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“We don’t want your money. We defend our rights. No to the mining destruction of our cemetery.”
Karen Yajaira, from the threatened village of Azacualpa, blocks a tractor working for US company Aura Minerals and MINOSA (its subsidiary in Honduras), operating an open-pit, mountain top removal mine, getting ever closer to the 200-year-old cemetery in the Azacualpa community.
An elderly member of the Azacualpa community looks to where bodies have been illegally exhumed by Aura Minerals.
Manuelito Rodriguez (middle, light blue shirt) blocks Aura Minerals machinery: “If I die, defending the remains of my loved ones, please bury me beside them”.
Community members gather to block continued open pit mining, moving ever close to their 200 year old cemetery perched precariously high on the (now) cliff side.
Ever more bodies removed by Aura Minerals from the 200 year old Azacualpa cemetery perched now precariously on top of the open-pit cliff.
“Holding a club in my hand, I prevented [Aura Minerals] from depositing my father’s remains in another tomb” (Floresmira Lopez, Azacualpa community member)
Aura Minerals, sometimes accompanied by Honduran regime police and their own armed guards, push ahead with legally contested exhumations.
Photo of Aura Minerals Mine
Photo of Aura Minerals Mine
Community members standing their ground