Extractivismo y conflictos socioterritoriales y ambientales en Honduras

Abstract

As part of the ups and downs of the capitalist system, in recent decades society witnessed the emergence of a new model of capital accumulation, the extractivist one. This model, clearly, tempts against life on the planet, especially in those communities where extractive projects have been established. The main objective of the study was to know the current state of socio-territorial and environmental conflicts in Honduras. We worked with a qualitative approach, type documentary research. The information was collected from secondary sources: texts published in the form of articles, reports, books, lectures, among others.
The results reveal that in the last decades in Honduras several types of extractivist projects have been established: hydroelectric, tourism, monoculture and agricultural monopoly, mining, model cities or Zones of Employment and Economic Development (ZEDE), REDD Bonds and REDD +. To exemplify, until 2017 282 mining concessions had been granted, by 2018 the number of hydroelectric projects concessioned amounted to 157. In rejection of these extractivist projects, the communities have organized in different regions of the country, becoming a series of socio-territorial and environmental conflicts, and the main victims have been indigenous peoples, peasant communities and organized women. It is concluded that in Honduras there is a legal framework that favors the establishment of extractivist projects, this is confirmed in the existence of a series of laws, codes and policies that invite private capital to invest in the extractive sector. But in addition, those people who oppose such projects are vilely punished; a clear example is the murder of the indigenous leader Berta Cáceres.