruption.
You have called on the European Union to implement a due diligence law that ensures companies respect the environment and human rights. Would you like to see a similar law in the UK?
Of course, it is very much needed. Such a due diligence law needs to include direct, concrete clauses that guarantee any company that puts communities at risk and destroys natural resources, will be sanctioned, and that those sanctions are applied. It also needs to promote zero tolerance for any company that puts environmental defenders at risk. Laws must include consultation and access to information on extractive projects.
There must also be political will from the government to apply environmental protection laws. Otherwise, the laws are just there on paper, without being implemented and the same problems continue.
The need for mandatory due diligence: Read more about the Business, Human Rights and Environment Act
What role has PBI played in your case?
Honestly, the green vests [worn by PBI volunteers] really work. PBI is respected. When PBI talks about international protection to judges, to prosecutors, they have to listen, even if it makes them uncomfortable. PBI’s presence during court hearings has been very important.
Defending people committed to the defence of the common goods of nature is to be on the side of life, on the side of the human person, of society. We are grateful, and encourage PBI to continue this accompaniment. Don't stop, because your work is bearing fruit and those fruits are the fact that eight defenders have been freed. Governments around the world are being told that life is not only money, not only capital.
Is there any other message you want to share?
When it comes to environmental security, when it comes to fighting to defend water, when it comes to climate justice, we must pay attention. Today more than ever, we need to stand up to threats against the environment.
Our compañera Berta Cáceres used to say: “humanity, it's time to wake up!”. I would add “humanity, it’s time to stand up and take action”, because the destruction is accelerating very quickly. In 15-20 years, more threatening change is coming, and right now is time to put a stop to it.
We need to educate ourselves about the environment, which is being polluted at an increasing rate. We must take these messages to teachers so that students understand and discuss these issues which are so important, and they will see that defending the environment, defending life, defending water, is essential to our collective survival.
