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28 May 2021

Honduras: After lots of NGOs' and local criticism, bank FMO withdraws loan to FICOHSA, accused of being involved with DESA, the energy company connected to Berta Cáceres’ murder

Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH)

The Dutch development bank FMO will no longer grant a U$ 60 million loan to Banco Financiero Comercial Hondureño S.A. (Ficohsa). FMO has been a shareholder of Ficohsa for a long time and they have done business together. On the 7th of July 2020, a public letter was sent to urge FMO not to provide a new loan to Banco Financiero Comercial Hondureño S.A. (“FICOHSA”), which has been signed by 39 organisations. According to the NGOs, Ficohsa has financed DESA, a company that wanted to build a hydroelectric plant that was also financed by FMO. Berta Cáceres, murder in 2016, was a leader activist of local people’s opposition to the construction of the power plant. David Castillo, charged for the crime, was a DESA executive by then. COPINH released a public statement welcoming the decision of the FMO bank.

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