Today's Video: To MIne or Not to Mine?

Last month we examined the life and tragic murder of Costa Rican environmental activist Jairo Mora Sandoval.  In celebration of Earth Day this April 22nd, this week we'll look at other Latin American campaigners advocating for the environment who have died.

According to Global Witness, roughly three in four of the 114 environmental activists killed worldwide in 2014 were from Central and South America. Honduras was deemed as the most dangerous country per capita to be an environmental activist for the last five years with 101 deaths between 2010 and 2014. 

"They follow me. They threaten to kill me, to kidnap me, they threaten my family. That is what we face," said Berta Cáceres, a Honduran environmental advocate and winner of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize.


Armando Fúnez, Maria Enriqueta Matute and Ricardo Soto were three leaders of the indigenous Tolupán community slain during a protest against a planned mining project and construction of a hydroelectric dam. They had reportedly received multiple death threats prior to the deadly attack against them in 2013.

As noted by Global Witness, the Tolupán continue to fight for their community and their future: 

We aren’t going to give up the struggle to keep our natural resources clean and in the hands of the community. There are those who want easy money by tearing up the land, contaminating the water. We have been here respecting the earth that gives us our food and we intend to stay here fighting for our right to feed ourselves.

Below the page break are two videos regarding the struggle over the San Martin gold mine operating in central Honduras.  (Not related to the project that the Tolupán are opposed to). The first video is from the operator of San Martin, Canada's Goldcorp, that claims the company works closely with the local community and operates the mine "in a very, very responsible manner." The second video purportedly contains residents living near the San Martin mine who accused the mine of contaminating the local water supply and bringing possible health risks to the community.



Goldcorp:

CAFOD:

YouTube Sources - GoldCorpInc and CAFOD

Online Source - Global Witness

"They follow me. They threaten to kill me, to kidnap me, they threaten my family. That is what we face," said Berta Cáceres, a Honduran activist and winner of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize.

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Honduras-The-Most-Dangerous-Place-for-Environmental-Activists-20150420-0007.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

report published Monday by Global Witness

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Honduras-The-Most-Dangerous-Place-for-Environmental-Activists-20150420-0007.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

eport published Monday by Global Witness

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Honduras-The-Most-Dangerous-Place-for-Environmental-Activists-20150420-0007.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english

eport published Monday by Global Witness

This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Honduras-The-Most-Dangerous-Place-for-Environmental-Activists-20150420-0007.html. If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english