Perfil de Fernando Silva

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Sobre
Fernando Silva is an investigative journalist. His work focuses on covering corruption, power structures, extractivism, forced displacement and migration. He is also an audiovisual producer and has worked for half a decade in this field with organizations that defend human rights and development institutions in the country. In 2019 he graduated from the Investigative Journalism Course at Columbia University and that same year was part of Transnacionales de la Fe, which in 2020 won the Ortega y Gasset prize for best investigative journalism awarded by the Spanish newspaper El País. She is a fellow of the International Women Media Foundation (IWMF).
Climate change and the environment

Victims of mining conflict expect an indictment against Lenir Pérez in view of a possible concession extension

According to information provided to Contracorriente, after a denunciation and preliminary investigation against Lenir Pérez, legal representative of Inversiones Los Pinares, an indictment by the Attorney General’s Office is pending. An investigation by the Technical Criminal Investigation Agency (Agencia Técnica de Investigación Criminal – ATIC) revealed Pérez allegedly committed environmental crimes related to the mining concession irregularly granted by the Mayor’s Office in Tocoa, department of Colón. Environmental organizations have brought legal actions against Pérez, expecting prosecutors to act before January 28, when the current mining concession expires and the State decides to approve or deny a request to extend the concession for 30 years.

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Climate change and the environment

Adán Fúnez and Grupo EMCO fail in town hall meeting on polluting power plant installation

After the cancellation of the town hall meeting meant to be held on Saturday, December 9 by the mayor of Tocoa, Adán Fúnez, hundreds of representatives across the municipalities and several organizations opposed to the project organized a popular assembly, in which they officially ratified their rejection of the Ecotek power plant and pointed to it as an attempt by the EMCO Group to continue with the installation and operation of the mine in the Carlos Escaleras National Park, with the intention of using petcoke, a highly polluting petroleum derivative. The power plant is part of the conglomerate headed by Lenir Pérez, a Honduran businessman under investigation by the FBI in the United States.

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In-depth Investigations

The coffee dilemma in the Honduran nature reserve of El Merendón

In the mountain range of El Merendón, in northern Honduras, coffee is grown in almost three thousand blocks of land, 80 percent of which is found in a nature reserve that provides water and oxygen to the second largest city in the country, San Pedro Sula. Coffee producers are our last hope to preserve and restore this mountain, but due to the lack of State support and inequality in favor of exporters and transnationals, they have to make a crucial decision: implement agroforestry systems to preserve the forest or transition to more profitable but unsustainable farming practices.

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Bufete del actual ministro Tomás Vaquero representa empresas de Lenir Pérez, empresario señalado de vulneración a DDHH
In-depth Investigations

Honduras’ Guapinol mining project, condemned by the government but defended by top government officials

President Xiomara Castro has officially denounced the Guapinol mine and Palmerola airport projects. They are going ahead regardless, with no interruption to the power and influence of businessman Lenir Pérez, who owns the concessions for both projects. Pérez has already been accused of benefiting from his relations with former president Juan Orlando Hernández to obtain irregular contracts and abuse human rights. Now, Contracorriente has found that Pérez could maintain privileged access to the new government through lawyer Pamela Blanco Luque, partner, and wife of Tomás Vaquero, Secretary of Government, Justice, and Decentralization.

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Luis redondo 2022 | congreso nacional | en el | legislando | presidente del congreso nacional | CN | 2022
News

First week of Xiomara gov’t in Honduras sees many important changes

Legislators from the faction supporting Luis Redondo as president of the National Congress met on February 2 to vote on several laws that fulfill some of President Xiomara Castro’s campaign promises. A law proposed by Representative Rasel Tomé condemning the coup that deposed Manuel Zelaya 12 years earlier was approved, and includes amnesty provisions for those that defend national sovereignty, land and water sources. It also protects public officials from prosecution for corruption-related crimes committed from 2006 to 2009.

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marchas en Honduras | Antorchas | de las | 2021 | xiomara vence o cancer
In-depth Investigations

Business elites feel hope and anxiety after Xiomara Castro’s victory

Xiomara Castro’s victory on November 28 swept many entrenched politicians out of office and toppled the two parties that have held onto power for decades through shady political deal making. Business leaders who have benefitted from the policies of previous governments now face an uncertain future, as the incoming administration has promised to repeal or revise some of these policies. However, other political and business sectors that opposed the current administration are now hoping for real change.

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News

The odd and large-scale corruption by Hilda Hernández, sister of the Honduran president

The Hermes case filed by UFERCO, the Ministry of Justice’s anti-corruption unit, is the last piece of a puzzle that now provides a complete picture of how Juan Orlando Hernández rose to power through political patronage and media control. The indictment charges Hilda Hernández, the deceased minister and sister of the president, with leading a corruption ring that embezzled more than 122 million lempiras (US$5 million) in public funds.

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News

Hoaxes and errors with the Honduran president’s Covid-19 test results

Six months after Contracorriente submitted a formal information request to the Institute for Public Information Access (Instituto de Acceso a la Información Pública – IAIP), the Ministry of Public Health released information confirming that President Juan Orlando Hernandez tested negative for COVID-19 the day before he made a public appearance where he stated that he and his wife had tested positive for the virus.

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News

President’s COVID-19 test results concealed by Health Ministry

The Ministry of Health failed to release a copy of the test results in which Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández allegedly tested positive for COVID-19 after Contracorriente requested it, based on a Institute of Access to Public Information (IAIP) requirement. Now, the commissioner’s board of the IAIP has issued a legal resolution for the handing over of the information. If not complied with, the case will be brought before the Attorney General of the Republic (PGR).

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In-depth Investigations

Small business owners in Honduras feel abandoned

One of the pandemic relief measures taken by the government of Honduras was to secure up to US$2.5 billion in debt to be used for guaranteed loans channeled through a government bank to small and medium-size enterprises. Despite the government’s promises of relief for small businesses, our investigation found that this money has mostly benefited private banks, business conglomerates, and medium-size companies. There has been almost no official relief for microenterprises.

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Jungle News

Electoral reforms alone won’t stop illegal financing of political parties

Last Monday, the government’s special anti-corruption unit (Unidad Fiscal Especializada Contra Redes de Corrupción – UFERCO) presented its court case against Nasry Asfura, a candidate for the National Party’s presidential nomination, and a member of its Let’s Save Honduras movement (Salvemos Honduras del Partido Nacional). The charges accuse him of using public funds for his 2014 political campaign. Meanwhile, the National Congress continues to debate electoral reforms.

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Human rights

Displaced and Returned to Despair

Text: Fernando Silva Photo: Martín Cálix “Esperanza” and her two daughters leave their neighborhood in Tegucigalpa with a small wallet, filled with prescriptions and some

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