"Honduras economic zones worry residents, experts", 10 September 2021

Vásquez and others in Las Tapias say jobs would be welcome, but they are anguished by fear that their property could one day be expropriated — something the law potentially gives such development zones the right to do.

“We’re afraid because no one has come to tell us what is really happening,” said the 64-year-old...

Héctor Herrera, director of the non-governmental Southern Platform Against ZEDEs, said that locals had told his organisation that people from the industrial park had pressured them to sell their land or risk expropriation. But Las Tapias communal leader Filadelfo Izaguirre said that while he had heard such rumours, no one had approached him about acquiring land. He has lived in the community for 48 years and said the 60-some families there would not easily part with their land...

Promotions for Prospera depict futuristic apartments overlooking the sea and promise a place with “key checks on governmental power, a bill of rights protecting people of all income levels, and a straightforward structure for doing business”.

But Vásquez and her neighbours in Las Tapias are unnerved by the prospect of business interests with their own security forces enforcing their own rules.

“We agree with creating more jobs, but talk of pushing us out, it’s not so easy,” she said. “When someone touches your things it’s delicate, and we are going to defend ourselves”...