“OUR COMRADE JUAN LOPEZ HAS BEEN MURDERED. Our great friend, colleague and coordinator was murdered as he was leaving the church by men on motorcycles just days after he asked for the resignation of the mayor of Libre Adan Funez for his links with drug traffickers. Our hearts are broken. Our deepest condolences go out to Juan Lopez’s wife and daughters, and to all those who have been hurt in this fight for dignity. We will not rest until there is justice for Juan and our martyrs.”
The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project then tweeted:
“From PBI Honduras we send our deepest condolences to @guapinolre (CMDBCP) and the family of environmental defender Juan López, who was violently murdered yesterday in Tocoa.
Juan repeatedly denounced having received threats and harassment for his tireless defense of the Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras National Park.
Despite being the beneficiary of precautionary measures from @CIDH [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights], these have not been sufficient to guarantee his safety. It is essential that a prompt and impartial investigation be carried out and that measures be taken to guarantee the safety and integrity of the entire CMDBCP.“
Criterio.hn also reports:
“Tonight [September 14] around 8:40, Juan López, defender of the Botaderos mountain, the Carlos Escaleras National Park and the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers in the municipality of Tocoa, Colón, was murdered.
López was a man who professed the Catholic faith and was a celebrator of the word, he was leaving a religious service when he was attacked by hitmen when he was driving in a vehicle.
Despite all the warnings issued by national and international organizations about the risk he faced and of being a beneficiary of the National Protection System, the measures adopted by the State of Honduras were insufficient to protect the life of defender Juan López.”
Opposition to megaproject
The Spanish news agency EFE adds: “López was opposed to a mining project known as Guapinol, in the department of Colón, in the Honduran Caribbean, which allegedly originates from the illegality of the mining concession.”
Proceso Digital further notes: “The environmental defender of Guapinol, leader of the Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) and councilor of the municipality of Tocoa, Colón, Juan López was murdered this Saturday.”
El Salto also explains:
“He defended his land from the Facussé family’s mining project in Guapinol, in the north of the country. He did so through two paths: first, and always, from the popular struggle of the Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods, then he added the institutional struggle, joining the Libre Party and obtaining a councilorship in the last elections.
He was fighting the Seven-Headed Monster. This is what they call this seven-legged megaproject in Tocoa: two iron oxide mines built in a supposedly protected area (the Montaña Botaderos National Park), the thermoelectric plant already built and that if turned on will steal the water that the municipalities need to live from the Guapinol River and its tributaries, a pelletizing plant that will work with the energy of the thermoelectric plant – based on the polluting petroleum coke – and three wells of water that would dry up the earth.
This megaproject arose with former president and convicted drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández, skipping Honduras’ ban on mining projects and granting construction permits to Ana Facussé and Lenir Pérez, the large Honduran landowners living in the United States.”
Reaction on social media
On social media, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) has posted: “Juan was murdered for his work defending the Guapinol River against Lenir Pérez’s Minera Los Pinares Ecotek [mining-thermoelectric plant megaproject] and its local mafias. Juan was murdered days after calling for the resignation of the mayor of Tocoa, Adán Fúnez, for his links to drug trafficking.”
COPINH general coordinator Bertha Zuniga Caceres adds: “It is with great pain that I receive the horrible news of the murder of my comrade Juan López. How many memories come to my mind of the struggles we have endured. I have fought for justice for my mother [Berta Caceres] because I wanted this not to happen again, but that dream is becoming more and more distant. Honduras Hurts!”
The Honduran Center for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC) has also posted: “We strongly condemn the murder of environmental leader, defender of our common home and our comrade in arms, Juan López. We demand an immediate investigation to find the perpetrators of this crime. We demand justice!”
Statement from Honduran Jesuits, highlighting the government’s responsibility to prevent human rights violations and adopt the appropriate measures to prevent them.
And Edy Tabora, director of the law firm Justice for the Peoples, has posted: “Another great comrade and social activist was murdered. He was fighting for life and against extractivism. He died as a criminal, without the threats he constantly received being investigated. He died without the State complying with the precautionary measure of the IACHR [Inter-American Commission on Human Rights] that ordered his life to be protected.”
The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has accompanied the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) processes and Guapinol River defenders since January 2019.
Image from PBI-Switzerland.
The struggle to defend the Guapinol River has claimed the lives of too many environmental defenders including Levin Alexander Bonilla (October 27, 2018), Roberto Antonio Argueta Tejada and José Mario Rivera (August 28, 2019), Arnold Joaquín Morazán Erazo (October 13, 2020), Aly Dominguez and Jairo Bonilla (January 7, 2023), Óscar Oquelí Domínguez Ramos (June 15, 2023) and now Juan López.
Further reading: The struggle of the Guapinol River defenders against the Los Pinares megaproject continues in Honduras (PBI-Canada, September 3, 2024).
Published by Brent Patterson on September 15, 2024.
PBI-USA extends our condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Juan López and we remain attentive to this situation.
Soon following the murder, U.S. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky and Congressman Chuy Garcia tweeted their concerns and calls for an independent investigation. Our many thanks to Reps. Schakowsky and Garcia for their voice on this concerning matter.