An indication that reads “Justice for Juan Lopez. They killed Juan, not his struggle. Juan Lopez lives” is seen subsequent to his coffin throughout his wake in Tocoa, Colon Division, Honduras, on September 15, 2024. (Photograph by ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP through Getty Photos)
An anti-mining activist was shot and killed in Honduras, President Xiomara Castro stated, vowing justice for the most recent such homicide in one of many world’s most harmful nations for environmentalists.
Juan Lopez, 46, was gunned down as he left church on Saturday within the northeastern city of Tocoa, his widow Thelma Pena advised AFP.
Castro condemned the “vile homicide” in a put up on the social media platform X late on Saturday and stated she had ordered an investigation.
“Justice for Juan Lopez,” Castro wrote.
Lopez, who belonged to the ruling Libre social gathering, campaigned in opposition to open-pit iron ore mining in a forest reserve within the neighborhood of Tocoa, the place he labored within the city corridor.
In an interview with AFP in 2021, Lopez mentioned the dangers that he stated environmental activists face on this poor and violent Central American nation.
“When you begin defending widespread pursuits on this nation,” he stated, “you conflict with main pursuits.”
“When you go away dwelling, you at all times take into account that you simply have no idea what would possibly occur, if you will return,” stated Lopez.
At a current information convention, the activist known as for the resignation of Libre officers caught on video negotiating bribes with drug traffickers in 2013.
That video just lately ensnared Carlos Zelaya, a brother-in-law of the president. He resigned his seat in congress after admitting he took half in that assembly with drug gangsters.
The UN nation consultant of the Workplace of the Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights, Isabel Albaladejo, urged investigators to contemplate “doable reprisals” in opposition to Lopez for his demand for an area mayor to resign for alleged hyperlinks to organised crime.
The Inter-American Fee on Human Rights had ordered protecting measures for Lopez as a consequence of threats in opposition to him and different environmentalists from Tocoa.
Fellow rights defender Joaquin Mejia paid tribute to the environmentalist, calling him “a comrade dedicated to social change.”
Mejia accused authorities of failing to “fulfil their obligation” to guard Lopez.
Honduran Legal professional Normal Johel Zelaya stated the “reprehensible” homicide wouldn’t go unpunished, and paid tribute to Lopez’s activism.
“His life was an instance of battle. He by no means gave up in his incessant battle, hand-in-hand with the individuals to protect pure assets,” Zelaya stated on X.
The NGO International Witness says Honduras is among the world’s most harmful nations for environmental activists.
In 2023 it was ranked third on the earth for the variety of killings of such activists at 18, tied with Mexico. The highest two have been Colombia and Brazil.
The organisation stated that from 2012 to 2023, 148 environmental campaigners have been killed in Honduras.
They embody Berta Caceres, a high-profile opponent of a controversial hydroelectric dam who was murdered in 2016.
A council of Indigenous organizations co-founded by Caceres stated that the Honduran state and Castro’s authorities have been “accountable for this new homicide by not guaranteeing Juan’s life.”
© Agence France-Presse