Rights Action, February 7, 2022
On Thursday night, January 20, 2022, Aura Minerals (USA) and MINOSA (Honduran subsidiary), completely destroyed the Azacualpa cemetery, illegally exhuming the remains of loved ones buried there. For 8 years, Azacualpa villagers resisted the illegal destruction of their sacred Campo Santo. They suspect now that not even all the remains were exhumed - crushing them with heavy machinery during "cleaning up" of the Campo Santo, leaving bones lying around.
All this destruction and looting was carried out with corruption and impunity and support of the National Police and Honduran Army in the last days of the presidency of Narco-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, 12 years and 7 months in power, supported by the army, the US and Canada.
"Unknown"
In the "new" cemetery, graves appear now with "unknown" written on them. If a family member wants to know more, they go to the Aura Minerals/MINOSA office in San Andres. Upon providing them with all the details of the deceased, they are told - or is it that they are assigned (?) a grave, where they are told that their loved one is supposed to be! Some relatives have gone to the "new" cemetery to mark the assigned grave as theirs.
Watch the video here
