Honduras is the country with the most homicides per capita of environmentalists in the region: What are the causes?

Juan Lopez He was leaving the church where he served as “delegate of the word of God” in Honduras, when He was murdered on September 14 by several men who shot him inside his vehicle.

His murder has hit the organized community in the Central American country because López, in addition to being a Catholic leader, was a human rights defender, environmentalist and coordinator of the Common and Public Goods Committee of the Municipality of Tocoa, in the Honduran department of Colón.

And although on paper he had protection measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), in practice, López continued to be threatened.

Through a pronouncementUnited Nations experts asked the Honduran government for an independent investigation to clarify López’s death, and also, “the role that the company and local politicians may have played in the matter.”

According to experts, López had denounced the alleged links of the mayor of Tocoa, Adán Fúnez, with mining companies whose work is carried out in protected areas, and also, a link with drug traffickers.

Honduras is one of the most important drug trafficking operations centers between South America and Mexico, because “all branches of the government and its armed forces are plagued by corruption,” according to InSight Crime, a portal that monitors crime in Latin America. .

The IACHR, which at the time granted protection measures for López, highlighted concern due to the context of violence against human rights defenders in Honduras, particularly those who fight for the protection of the environment, land and territory.

According to the international organization, Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries to carry out work in defense of human rights.

In 2023, 196 environmental defenders were murdered in America. The countries with the highest number of murders are Colombia, Brazil and Honduras, according to the organization Global Witness.

From 2022 to date, more than 30 environmental and land defenders have been murdered in Honduras. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has issued three sentences against the State of Honduras for three cases.

Furthermore, Honduras, with 10 million inhabitants, is the country with the highest per capita rate of murders of environmentalists.

What has been the government’s response?

For the murder of López, three people have been arrested after images from security cameras that recorded the events were released.

But, according to the attorney general, Johel Zelaya, there is no indication that an enmity existed between the detainees and López, so they assume that someone not yet identified gave the order.

President Xiomara Castro and the United States ambassador to the Central American country have called for a transparent and independent investigation.

“We are encouraged by the progress in the case,” he added the American ambassador, Laura Dogu, on her social networks. While Castro said: “I have ordered that all the capacity of law enforcement be used to clarify this tragedy and identify those responsible.”

Camilo Bermúdez, member of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh), told the Voice of America that the Castro government maintains a discourse in defense of the rights of environmental leaders, but in practice there is a lack of action and urgent measures to eradicate this problem.

“Many of the crimes against community and environmental leaders go unpunished. This sends a message that these crimes can be committed and there is no type of repercussion against the material and intellectual perpetrators,” he said. .

Likewise, the fact that several of the murdered environmentalists had protection measures shows “the lack of a protection mechanism for human rights defenders.”

There have been three times that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has condemned the Honduran State for the murder of environmental defenders. In 1995 for the crime of the environmentalist Blanca Jeannette Kawas; in 2013 by Carlos Luna and in 2014 by Carlos Escaleras.

But the sentence for the intellectual authors of these crimes continues to be a State debt, according to civil organizations.

Eight years ago, the Lenca people in Honduras lamented the murder of the indigenous leader Berta Cáceres, the visible face of the protests against a hydroelectric dam construction project.

Cáceres was murdered in 2016. Two years later, those who killed her were sentenced to between 30 and 50 years in prison.

For his daughter, Berta Zúñiga, there is still the debt of condemning the intellectuals of the murder.

The constant threat against human rights defenders in Honduras can be seen from several key points, according to the Honduran organization ACI-Participa: the lack of productive lands for agricultural exploitation, the prioritization of extractive activities and the violation of the rights of indigenous peoples. and Afro-descendants.

Honduras turned out to be the country with the most murders per capita in 2023, according to the report ‘Silenced voices: violence against defenders of the land and the environment’.

“It is likely that, as long as those responsible continue to go unpunished, reprisals against defenders will continue,” he added.

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