Juan Carlos Sikaffy, president of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise: “Honduras’ private sector has expressed its support for the new government of President Xiomara Castro and its desire to work together to generate jobs and wealth for our country. Honduras, after a pandemic and two hurricanes, urgently needs economic and social recovery. In this sense, we have asked the government for support to improve the conditions for doing business. Unfortunately, this measure on mining does not improve that situation. On the contrary, it will affect sectors such as cement and construction, which generate massive employment—just what we need right now. Likewise, industries that use hydrated lime, such as agriculture, construction, poultry and thermoelectric plants to generate electricity would be seriously affected. Without extractive sand and gravel collection and the production of lime, we could face the total collapse of the construction industry, implying the need to import products instead of producing them locally at lower prices…”