Nicaragua: transnational logging company files suit
against NGO
Last February in the village of Rosita, on the Caribbean
coast of Nicaragua, representatives of the indigenous peoples Sumus and Miskitos, local
and regional authorities, NGOs, community and religious leaders, met to consider the
illegal activities of the Korean transnational company Kimyung, which operated through the
subsidiary SOLCARSA, responsible for invading communal lands and destroying the forests
and livelihoods of local people. The meeting approved a declaration demanding the
inmediate suspension of the concession awarded to the company (see WRM Bulletin nr. 11).
The environmental NGO Centro Humboldt, present at the event, was entrusted with evaluating
the environmental impact provoked by the activities of SOLCARSA.
In the meantime, a new logging company named PRADA S.A. was
formed, including some former SOLCARSA share holders and Nicaraguan businessman Blandon
Moreno.
Centro Humboldt considers that operations reinitiated by this
new company in August are illegal for the following reasons:
1. That the sentence of the Supreme Court of Justice, that
orders the suspension of the SOLCARSA concession --which includes SOLCARSA's plywood
plant-- is still in force.
2. That to date the Ministry of Environment and Natural
Resources (MARENA) has not given a favourable Environmental Impact Document to the plant.
For this reason, SOLCARSA was fined by MARENA after completing the construction of the
plant without the corresponding Environmental Impact Assessment.
3. That the new company lacks the approval of the Regional
Autonomous Council of the Northern Atlantic Coast, a requirement established by the
Autonomy Law for any investment in the region.
4. That PRADA S.A. has initiated operations using an
environmental permission issued by the Municipal Council of Rosita. However, such
resolution is illegal in that local authorities are not legally authorized to grant this
permission, since this is a matter for the MARENA.
In light of these considerations, Centro Humboldt asked the
MARENA to apply the law and that operations of PRADA S.A. be immediately suspended. The
company reacted by filing suit for injuries against Victor Campos, representative of
Centro Humboldt. On September 10th, when the accused environmentalist appeared
in court for the first time, representatives of environmental and indigenous organizations
demonstrated in the streets outside the court, holding placards that read: "No to the
destruction of tropical forests, no to the violation of human rights" "In
Nicaragua 150,000 hectares of forest are lost annually, by the year 2025 it will all be
lost." Passers-by signed a petition in support of the environmentalists.
According to the Forest Network of Nicaragua, the authorities
are maintaining an administrative silence and the company has continued to work illegally
for over a month. The presentation of an appeal to the suit against Centro Humboldt was
rejected by the judge and environmentalists say: "We do not doubt now how the power
of money is working in this case. We have also been victims of slander by the company in
paid spots in the press, and by persecution against colleagues of our organization.
The MARENA invited environmental organizations to a meeting
and proposed them to complete an environmental audit. However, many environmentalists
opposed the idea, considering that it might legitimize the illegal actions of the Korean
company. They instead demanded the closure of the company. At the meeting, Centro Humboldt
handed over a document with the signatures of solidarity and the messages of support
received from all accross the world.
The judge’s decission is expected in the next few days.
In the meantime, the situation remains still unsolved.
Source: WRM's bulletin Nš 15,
September 1998
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