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.
A Voice Against Environmental Destruction and Corruption
“We must maintain our firmness in defending our principles and ideals… This is a territory we must defend,” López told me in a WhatsApp message a few years ago. We had started conversing in 2022 when I began researching mining conflicts in Central America. Engaged in environmental struggles for over three decades, López was a founding member of the Integral Ecology Pastoral Care in Honduras and a leader of the Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCP). He was deeply committed to opposing open-pit iron oxide mining projects that threatened the vital water sources of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, used by some 42,000 residents in nearby communities for drinking water, fishing, and agriculture.
Since at least 2018, López and other local activists have been combating a mining project in the Mount Botaderos “Carlos Escaleras” National Park, named in honor of an environmentalist who was murdered on October 18, 1997. In 2012, under Porfirio Lobo Sosa’s administration, the National Congress, then led by Juan Orlando Hernández, designated the Carlos Escaleras National Park a protected area. However, in 2013, the same Congress diminished the park’s core area. Shortly after, in 2014, Inversiones Los Pinares—a company within the conglomerate Grupo EMCO Holding, owned by Lenir Pérez and Ana Facussé—received two mining concessions overlapping with the park. Despite controversy over the lack of consultation in the decision to reduce the park’s protected zone and a report from the government’s forest conservation institute classifying the iron oxide mine as “unviable,” the Secretariat of Natural Resources and Environment (SERNA) granted an environmental license to the mine. In 2017, the EMCO Group established a separate company, Inversiones ECOTEK S.A., to manage the iron processing at a plant on site.
The situation escalated in 2018 when activists blocked mining equipment from reaching the mine and opposed evictions. CMDBCP land defenders set up a camp to protest the environmental damage caused by silt overflow from the iron oxide mine and processing plant. The community’s resistance was met with a violent backlash, including shootings and police raids. After 87 days, a judge ordered the eviction of the 300 activists, and authorities forcefully dismantled the camp. Months later, in March 2019, Inversiones Los Pinares brought charges against 32 individuals associated with the protests.
The allegations included arson and wrongful deprivation of liberty, stemming from an incident where protesters reportedly detained the mine’s head of security. López was labeled a ringleader, despite asserting that he was not present during the events. He and 11 others were initially imprisoned but were released after 12 days. They remained victims of numerous smear campaigns that attempted to discredit the defenders by labelling them “false environmentalists“ and opponents of development.
In August 2019, eight Guapinol defenders appeared in a Tegucigalpa court to challenge their arrest orders. Despite the judge dismissing the serious charge of criminal association, the defenders were denied due process and kept in preventive pretrial detention, setting a troubling precedent. Finally, in February 2022, after more than two years in detention, the Honduran Supreme Court ruled that the defenders should never have been put on trial and released them. A UN Working Group called the detentions “arbitrary.” Last year, after the killings of three Guapinol defenders in less than six months, the Inversiones Los Pinares mine was suspended for two years.
Throughout this time, López remained a leader in defending the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers. He emphasized that being politically active was necessary because, as he said in 2022, “the fight for the environment cannot be separated from the political struggle in Latin America and Honduras.” In line with this outlook, López was also a member of the Liberty and Refoundation Party (Libre). Throughout his tenure as a Libre city councillor in Tocoa, López consistently spoke out against corruption and highlighted the connections between organized crime and political leaders, even those within his own party.
Just days before his murder, López and other community leaders had demanded the resignation of Tocoa Mayor Adán Fúnez. In a 2013 video that had recently come to light, Fúnez appeared alongside prominent Libre figures—including the brother-in-law of President Xiomara Castro—discussing bribes with drug traffickers. López had previously clashed with Fúnez during city council meetings dealing with mining and hydroelectric proposals in the protected areas of the Carlos Escaleras National Park. After the video surfaced, López deemed the mayor’s ongoing leadership untenable due to his potential drug money connections. During a service in Tocoa, Catholic priest Carlos Orellana called López’s assassination a “death foretold” and pointed the blame at Mayor Fúnez.
Calls for Justice and Systemic Reform
López’s murder has prompted urgent calls for independent investigations and justice. Honduran Attorney General Johel Zelaya condemned the assassination and promised that López’s death would not go unpunished. In a tweet, President Xiomara Castro de Zelaya also condemned the murder, pledging to use the full force of the law to seek justice.
Beyond Honduras, numerous religious figures and groups, including the Latin American Bishops’ Conference, Caritas Canada, and the Jesuit European Social Centre, among others, condemned the violence and called for justice. Pope Francis also expressed sorrow over the killing.
From the grassroots, the Guapinol River Defenders Justice Observatory has demanded accountability for those responsible as well as systemic reforms to protect environmental defenders. The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), the environmental defense movement cofounded by Berta Cáceres, criticized the government for its inability to protect López, attributing his death to Los Pinares and ECOTEK and corrupt local individuals.
The last time journalist Jennifer Avila, director of the Honduran media outlet Contracorriente, spoke with López, he expressed hope: Attorney General Zelaya had recently promised to take legal action against Lenir Pérez and Ana Facussé, owners of the EMCO Group and the figures behind the controversial mining projects. His murder offers a stark reminder that independent investigations, stronger protection measures, and international solidarity are crucial to ending the cycle of violence against defenders of natural resources.
On September 24, the Public Ministry filed charges against Lenir Pérez and other public officials linked to Inversiones Los Pinares for “alleged damages against the Montaña de Botaderos National Park in Tocoa, Colón.” They are accused of illegal exploitation of natural resources and other crimes that may have harmed the park’s biodiversity. Earlier this year, a legislative decree restored the original boundaries of the Carlos Escaleras National Park and prohibited mining in protected areas.
Still, the need for stronger protections for activists and defenders like López remains pressing. His death prompts urgent scrutiny of systemic issues of impunity and insecurity for activists, a situation exacerbated by political turmoil and scandals within local governance. Because defenders like López are clear on their stance: as he once wrote to me, “In Tocoa, the communities will always prioritize water, no matter the jobs and the capital the mining company brings.”
Giada Ferrucci holds a PhD in Media Studies specializing in environment and sustainability at Western University, Canada. She is a post-doctoral researcher for the Surviving Memory in Post-War El Salvador project.
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Publish date : 2024-10-18 07:16:00
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