Honduras


RMR - Movilización en Tegucigalpa 2016

Honduras: At least eight socio-environmental defenders murdered in one month

A week into 2023, Jairo Bonilla and Alí Domínguez were murdered while working in Concepción, Colón Department, in Honduras, a few kilometres from their community, Guapinol. Both were defenders of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, and the Botaderos National Park, also called Carlos Escaleras, the source of 34 bodies of water. 10 days later in the same region, Omar…

Industrial monocultures in Honduras: conflict, landgrabbing and persecution of peasants and indigenous people

On the International Day of Struggle Against Monoculture Tree Plantations, activist Sandra Escobar tells us a story of pain and joy, as peoples in Honduras struggle against the expansion of oil palm plantations and build alternatives together. Approximately 198,000 hectares of Honduras are planted with oil palm crops, representing almost 2% of the country’s land. Annually, it produces 2.4 million…

How many more socio-environmental and human rights crimes until we say enough?

On 23 August, Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean (ATALC) together with social movements and organisations from the region held a public event in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, to discuss the urgent need to agree an international legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and human rights. The goal is to gain the support of democratic governments…

The sentencing of David Castillo for the murder of Berta Cáceres: COPINH’s response

“We've been expecting this sentence for almost a year. This opens a very important stage in order to realise this guilty verdict against one of the killers of my mother, our comrade Berta Cáceres,” said Bertha Zúniga, the coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). The leader warned that the judicial decision could still…

The seeds of Berta growing with the youth of COPINH

“The participation of young people in COPINH has been strengthened, and new leaderships have been emerging. Every day we want to help the youth, so that they do not replicate the same flaws as so many social organisations”, stated Bertha Zúniga Cáceres, General Coordinator for COPINH, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras. This is six years…

GUAPINOL, HONDURAS: “OUR COMRADES SHOULD BE RELEASED”

Six water defenders are still in jail in Olanchito prison, in the Yoro department of Honduras, despite the recent ratification by the Supreme Court of Justice of an appeal for their release, submitted on 10 February 2022. They have been in pre-trial detention for 30 months, with no legal grounds. On 9 February, the defenders were condemned by the Trujillo…

MNP-CONPAREV

Honduras: President of the National Committee for the Prevention of Torture threatened

Lawyer and human rights defender Glenda Ayala Mejía is the commissioner and president of the National Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Honduras (MNP-CONAPREV). Since the end of 2021, her and her family's physical integrity have been at risk after receiving a series of threats. Although Ayala has been working for the administration of…

Honduran peasants suffer violent evictions in Aguán

Last year, between December 16 and December 21, various social and peasant organizations denounced the violent evictions that thousands of peasants were suffering in Aguán, Honduras. The situation was repeated a week later against members of the Cooperativa Remolino cooperative, who were evicted by private security guards and the COBRA squad who shot them with firearms, leaving at least 7…

David Castillo found guilty as co-perpetrator for the murder of Berta Cáceres

On 5 July, the city of Tegucigalpa sentencing court’s first chamber unanimously found David Castillo, Honduran businessman and intelligence officer, guilty of co-perpetrating the murder of Berta Cáceres. His sentence will be announced on 3 August. The ruling confirmed, among the main pieces of evidence, the numerous phone communications, text messages and WhatsApp chats through which Castillo coordinated actions to…