Troubled Waters Between Honduras and El Salvador

By Thelma Mejía and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Jun 10 2006 (IPS) - Border communities oppose the proposed binational El Tigre dam, which would flood 72 square kilometers. But officials say the project would prevent future conflicts between the two Central American countries about water. The construction of El Tigre dam, at a cost of 1.5 billion dollars, on the border that Honduras and El Salvador share on the Lempa River, has unleashed a wave of contradictory opinions. Some claim there will be a loss of sovereignty over natural resources, while others say the resulting reservoir will prevent another war between the two countries, this time over water.

The first efforts towards building this hydroelectric megadam, which would be 100 meters tall and flood 72 square kilometers, began three weeks ago. And the border communities are demanding more information and greater participation about the project's scope.

The idea to build a dam like this — with the potential to supply energy to 70 percent of the Salvadoran population — emerged in 1991, but just recently, on Apr. 16, 2006, President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras and President Antonio Saca of El Salvador formalized the decision.

Carlos Orbin Montoya, Honduran representative to the Central American Economic Integration Bank (BCIE), believes the project comes “at a good time, because the border demarcation has already been finalized” between the two countries, “and with the dam the aim is to produce new forms of clean energy.”

“Both countries should arrive at a consensus. I tell the dissonant voices that they shouldn't oppose it just to oppose it. This project will be complete in a couple of years; there is time for dialogue,” Orbin Montoya told Tierramérica.

In 1969, Honduras and El Salvador engaged in a 100-hour war over a border dispute, leaving economic losses of more than 20 million dollars on the Honduran side, according to official figures. Known as the “soccer war”, it came to a head in the context of a match between the two countries' national teams.

The dispute led both countries to bring their differences before the tribunal at The Hague, Netherlands, which in 1992 ruled in favor of Honduras, granting it two-thirds of the land under dispute and ensuring Honduran land access to the Pacific Ocean.

Since then, the border demarcation process was slow, and was just finalized on the same day that the presidents announced their support for beginning dam construction on El Tigre.

The dam and reservoir would be located in the departments of the western region of Honduras, and on the Salvadoran side in the northern department of San Miguel, according to preliminary projections.

The first to be surprised by the dam construction announcement were the border villages in the western Honduran departments of Intibucá, Lempira and La Paz, which staged protests along the border and in Tegucigalpa, the capital. The reservoir is projected to affect at least six Honduran communities. And no plans have been made for their relocation.

According to Salvador Zúñiga, of the Honduran Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations (COPINH), the megaproject would displace some 20,000 people, although the government estimates put the total at around 5,000.

“We are ready to dialogue, we are going to provide compensation, but now we are in the preparatory studies that will lead us to ongoing consultation with the affected populations of both countries and community leaders,” said Jacobo Hernández, Honduran commissioner for implementing the project, alongside his Salvadoran counterpart, Eduardo Zablah.

In El Salvador, civil society organizations like the National Council of Rural Workers (CNTC), say the dam will cause food insecurity, displacement and unemployment in their communities.

Víctor Rivera, a member of the Council, said construction of El Tigre is an affront to the human rights of Hondurans and Salvadorans alike.

The potential negative environmental effects of the hydroelectric dam are also at the center of concerns. “The only two environmental impact studies that exist are in the hands of El Salvador and nobody here has seen them,” Honduran ecologist Rigoberto Sandoval said in a conversation with Tierramérica.

But he does not believe in demonizing the project. “El Salvador has serious hydric problems, and this dam will not only resolve those, but could also help us avoid a war over water,” he said.

Nevertheless, Honduras should obtain copies of the documentation that El Salvador has, said Sandoval. “The most interested in the project should provide an environmental impact study and conduct good negotiations in which the installations of the dam are not built on the Salvadoran side, but on ours,” he said.

Mario Ponce, a Honduran expert on farm issues, agreed that the water problems are so serious in El Salvador that “we need to think about how to prevent future conflicts” over that resource.

For the El Salvador ambassador to Honduras, Sigifredo Ochoa, the dam is an opportunity that will reinforce “the integrationist spirit” of the two countries. “It is an endeavor that will allow us to erase obstacles, including those still existing on the border lines,” he told a local press conference.

Adolfo Facussé, president of the National Association of Industry (ANDI) in Honduras, said the body fully supports construction of the dam.

“It should be debated further, all information possible should be obtained and we should study similar experiences in the South American countries, because El Tigre dam is, for now, the best option for the Salvadorans,” he said.