Juan López, environmentalist, human rights defender and municipal councilor, murdered in Honduras

( Spanish) – Human rights defender, environmentalist and coordinator of the Committee for Common and Public Goods of the Municipality of Tocoa, in the Honduran department of Colón, Juan López, was killed by several bullet impacts on Saturday night by as yet unidentified individuals, confirmed to one of his relatives who witnessed the crime and preferred not to be identified.

According to López’s relative, who was also a councilor of the municipality, he was murdered after leaving the church located in the Fabio Ochoa neighborhood where he served as a “delegate of the word of God.”

“Armed men came to his vehicle and shot him without saying a word, killing him almost immediately. What we demand is that the perpetrators, both material and intellectual, be found,” said the relative.

The local police confirmed the version of the councillor’s relative based on the investigations they carried out in the area after being informed of the bloody incident.

According to his relative, López had been granted precautionary measures by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights since 2023 because he had already received several death threats for his environmental work in the area. Especially regarding the defense of natural resources, since he was opposed to the installation of a mining company in the sector.

President Xiomara Castro, on her “X” account, condemned the murder of the environmentalist and announced that she ordered law enforcement to use all investigative capacity to clarify the crime.

The president also expressed her solidarity with the family of the councilor who was a member of her political party, Liberty and Refoundation.

The United States ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Laura Dogu, also condemned the murder of López on her “X” account and demanded that the authorities carry out a timely and transparent investigation into the case.

The Security Secretariat, in a press release, reported on the formation of an interdisciplinary team made up of agents from various police departments, who will travel to the Tocoa area to gather scientific evidence, analyze the crime scene and look for evidence that will help clarify the events and identify the perpetrators and masterminds of the murder.

On June 24, in a statement, Juan López asked for the resignation of the mayor of Tocoa, Adán Fúnez Martínez, due to alleged irregularities committed by the councilor.

Mayor Adán Fúnez, also a member of the Libre party, is one of the Hondurans mentioned in the trial against former president Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced to 45 years in prison in the United States for issues related to drug trafficking.

In addition, Fúnez appears in the video that went viral on social media where Carlos Zelaya, brother-in-law of President Xiomara Castro and brother of former President Manuel Zelaya, is seen meeting with alleged drug traffickers in 2013 negotiating financing for the current president’s political campaign.

On September 9, Fúnez appeared before the State Attorney General’s Office in Tegucigalpa. Upon leaving the summons and in statements to local media, he acknowledged the veracity of the video but clarified that they never received money from those he described as businessmen and not as alleged drug traffickers.