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Honduras: Hidden connection between US steel company NUCOR Corp. & illegal mine in Guapinol

Thanks to Rights Action for these articles
 
 
As Joe Biden begins his presidency, a majority of Honduran people continue to suffer the violence and oppression of the military-backed, drug-trafficking, ‘open-for-global-business’ Honduran regime brought to power in the US and Cdn-backed military coup of June 28, 2009 - during Biden’s first term as Vice-President during the Obama presidency.

A courageous, community-led human rights and environmental defense struggle continues in Guapinol, where local people resist he illegal imposition of an iron oxide mine, suffering violence and criminalization by company-linked operators and the US and Cdn-backed Honduran regime.

Below
  • The Intercept in-depth report
  • Honduras Now podcast
  • The Guardian article
Guapinol anti-mining, community and water-defense camp. Photo: Guapinol community

From The Intercept:
“In 2014, John Ferriola, then CEO of Nucor, told Time Magazine that Honduras could play a central role in Nucor’s strategy to revive the U.S. steel industry. Nucor would produce pellets that, when combined with recycled steel, that would improve product quality and reduce costs.
“When Nucor invested in iron mining and steel production in Honduras, it did not do so by the light of day. Instead, its subsidiaries -- Nucor South America and Nucor Trading -- partnered with holding firms for Hondurans that were created in a tax haven, Panama.
“Nucor was an important donor to Donald Trump’s last two presidential campaigns.
“Under the Trump administration, reforms aimed at benefiting the steel sector particularly favored Nucor, according to an investigation by the New York Times.”

 
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The hidden connection between a US steel company – NUCOR Corp. - and the controversial Los Pinares mine in Honduras
By Jennifer Avila & Danielle Mackey, 9 Nov 2020
https://www.univision.com/univision-news/latin-america/the-hidden-connection-between-a-us-steel-company-and-the-controversial-los-pinares-mine-in-honduras


The Struggle to Defend Water in Guapinol
Honduras Now Podcast Ep. 14, Jan. 15, 2021
https://redcircle.com/shows/honduras-now-podcast


The Guapinol community, on the country’s north coast, has become militarized in an effort to defend the river that supplies it
By Nina Lakhani, 6 Oct 2020
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/06/how-honduras-became-one-of-the-most-dangerous-countries-to-defend-natural-resources


More information
www.guapinolresiste.org
www.twitter.com/guapinolre

 
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Act – Stir up the pot – Chip away
The U.S. and Canadian governments, the World Bank and global businesses and investors (mining, hydro-electric dams, African palm, sugarcane, bananas, garment “sweatshop” factors, tourism, etc.) maintain profitable relations with anti-democratic and corrupt, repressive and racist governments in Honduras and Guatemala, contributing to and benefitting from exploitation and repression, environmental harms and human rights violations, corruption and impunity.
 
Keep sending copies of Rights Action information (and that of other solidarity groups/ NGOs) to family, friends and your networks, to politicians and media, asking ‘Why do our governments, companies and investment firms benefit from and turn a blind eye to poverty, repression and violence, environmental and health harms that caused the forced migrancy / refugee crisis in Guatemala and Honduras?’