ProtectDefenders.eu has been informed about the killing of human rights and environmental defender Juan López on 14 September 2024. The defender was shot dead by a group of unidentified individuals in the department of Colón, Honduras.
Juan López was an environmental defender and coordinator of the Comité Municipal de Bienes Comunes y Públicos (CMDBCP) in Tocoa. Through his coordination role, Juan López advocated for the protection of the Guapinol and San Pedro Rivers, as well as the Montaña de Botaderos “Carlos Escaleras Mejía” National Park, from the detrimental impact of mining and extractive projects on their ecosystems. His peaceful protests against the extractive megaprojects of EMCO Holdings/Los Pinares/Ecotek made him a target for death threats, harassment, and criminalization.
Since September 2018, the Comité Municipal de Bienes Comunes y Públicos (CMDBCP) and its members have been victims of ongoing harassment and judicial abuses, and threats as reprisal for their human rights work. Only five days after the death of the defender, a legal proceeding was reopened against five members of the committee, Reynaldo Domínguez Ramos, Carlos Leonel George, Marco Tulio Ramos, and notably Juan Antonio López. They have all been charged with the fabricated accusation of aggravated arson and unjust deprivation of liberty due to their work in defence of the Guapinol river in face of the environmental damages caused by the presence of mining and extractive activities in the zone.
We have been informed that only between 2023 and 2024 four defenders from Guapinol, Aly Domínguez, Jairo Bonilla, Oquelí Domínguez and Juan Lopéz, have been assassinated for their opposition to the Emco Holdings/Los Pinares/Ecotek. extractive mega project.
We also recall the persistent impunity concerning the killing of Indigenous women and environmental human rights defender Berta Caceres in 2016. As reported by the Observatory for the protection of human rights defender, the case of Berta Caceres in many respects resembles the one of Juan López, as both defenders were beneficiaries of precautionary measures issued by the Inter-American commission for Human Rights defender, which recognised the imminent threats they were facing because of their work for the defense of human rights and common goods. These, together with numerous other similar cases, measures were not properly implemented, leading to their killing.
As it was clear in the criminal case for Berta Ceres killing, the Honduran state holds great responsibilities in the continuation this cycle of violence and impunity. State officials were found colluding with state security forces, justice operators and DESA company executives; creating a criminal structure to neutralise Mrs. Caceres and her opposition to business mega projects. This, together with numerous similar cases, opens a dangerous precedent for the implementation of protection mechanisms of human rights defenders, leading to the perpetuation of violence against defenders of the territory in Honduras.
