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
![](https://media.business-humanrights.org/media/images/fmo-and-the-agua-zarca-proje.2e16d0ba.fill-1000x1000-c50.jpg)
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.