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You may have never heard of Juan Lopez before. He is the father of two young daughters, Claudia and Julia. His wife's name was Thelma. He is a community leader in Tocoa, northeastern Honduras.
On September 14, he became a martyr.
mr lopez is shot As he left mass, an unknown assassin attacked him Sicario Escape the crime scene on a motorcycle. He became the latest victim among defenders of creation, indigenous rights and human rights – a number that is particularly acute in Honduras.
Mr. Lopez is a member of the Tocoa Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods, and his work often brings him into conflict with business interests and local and national politicians eager to pursue “development” in the province of Colón. For years, he was one of the leaders in the fight to reverse open-pit iron oxide mining, an industry that threatened the water of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers that the Lenca community depends on for drinking, fishing and agricultural needs.
Just days before Lopez was murdered, he joined other local community leaders in calling for the resignation of Toccoa Mayor Adan Funes. After a video surfaced, he called the mayor's continued leadership untenable. A conversation held in 2013 Discussions took place between Honduran politicians and drug traffickers over how to distribute bribe funds. Mr Funes was considered a possible conduit for drug cash from then-President Mel Zelaya, who was later ousted in a coup.
This is not the first source of tension with Toccoa's mayor. Mr López and other activists have clashed with Mr Funes at council meetings to discuss the protection of the Montaña de Botadros Carlos Escaleras National Park reserve. Proposals for mining and hydroelectric power generation.
On September 18, José Artiga, executive director of the University of California, paid tribute to Mr. Lopez. Share Foundation. in an email USAwho compared Mr. Lopez to another prominent defender of the environment and Honduran indigenous peoples, Berta CáceresMartyred in 2016. He wrote that Mr. Lopez “embraces” all the struggles his community faces, “Indigenous people, Cresolpeople displaced by companies cutting down trees, and the struggle of the Garifuna people in Africa/Honduras to be displaced in order to use their beautiful beach land for tourism projects. “
Mr. Artiga described the work Mr. López was committed to as “multiple issues from many fronts, including religion all the way to politics. He himself is a member of the city council and a member of the Liberal Party.”
But, he added, “Juan’s anchor is [his faith]composed of Jesuits. As a catechist, he interpreted the Gospel and applied it as a priority for the poor in liberation theology in Puebla and Medellín. “
The Synod of Honduras remembered Mr. Lopez as a true “disciple and missionary” who lived out his faith through concrete actions to protect the environment.
In a letter to Mr. Lopez after his death, Jenry Ruiz, the top priest of the Trujillo diocese, wrote: “You told me you were not an environmentalist because to you Says that social, ecological and political commitment are not “ideological” issues, but a matter of your belonging to Christ and your belonging to the Church. “
The bishop noted that the activist understood Pope Francis' environmental teachings and had shown “tenderness and authenticity” in responding to critics, writing that his friends knew the risks he faced. “You know very well that extractivism and the mining system is a system that kills and destroys the entire world, along with the corruption of false politicians and drug governments.”
Just days before Mr. Lopez’s assassination, Global Witness, an international advocacy group that tracks the continued vulnerability of environmental activists, Annual report “Missing Voices” released An investigation into the murders and intimidation of environmental and indigenous activists around the world. Global Witness recorded 196 eco-activists killed in 2023, although the actual number is certainly much higher.
“The murdered activists were trying in different ways to protect the planet and uphold their basic human rights,” Global Witness reported. “Every killing makes the world more vulnerable to climate, biodiversity and pollution crises.”
But murder is not the only tactic used to silence entire communities, as extractive industries often collude with regional and national governments in the pursuit of profits. “Deadly attacks often coincide with broader retaliation by governments, businesses and other non-state actors that target defenders with violence, intimidation, defamation and criminalization. This is happening in almost every region of the world,” the report said. Happens in every department.”
Latin America has been the region with the highest number of murders of land and environmental defenders, with 85% occurring in 2023. 70% of these murders occurred in just four countries: Brazil, Colombia, Honduras and Mexico. Almost half of the activists murdered globally are members of indigenous communities.
Global Witness reports that Colombia has the highest death toll, with 79 people killed in 2023. But on a per capita basis, Honduras is (not for the first time) the most dangerous country in the world for environmental defenders — 18 were murdered there last year. Three of them were colleagues of Mr. Lopez in the fight to protect water resources in Toccoa.
Mr. López’s murder shows how impunity remains for business executives and drug cartels in Honduras and other Latin American countries. Mr. Lopez has strong support from the Honduran Catholic Church and has close ties to its leaders. Due to numerous threats to his life, he has been protected by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. In 2019, he traveled to the United States to receive the prestigious Letelier Moffitt Human Rights Award from the Washington Institute for Policy Studies. None of these international, regional and local sponsors and connections were enough to save him.
Mr. Lopez's murder quickly drew condemnation from Honduran religious circles. Gregorio Vásquez, SJ, representing the National Apostolic Council of the Society of Jesus in Honduras, called for a thorough investigation into Mr. López’s murder. However, he told Jesuit-backed Radio Progress that the investigation should be assisted by competent international entities. He, like many Hondurans, is concerned that the Honduran prosecutor's office is not up to the job, especially after the release of this video showing how deeply and for how long Honduran drug traffickers have penetrated all levels of government.
The landslide election victory of current President Chiomara Castro expressed the nation's hope for reform and a renewed crackdown on government corruption and incompetence. But with her husband and now chief adviser so heavily implicated by the video, many are already questioning whether Mr. Lopez's killer will be held accountable.
“We don't trust the justice system in Honduras because for years we have not seen results,” Esly Banegas, president of the Coordinating Council of People's Organizations of Aguán (COPA), told Progreso radio.
“The Aguan Valley has been massacred. We have fought, but we are still in danger… We hope that political will will translate into concrete actions to protect human rights defenders.”
Ms Banegas told the Honduran independent news agency Contra Corriente that she and Mr Lopez had been receiving various threats following a Tocoa city council meeting called by the mayor. Mr. Funes is seeking approval for a power generation project proposed by Grupo EMCO, the parent company of Los Pinares Mining Company, which Mr. Lopez and other environmentalists in the region have fought for years.
Ms Banegas called on President Castro to take action against drug trafficking and stop attacks on environmental and civil rights defenders in the region. “They have established a pattern of murder,” she said. “They used it on Berta and now they're using it on Juan. They threatened, convicted and then killed.”
A Global Witness report next year is likely to document Mr Lopez's assassination.
Reported by Associated Press and Religion News Service
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Correction (September 25, 2024):In an earlier version of this report, President Chiomara Castro's name was spelled incorrectly.
