An anti-mining activist was shot and killed in Honduras, President Xiomara Castro said, vowing justice for the latest such murder in one of the world’s most dangerous countries for environmentalists.<\/p>\n
Juan Lopez, 46, was gunned down as he left church on Saturday in the northeastern town of Tocoa, his widow Thelma Pena told AFP.<\/p>\n
Castro condemned the “vile murder” in a post on the social media platform X late on Saturday and said she had ordered an investigation.<\/p>\n
“Justice for Juan Lopez,” Castro wrote.<\/p>\n
Lopez, who belonged to the ruling Libre party, campaigned against open-pit iron ore mining in a forest reserve in the vicinity of Tocoa, where he worked in the town hall.<\/p>\n
In an interview with AFP in 2021, Lopez discussed the risks that he said environmental activists face in this poor and violent Central American country.<\/p>\n
“If you start defending common interests in this country,” he said, “you clash with major interests.”<\/p>\n
“If you leave home, you always have in mind that you do not know what might happen, if you are going to return,” said Lopez.<\/p>\n
At a recent news conference, the activist called for the resignation of Libre officials caught on video negotiating bribes with drug traffickers in 2013.<\/p>\n
That video recently ensnared Carlos Zelaya, a brother-in-law of the president. He resigned his seat in congress after admitting he took part in that meeting with drug gangsters.<\/p>\n
The UN country representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Isabel Albaladejo, urged investigators to consider “possible reprisals” against Lopez for his demand for a local mayor to resign for alleged links to organised crime.<\/p>\n
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had ordered protective measures for Lopez due to threats against him and other environmentalists from Tocoa.<\/p>\n
Fellow rights defender Joaquin Mejia paid tribute to the environmentalist, calling him “a comrade committed to social change.”<\/p>\n
Mejia accused authorities\u00a0of failing to “fulfil their obligation” to protect Lopez.<\/p>\n
Honduran Attorney General Johel Zelaya said the “reprehensible” murder would not go unpunished, and paid tribute to Lopez’s activism.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
The NGO Global Witness says Honduras is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for environmental activists.<\/p>\n
In 2023 it was ranked third in the world for the number of killings of such activists at 18, tied with Mexico. The top two were Colombia and Brazil.<\/p>\n
The organisation said that from 2012 to 2023, 148 environmental campaigners were killed in Honduras.<\/p>\n
They include Berta Caceres, a high-profile opponent of a controversial hydroelectric dam who was murdered in 2016.<\/p>\n
A council of Indigenous organizations co-founded by Caceres said that the Honduran state and Castro’s government were “responsible for this new murder by not guaranteeing Juan’s life.”<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An anti-mining activist was shot and killed in Honduras, President Xiomara Castro said, vowing justice for the latest such murder in one of the world’s most dangerous countries for environmentalists.<\/p>\n