#RSN: The Deadly Fight for #EnvironmentalJustice in #Honduras

The assassination of #Honduran #WaterDefender #JuanLópez offers a chilling reminder of the threats local leaders face in the most dangerous region in the world for #EnvironmentalActivists.

by Giada Ferrucci / NACLA
22 October 24

"On September 14, 2023, Juan Antonio López, a prominent environmental defender, anti-corruption activist, and community and faith leader in Tocoa, Honduras, was murdered. He was in his car after attending a religious event at a local Catholic church when an unidentified hitman shot him multiple times. Due to previous death threats and harassment linked to his defense of the Guapinol River, López had received precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the same measures that failed to protect fellow environmental defender Berta Cáceres from being killed in 2016.

"López’s assassination has sent shockwaves through the region, a chilling reminder of the violence and impunity that threaten environmental activists across Latin America and globally. His murder also reflects a disturbing pattern of attacks on those who dare to challenge economic and political powers in Honduras, a country that consistently ranks as one of the most dangerous in the world for environmental activists. These risks are especially pronounced in highly militarized areas like the Aguán Valley, where López lived, a resource-rich epicenter of land grabs and conflicts along the north coast. Dozens of Aguán environmental defenders have been systematically targeted, threatened, and murdered for more than a decade.

In 2023, 18 environmental defenders were killed in Honduras, the highest number per capita of any country in the world, according to Global Witness. Among the victims were three fellow Guapinol defenders: Aly Magdaleno Domínguez Ramos, Jairo Bonilla Ayala, and Oquelí Domínguez Ramos. In López’s case, authorities have arrested the alleged hitman and an accomplice.

"The Honduran state’s failure to protect López despite IACHR protective measures speaks to the broader issue of impunity and lack of political will to safeguard those who defend natural resources and human rights in the face of powerful economic interests. His murder also highlights systemic corruption, recently laid bare by scandals involving drug traffickers and high-profile political figures. In short, López’s assassination is part of a wider global crisis of relentless violence and persecution targeting activists who stand up to mining, logging, and other extractive industries."

Read more / support:
https://www.rsn.org/001/the-deadly-fight-for-environmental-justice-in-honduras.html

#ReaderSupportedNews #IACHR #ExtractiveIndustries #Mining #Logging #LandDefenders #WaterIsLife #GuapinolRiver #BertaCáceres #HumanRights #AlyMagdaleno #DomínguezRamos #JairoBonillaAyala #OquelíDomínguezRamo #Capitalism #Greed #Corruption #CorporateColonialism

'We cannot exist if we lose the water': In #Honduras, a community resists a #mine polluting the #RíoGuapinol

"#JuanLópez, representative of the Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods, told #RadioProgreso that the activists' next step is advocate for the revoking of Inversiones Los Pinares' mining contracts, the environmental license and the exploitation and exploration permit."

by Soli Salgado
October 18, 2022

TOCOA, HONDURAS - "The Río Guapinol that streams through the Bajo Aguán valley in northern Honduras has long been a source of drinking, bathing, cleaning, irrigation and cooking water for the surrounding community in Tocoa.

"In the last few years, the river has also provided an education: how to resist an international mining operation that they say contaminates the river in the name of development; how to confront a seemingly compromised justice system when that #resistance goes awry; and — for the women in particular — how to become leaders of a movement upon the indefinite imprisonment of their husbands and sons.

"Vilma Cruz raised her five children using the river, including a son who wound up spending almost two and a half years in jail for protesting the mining as part of the #Guapinol8, a group whose 2019 arrests and long detentions drew international outrage.

"'We don't feel at peace because our water has been endangered,' she said. 'Now, when I go to the river, I feel my chest swell, like I'm not free.'

A mine emerges, a community responds

"About a decade ago, #InversionesLosPinares, formerly the Honduran #EMCO Mining Company and based in #Tocoa, applied for a concession to build an iron oxide mine in the protected #CarlosEscaleras #NationalPark. Then-President Juan Orlando Hernández authorized the request in 2013, a decision locals said was made without following protocol of consulting residents of the area.

"The #OpenPit #mining project was upstream of the #RíoGuapinol, a channel that stems from the larger #RíoAguan, a river that flows through tropical mountains from the Atlantic on the northern side of the #CentralAmerican country.

"When the Río Guapinol in 2018 started to turn a chocolate brown, locals took that as a cue to act against Inversiones Los Pinares.

"#GuapinolResiste, the local community's movement in response to the mining, said in a 2020 report that even before mining began, the construction of the facilities and roads had polluted both the Guapinol and #SanPedro rivers, affecting 14,000 residents who rely on the water for consumption and domestic purposes.

"'Losing the river would mean buying water, and you can't buy water for everything,' said Leonel George, who serves on the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods, founded in 2018 in response to the mining project.

"The river, he added, is 'closely linked to life and the existence of everything that surrounds us,' noting that the committee's concern goes beyond the effects that contaminated water would have on human beings to the river's surrounding #forests and #biodiversity."

Read more:
https://www.ncronline.org/earthbeat/justice/we-cannot-exist-if-we-lose-water-honduras-community-resists-mine-polluting-r-o

#JusticeForJuan #GuapinolRiver #WaterDefender #SaveTheForests #DefendTheSacred
#NoMiningWithoutConsent #WaterIsLife #SaveTheRivers #EMCO #InversionesLosPinares
#MunicipalCommitteeForTheDefenseOfCommonAndPublicGoods

Honduras: Anti-mining activist Juan Lopez shot dead

#JuanLopez is the fourth member of an #environmental #activism group based in in #Tocoa to be killed since 2023.

President #XiomaraCastro condemned the murder and has ordered an investigation.

September 16, 2024

"An #AntiMining #EnvironmentalActivist in #Honduras who protested to preserve #TropicalForests and rivers was killed over the weekend, even after warnings to better ensure his safety.

"Juan Lopez, 46, was gunned down as he left church Saturday in the northeastern town of Tocoa, police said on Sunday.

"Honduran President Xiomara Castro condmened the apparent murder of Lopez, a member of the Libre party she's allied to, in comments online.

"'We condemn the vile murder of our comrade and environmental leader Juan Lopez in Tocoa, Colon,' she said. 'I have ordered that all the capabilities of law enforcement be used to clarify this tragedy and identify those responsible.'

Multiple members of Lopez's enviromental organization killed

"Lopez belonged to the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods, an environmental organization in Tocoa on the country's Atlantic coast.

"Three other members of the group were killed last year in what the organization saw as retaliation.

"The group had suffered threats and harassment for years amid efforts to preserve the #Guapinol and #SanPedro rivers, and the #CarlosEscaleras #Nature Reserve, as the presence of #mining and #hydroelectric companies increased.

"Honduran Attorney General Johel Zelaya said the 'reprehensible' murder would not go unpunished, and paid tribute to Lopez's #activism.

"'His life was an example of struggle. He never gave up in his incessant battle, hand-in-hand with the people to preserve natural resources,' Zelaya said on X.

Lopez aware of risks of his activism

"An outspoken member of the ruling #LibreParty, Lopez had recently publicly called for the resignation of Libre officials caught on video negotiating bribes with drug traffickers in 2013.

"Carlos Zelaya, a brother-in-law of president Castro, was caught up in that video. He resigned his seat in congress after admitting he took part in that meeting with drug gangsters.

"'If you leave home, you always have in mind that you do not know what might happen, if you are going to return,' Lopez had said in 2021 when speaking of his activism with AFP.

"Lopez had also raised the alarm himself earlier in the year, saying he had noticed two people on motorbikes observing him in locations around his home.

Activist deaths high in Latin America

"Global Witness, a British NGO, says Honduras is one of the world's most dangerous countries for environmental activists.

"#LatinAmerica accounted for 85% of all the world's environmentalists who were killed last year, with 18 deaths registered in Honduras, according to #GlobalWitness.

"The United Nations resident coordinator in Honduras, Alice Shackelford, said Lopez had been threatened for his activism and praised his determination to stand up to powerful interests.

"'We condemn the terrible murder of Juan Lopez, a human rights defender threatened for his work,' she said in a post."

km/msh (AFP, Reuters)

https://www.dw.com/en/honduras-anti-mining-activist-juan-lopez-shot-dead/a-70223466

#JusticeForJuan #GuapinolRiver #WaterDefender #SaveTheForests #DefendTheSacred
#NoMiningWithoutConsent #Greenwashing #WaterIsLife #SaveTheRivers #EMCO #InversionesLosPinares
#MunicipalCommitteeForTheDefenseOfCommonAndPublicGoods