This video is part of Los Despojados, a series on peasant struggles in Central America and Colombia. For more information on the Los Despojados project and to see the other videos, visit losdespojados.webs.com. You can also follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/LosDespojados) and on Tumblr (losdespojados.tumblr.com).

Synopsis: Over the past decade, open-pit mining in Latin America has grabbed many headlines for all the wrong reasons: environmental destruction, poisoned drinking water, corruption, and repression of environmental and human rights activists. The small town of Corpus in the highlands of southern Honduras presents a twist on this all-too-common story. The Clavo Rico open-pit gold mine, owned by US-based Reznor Resources, has ushered in the arrival of over a hundred small-scale open pit mines run by local businessmen. These small mines are spreading like cancer, destroying land and water and eradicating the livelihoods of surrounding communities.