COPINH
Berta CáceresCausa Berta CáceresEnglish

STATEMENT: Revelations in the Netherlands prove the Lenca people right.

COPINH

AQUI ESPAÑOL

The FMO bank of the Netherlands is sanctioned for not complying with anti-money laundering regulations and at the same time terminates all relations with the FICOHSA bank of Honduras.

COPINH and the Global Justice Association (legal representative of COPINH in the Netherlands) make the following to public knowledge:

  1. The recent revelations in the Dutch newspaper FD support the allegations made by COPINH for years about the responsibility of the FMO bank for serious violations due to its mismanagement. The Dutch banking regulator suspended all operations of FMO bank for at least 6 weeks for not complying with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing regulations in about a thousand files.
  2. At the same time of this sanction, and in a silent manner, FMO terminated all relations with the Atala Faraj’s FICOHSA Bank, after suspending a loan of 60 million, due to the demands of civil society organizations in Honduras and in The Netherlands to investigate the illicit behaviors of FICOHSA bank, including its financing of the Atala Zablah family, responsible for the assassination of our compañera Berta Cáceres.
  3. The poor levels of internal control of FMO bank, sanctioned by the Dutch banking regulator, demonstrate its responsibility in failing to prevent violence, including the murder of Berta Cáceres, and in blindly supporting her killers.
  4. The banks and the international financial structure that finance projects and companies that violate the rights of communities are responsible and must be sanctioned, as well as their officials. This is the path that should be followed by the banks FMO, FinnFund, as well as the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI), for the crime against Berta Cáceres.
  5. Time gives us the reason and wisdom to continue confronting those who not only murdered Berta but continue to spread death in our communities in the name of development.

Given on the 20th day of December 2021 in La Esperanza, Intibucá, Honduras and Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

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