Residents of the southern Honduran department of Valle oppose the permit that the government granted mining companies to explore and exploit some 5,000 hectares in the area. Alfredo Saavedra, a spokesman for the anti-mining movement, told Tierramérica that exploration for lead, silver, zinc and gold “have caused severe harm in other parts of the country, and we fear the same will happen in the south.”

Saavedra pointed to the situation in Valle de Siria, in the central department of Francisco Morazán, where open-pit mining caused serious environmental problems. The companies responsible for the harm are the same ones that now want to operate in southern Honduras, he said.

The ecosystems in the south, he added, are already at risk due to the progressive destruction of the mangrove forests along the Gulf of Fonseca, where shrimp farming pools have been built.