Honduras Covid-19 update from Edwin Espinal, former political prisoner who remains criminalized by regime

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Honduras Covid-19 update from Edwin Espinal, former political prisoner who remains criminalized by regime
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* Rights Action’s Community-defense/ Covid19 response fund: see below

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Honduras’ Covid-19 update from Edwin Espinal
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(Janet Spring (Edwin’s mother-in-law) writes: Edwn Espinal gives an update on the situation in Honduras. Find my latest Springwater News article below, which also reports on the food distribution programs that SCHRM is sponsoring. Thanks to the many donors who have donated to these important projects. I also report on Canadian mining and sweatshop practices that are compromising the health of their communities of workers.)

Edwin Espinal, spouse of Karen Spring, sends greetings from Tegucigalpa Honduras. Edwin talks about the situation in his neighbourhood today as Hondurans experience harsh conditions due to COVID-19, corruption, and inflexible government restrictions.

Describe the situation in the country during this COVID crisis?

Edwin: The COVID situation is not under control because of the government’s criminal behaviour. As Hondurans we are really upset with the inaction of our government that only cares for the rich. The Hernandez government does not provide proper healthcare and social conditions to Hondurans yet is supported by the US and Canadian government.

The people are getting very sick from this pandemic; medical supplies are scarce or non-existent in the public hospitals. If a person gets sick and must visit the hospital, family members must provide a cot or chair to fit into the limited space they are given. Family members must buy all supplies and bring them in for their loved one, as there are no oxygen tanks or medications provided. Doctors are overworked, nurses cannot keep up with the sick and dying.

The number of cases is skyrocketing with thousands of new reported cases every day. Many go unreported as people are afraid to visit the hospitals or cannot afford to go. They die at home.
COVID-19 is mostly rampant in the poor neighbourhoods as people live in close quarters with many family members living together. They must go out to do their own shopping in crowded streets as the population is very high in these neighbourhoods.

In the richer parts of the city, there is more freedom. The middle and upper class employ workers, paying way below minimum wage; they send their underpaid workers into the streets to do their shopping and perform other duties. The rich people are therefore not exposed to the pandemic as are their employees. They are also taking advantage of the poor because jobs are now practically non-existent. The rich are following their typical pattern of not caring for anyone except themselves during this pandemic in this country.

Tell about the government control in the streets?

Edwin: When I travel through the streets, I see repression. Military and police harass the poor. The government has very strict rules to lock the people in their houses. They are only allowed out in the streets once every two weeks and many people cannot get all of the tasks completed due to long lineups, food and staples shortages. They cannot complete their shopping, banking, medical appointments in one day so they must break the rules. They also cannot afford to buy ahead, and supplies are limited. So, if the people go out into the streets, the military confiscate their cars, arrest them and hold them for 24 hours. They are forced to pay heavy fines, or they are not released.

During the day and night, helicopters patrol the skies, keeping a watch over the people. Police and military are very active, brutalizing small groups of people and teargassing them in the overcrowded neighbourhoods. There is no fairness or justice here. We are watched and monitored at all times.

Talk about the food shortages?

Edwin: In terms of food programs, the government is only providing food to the people who vote for the National Party. The government is using the COVID-19 pandemic for their own political gain and not providing for all of the people. This is immoral and inhumane because people are starving. There are no jobs and also private companies (McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Little Caesar, Denny’s, etc.) are exploiting their workers, not paying wages, benefits, as required by law. They are taking advantage of their employees and using the pandemic as an excuse.

We thank the Simcoe County community for their ongoing support. We are encouraged by your interest in our lives because your encouragement gives us hope.

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Community of Simcoe Supports Hondurans
SCHRM continues to send funds to food distribution community projects located in El Progreso and Tegucigalpa. We have also received a new request for monies for food donations from the northern community of Azacualpa in the Department of Copan, close to the Guatemalan border. This community is fighting the expansion of a Canadian gold mining company, Aura Minerals, based in [the United States].

Unfair mining practices and military control by this company has left the community very vulnerable and at the mercy of Aura Minerals policy makers and shareholders. This company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).

The Azacualpa community is desperate for food as the area is controlled by the mining company; stores are owned by Aura and are price controlled. Supplies are scare due to its remoteness; the nearest bank and larger grocery stores are 2-3 hours away by truck along mountainous dirt roads. SCHRM is sending donations to help feed the most impoverished families here who can only leave their homes once every 14 days based on their government issued ID number. SCHRM also continues to send monies to El Progreso and Tegucigalpa organizers for the very important food programs there.

Unscrupulous behaviour from Canadian mining company
Aura Minerals has been under scrutiny and attack from Canadian and US human rights organizations for digging up the Azacualpa community cemetery. This struggle has been ongoing since 2010 when the community first reached out for help to stop the expansion of the mine which would jeopardize their ancestral burial site, their villages, and their health. The community members are fiercely against the actions of Aura Minerals, which has turned their countryside into an open pit. At the gold mining site and surrounding area, the open pit, cyanide-leaching mine causes severe health related issues; it poisons the land, cuts down their forests, and their water sources. This has been well documented and found to be true.

Canadian companies such as Aura Minerals follow unscrupulous practices and take advantage of government corruption to prosper in countries such as Honduras. Actions by this company are showing Canada in a very bad light on the international stage. Their Honduran mining practices are prohibited in Canada.

Today Aura Minerals is digging up the cemetery area and illegally exhuming bodies, despite opposition from the Azacualpa community. For further information, refer to a 2016 video produced by Toronto-based Rights Action: [link removed] ([link removed]) and an article at: [link removed]…/Not-Worth-the-Dirt…
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Doctors make demands on Canadian and US sweatshop companies
Canadian and US sweatshops (maquilas) in Honduras such as Gildan Activewear, Hanes and Jockey that provide North America with cheap t-shirts, active-wear, and underwear, continue to operate around the sweatshop capital of Honduras in Choloma, located in the San Pedro Sula area.

Due to the large number of COVID-19 cases in the region related to the sweatshop environments, Dr. Samuel Santos, VP of the Honduran Medical College stated this past weekend that if the sweatshops remain in operation and do not close, the doctors in the northern region of the country will shut down the hospitals. Hospitals are operating without supplies and treatment spaces, lack of staff, and cannot treat the large number of sick patients. See attached photo of the inside of a Honduran sweatshop and Dr. Santos, courtesy of paradigma.hn.

Even though the government has ordered a state-wide quarantine lockdown for the second time since March due to rising COVID infection numbers, these sweatshop companies demand that workers report for duty. If they do not obey, workers lose their jobs. Yet when traveling to the factory and reporting for work, they face dire health risks to themselves, their families, and their communities. COVID-19 spreads rapidly in the workplaces that do not provide social distancing and safe conditions. Workers must also defy government orders that demand everyone to stay at home. They risk harassment, beatings, or even arrest at checkpoints patrolled by military police as they travel back and forth to work.

Canadian sweatshops pay less than Honduran minimum wage, the workplace environment is hazardous to health and now with the pandemic the situation is dire. Workers must endure 12-15-hour shifts, with very few breaks in a Covid-19 infested environment.

The communities of Azacualpa, Tegucigalpa, and El Progreso thank the community of Simcoe County and beyond for their very generous food donations.

If you wish to donate, contact me. We receive photos, receipts and financial reports from community organizers. Foodstuffs purchased through your donations feed the children and the impoverished families in poor neighbourhoods.

Janet Spring
Simcoe County Honduras Rights Monitor Committee
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , 705-734-4238

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Recent posts related to Aura Minerals
* Azacualpa villagers resist Aura Minerals/MINOSA’s Covid19-spreading mine ([link removed])
* Aura Minerals linked threats against Azacualpa villager Maria Ermita Rodriguez, in times of Covid19 ([link removed])
* Aura Minerals mining with drug-trafficking linked companies in Honduras, in times of Covid19 ([link removed])

Rights Action’s Community-defense/ Covid19 response fund
Updated: June 12, 2020 ([link removed])

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