Mining in Central America

Throughout the past 500 years, mining has been a constant method of natural resource exploitation in Central America. From the colonial era to present-day various foreign actors have conquered Central America stealing land and utilizing natives as cheap labour to make a profit at the cost of millions of native deaths. Unfortunately, Central America is an under-studied region but good colonial records exist for Honduras, a country that has experienced mining continuously throughout the last 500 years. With colonization comes indigenous resistance and Central America, especially Honduras is no exception. Currently, Honduras experiences one of the highest murder rates of indigenous environmental land defenders, who like their ancestors, continue the 500-year long fight against exploitation and capitalism to protect the country’s natural resources. In the present day, these indigenous environmental defenders are often labelled as “anti-development” or backward people who are an impediment to Central American economic growth. The reality is that indigenous land rights defenders are guardians of natural resources and the truly backward entities are governments and transnational corporations who illegally exploit the environment and human labour for a economic greed and power. Sadly, just like 500 years ago, protecting the land and environment from capitalistic exploitation comes at a high cost, death and violence against indigenous people.

Nevertheless, in modern times with the advances in communication technology and media, it has been easier for Central American environmental defenders to show to the outside world the abuses they suffer from mining companies and governments. Sharing of video, radio, and other forms of media have made it difficult for extractive companies and governments in North America and Central America to hide from their exploitation and role in the perpetuation of violence against natives. These advances in communication have allowed indigenous cross-border communities in different Central American countries to band together and exchange ideas and information. A current example is the rallying of Salvadorian, Guatemalan, and Honduran communities along the Lempa River watershed who are banning together in environmental social movements to get their governments to stop mining in the watershed. This is just one example of numerous of other cases where community resistance against extractive industries is gaining traction in Central America, a region that continues to resist 500 years later.


Labour, Race, and Silver Mining in Colonial Honduras

Natives processing Gold. Source

Scholarly research indicates that the silver mined in colonial Honduras was likely greater because some of the silver was never taxed and sold to the British on the Pacific coast (Newson, 1984). Labour in the silver mines of colonial Honduras was comprised of natives who were forced to work for free in slave conditions under the encomienda system. While there was some importation of African Slaves to work in the mines, natives did the most dangerous and difficult labour because their labour was free to the Spanish compared to slaves, which were expensive and difficult to buy. This paper analyzes the labour and demographic changes that made it difficult for the formal and long-term establishment of a silver mining economy in colonial Honduras during the 18th century compared to Mexico and Peru. The paper also argues that the interrelations between Natives, Spanish, and African Slaves led to a rise in a mixed-race class that lowered the demographics of pure blooded natives that could be exploited under the encomienda system and thus led to a labour shortage. The end of large-scale silver mining in Honduras was due to the Spanish Crown’s inability to develop robust mining, financial, and governmental infrastructures which made it economically difficult for colonial mine owners to sustain long-term silver mining operations.

History of Mining in Honduras during the Colonial Period
Silver ore deposits were discovered as early as 1539 in Honduras with more deposits discovered later in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. However, silver mining in colonial Honduras became significant in the 18th century with the operation of multiple silver mines near Comayagua, Tegucigalpa and Choluteca founded by Spanish conquistadores (Newson, 1984). Most of the silver deposits were found in mineralized veins within Tertiary volcanic intrusions, Paleozoic metamorphic, and Cretaceous sedimentary rocks primarily composed of limestone (Newson, 1984). Central America’s unique geologic history enabled it to have a mixture of other important minerals but during the colonial period mining of precious minerals, like gold and silver dominated. For the Spanish to extract silver, they had to register a mining claim with the intendencia, the regional Spanish government, in Tegucigalpa to obtain a permit to start a mine (Newson, 1984). However, not all mining permits necessarily led to the opening of a mine. For example, in 1581 during a visit of the Alcalde Mayor of Tegucigalpa, he estimated that “between 300 and 400 claims had been registered to mines in Guazucaran, but only three or four were being worked, whilst in Santa Lucia 500 to 1,500 mines had been registered and only thirty to forty were being exploited” (Newson, 1984). A reason for this could have been that “the early years of mining were characterized by political instability” and as a result lack of economic investment and labour shortages (Newson L., 1982). Most of the mines in the early colonial period were owned by Spanish conquistadors, like Pedro de Alvarado, who through the repartimiento and encomienda systems created a forced labour system that exploited Natives to work in the mines (Newson L., 1982).

Why Indigenous labour was utilized more than labour by Black Slaves
Indigenous labour was predominately utilized in the silver mines by wealthy Spanish encomenderos. However, in the 16th century, Black slaves primarily owned by Guatemalan and Salvadorian Spaniards worked in the Honduran mines to compensate for Indian labour shortages (Newson L., 1982). Unlike the native workers, African slaves were more likely to pan for gold or work as overseers in silver mines (Herrera, 2000). Black slave labour was not sufficient to continue mining production because slaves were expensive, and the slave supply could not meet labour demands. The big economic investment of a slave-based labour force and the brutal labour conditions in the mine made it expensive for Spaniards: who would lose money if their slaves died. Therefore, the Spanish resorted to subjecting natives from other regions of Central America to take part of the repartimiento system, a labour system similar to the Mita system that forced local native people to pay tribute to the Spanish Crown through free labour. Originally Spaniards could only source natives through the repartimiento system if they worked within 20 leagues (approximately 70 miles) from the mine (Newson, 1984). However, mine owners frequently sourced native labour as far as 50 leagues (approximately 173 miles) which violated Crown laws. Unfortunately, repartimento laws were rarely enforced by the Crown in order to meet the 25% native labour quota Spanish mine owners needed (Newson, 1984). As a result, most, African slaves were used in the agricultural sector, which was less dangerous than the mines but still labour intensive. For the few African slaves that continued enslaved in the mines their work was reduced to less risky occupations, sometimes even serving as overseers for their masters and managing the cuadrillas, groups of native mine workers.

Throughout the colonial period, intermarriage between natives, African slaves, and Spaniards produced a large mixed-race class that lowered the available native population that was eligible for labour in the mines through the repartimiento system. During the 18th century, colonial Spanish America developed a hierarchical social class system based on racial purity with the Spanish Peninsular, Spaniards born in Spain occupying the highest and most powerful roles in society to African slaves and Indians at the bottom of the social ladder. In the middle, a combination of mixed race people existed. The Bourbon reforms were a series of laws passed by the Spanish crown to strengthen their power in the New World. Some of the Bourbon laws passed made interracial marriage between Spanish (creole), Indian, and African slave illegal. Part of the argument for the establishment of the caste system was to reinforce Spanish peninsular domination of society, political, and economic affairs and to keep classes they thought of as inferior in control through the creation of race to establish a division of free native labour the Spanish could exploit. The second reason was to ensure that there was no intermarriage between Indians and slaves to ensure that native populations did not decrease so encomenderos, Spaniards who controlled the land and mines, could continue to utilize native labour through the repartimiento. Crown laws prohibited use of mestizo and mulatto populations as free labour for fear of revolts (Newson, 1984). Therefore, marriage was encouraged within individual racial classes. However, Honduras was remote, and the marriage laws were not heavily enforced especially near the mines. Lack of government marriage regulation led to a labour shortage of Indians eligible for the repartimiento and a rise of mulatto and mestizo population because of intermarriage and cohabitation. By the 18th century, a majority of the population of Honduras was of mixed heritage and the silver mining industry was resorting to paying native repartimiento labourers money in advance to ensure they would work in the mines (Newson L., 1990). However, financial incentives were still not enough to generate enough labour to meet mining demand. Many of the natives would resort to taking the money and never leaving their villages to go to the mines or they ran away once at the mines.

The End of large-scale Silver Mining in Colonial Honduras
By the late colonial period, large-scale mining in Honduras became obsolete. Lack of labour, financing, and crown interest in developing the industry made it impossible for the economic stability of the industry. Throughout most of the colonial period mining had been financed on credit provided by Guatemalan merchants but after an economic crisis in the 18th century, sustaining large-scale mining operations became difficult for mine owners to obtain credit (Newson L., Labour in the Colonial Mining Industry of Honduras, 1982). Only the wealthiest mine owners could continue with mining operations but even they had extensive debts that made it difficult to sustain mining operations long-term. As a result, informal small-scale mining replaced traditional mining in 18th century colonial Honduras. Gurruguces, independent miner gangs of lower-class mestizos and mulattos heritage continued mining abandoned mines searching for silver ore. Instead of extracting silver through the amalgamation process, which required mercury that was taxed and regulated by the crown. Gurruguces clandestinely processed the ore through smelting (Newson L., Labour in the Colonial Mining Industry of Honduras, 1982). Smelting silver facilitated tax evasion. As a result, some historians estimate that the five percent of the silver produced in colonial Honduras may only be half of the true concentration extracted. The rest of the silver was likely smuggled out of the colony and sold to the British on the Caribbean coast for a higher profit (Newson L. A., 1984).

Conclusion
Silver mining in Colonial Honduras is underrepresented in the study of mining of Central America. The inability of the regional government to gain Spanish crown interest in the area made it difficult for the mining industry to get the financial, governmental, and labour requirements needed to produce a strong mining industry. The rise of a mixed-class racial society that could not be exploited or enslaved through the repartimiento system made it impossible for the Spanish encomenderos to exploit the native population for cheap labour, unlike Mexico and Peru, which had a large native population that provided stable free labour in their mining industries. While intermarriage was made illegal in the 18th century through the Bourbon reforms, it would have been impossible for the Spanish to reverse the demographics in Honduras as a majority of the population of colonial Honduras was of mixed-race. Therefore, by the 18th century, most of the large silver mines were abandoned and small-scale mining was done by Gurruguces. Gurruguces utilized smelting instead of amalgamation to extract the last remaining silver ores deposits during the end of the colonial period. Honduras inability to attract investment and governmental interest led it to become a colonial backwater during the colonial period dominated by a large class of mixed-race people who were not heavily subjugated by the Spanish crown due to colony’s great distance to a major center of governmental power.

Work Cited

  1. Herrera, R. A. (2000). ‘Por que no sabemos firmar’: Black Slaves in Early Guatemala. The Americas, 247-267.
  2. Newson, L. (1982). Labour in the Colonial Mining Industry of Honduras. The Americas , 185-203.
  3. Newson, L. (1990). La poblacion indígena de Honduras. Retrieved from https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/3726713.pdf: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/3726713.pdf
  4. Newson, L. A. (1984). Silver Mining in Colonial Honduras. Revista de Historia de América, 45-75.

When Impunity Rules: Surviving as an environmental defender in Honduras

To listen to the podcast “When Impunity Rules: Surviving as an environmental defender in Honduras” click here.

Narrated by Jocelin Gregorio-Alarcon

Spanish to English translations by Emanuel Luna

Members of COPINH protesting in Tegucigalpa against the illegal selling of Lenca land in Western Honduras to extractive transnational corporations. Image found here

[00:00]

Jocelin: The Central-American country of Honduras is the most dangerous place in Latin America to defend land rights and the environment. This country of 8 million inhabitants has more murders of activists per capita than anywhere else in Latin America. Since the 2009 coup that ousted former president, Manuel Zelaya, a succession of right-wing governments has made mining a cornerstone of the country’s economic growth strategy, resulting in the killing of approximately 123 land and environmental defenders in the last 8 years, a number that is thought to be under-reported.

[00:30]

Jocelin: Murder is not the only tool used to silence those who take a stand, with many more activists and their families facing threats and constant intimidation, but what is common in most cases is a lack of accountability for the attackers. Some activists are gunned down by company private security or hired assassins. Honduran state institutions, such as the judiciary military and police force, often support the interest of foreign companies and the people who have stakes in them. Although the government has the power and resources to protect activists, a lack of political will and influence from elites means the government fails to do so.

[01:12]

Jocelin: According to a report by Global Witness, more than 90% of killings and abuses against Honduran environmental defenders remain unsolved, including that of Berta Caceres, winner of the 2015 Goldman Prize Environmental Award, who was killed in her home in 2016. Berta was one of the leaders of COPINH, the civil council of popular and Indigenous Lenca organizations of Honduras, made up of 200 Lenca communities.

Jocelin: In 2011 conflict arose when a Honduran company back by foreign investors, DESA, was given a permit to build the Agua Zarca Dam, a hydroelectric dam, in the Gualcarque River. A river sacred to the Lenca and whose waters they depend on for travel and fishing.Berta Caceres and COPINH stated that the granting of the permit to DESA happened without prior consultation with the Lenca community. Therefore, DESA and the Honduran government willingly violated international law in the granting of the dam permit, which is illegal.

[01:38]

COPINH Representative: The community realized they were constructing a hydro-electric project because the machines were brought in.

[01:55]

Jocelin: Berta and COPINH began to rouse the local community to organize and resist against the construction of the dam. They faced immediate pushback from authorities.

Jocelin: The violent repressive attacks of the Honduran military and police forces against COPINH community members only worsen the tensions in the struggle against the construction of the Agua Zarca dam.

[02:11]

COPINH Representative: The Honduran army began shooting. That’s when they killed our comrade Tomas Garcia Dominguez. He was killed by a member of the Honduran Army, that was guarding the company DESA.

Jocelin: Even with the intimidation and deaths, COPINH didn’t stop fighting and Berta Caceres was able to convince a main foreign investor to withdraw its investments. But the project continued through money financed by European development banks. DESA also filed criminal charges against Berta and other leaders of COPINH to intimidate them into silence.

[02:35]

COPINH Representative: But they couldn’t achieve their objective. That’s when they decided to carry on with their next objective, to assassinate one of COPINH’s leaders – Berta.

[02:52]

Jocelin: On August 2013, in the mountains of North-Central Honduras, Tolupan indigenous leaders, Armando Fuñez Medina, Ricardo Sotoz Fuñez, and Maria Enriqueta were shot and killed while participating in a peaceful protest against the illegal approval of mining and logging in their territory. Consuelo Soto, a member of the local community, in an interview with Al Jazeera reports being threatened for refusing to sell her land to the mining company, owned by prominent Honduran businessman Lenir Perez. In a video interview, she says the following:

[03:28]

Consuelo Soto: On April 5th, my husband was murdered. We believe that the culprits are primarily the enterprises joined by the miners. We feel so strongly about this because they publicized it when they came to assassinate the natives. I received constant threats from them. They say they’ll attack me at my house and that if I keep showing up to meetings, I’ll show up one day dead.

[04:01]

Jocelin: The Honduran government needs to take responsibility and direct action to resolve and not perpetuate, the killings and violence of indigenous environmental rights activists. It is important that they commit and follow through with the following recommendations, outlined by Global Witness. The first recommendation encourages the Honduran government to guarantee the protection of environmental defenders, ensuring that institutions responsible for defender security have the power to properly conduct investigations, with no conflicts of interest.

[04:34]

Jocelin: The second recommendation is that the Honduran government police and judiciary bring the perpetrators of crimes against these activists to justice and end the corruption behind abusive business projects. The third recommendation is for the Honduran government to work with civil society, to strengthen and implement laws that guarantee the consent of indigenous communities, before natural resource and hydroelectric dam projects are approved.

[04:58]

Jocelin: The final recommendation is that foreign investors and international financial institutions should stop any planned investments in the industries causing the violence. The global witness recommendations bring up good points in finding solutions to end violence against environmental defenders, but they mean nothing if there is no powerful entity that can hold the Honduran government accountable. Therefore, it is important for the international community to exert pressure on the Honduran government and all investors, financial institutions, and leaders involved in this conflict of interest to be held accountable.

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Water or Gold? Cross-border Mining Threatens the Lempa River Watershed

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About this page’s author: Jocelin Gregorio-Alarcon

Jocelin is currently a senior majoring in Earth and Environmental Science with a minor in Latin American and Latino Studies at Lehigh University. She is a first-generation student originally from San Jose, California but her family is originally from a small village in the department of Chiquimula, Guatemala. In the spring of 2016, Jocelin joined a group of four other first-generation students to co-found F1RST, Lehigh University’s first student organization dedicated to supporting first-generation students. Jocelin’s academic and personal interests lie at the intersection of the environment, human rights, and sustainable development. She is currently working on an independent research project involving reforestation of biological corridors in Costa Rica which she hopes will give her the skills to someday do research involving deforestation along the transnational borders of the Montecristo- Trifinio region in Guatemala. During her free time, Jocelin can be found doing research on Central America to learn more about her culture.