Honduran eco-activist Juan López murdered in shocking attack

Environmentalist Juan López, who fought against open-cast mining in Honduras, was shot dead in the northeast of the country on Saturday night. The crime is being investigated by the police and condemned by the authorities.

According to local press reports, López, 46, was killed by men as he was in his vehicle after leaving a church in the municipality of Tocoa (in the department of Colón), where he lived and worked as a member of the city council.

“We condemn the heinous murder of our comrade and environmental leader Juan López in Tocoa, Colón. I have ordered that all the capacities of the law enforcement authorities be used to clarify this tragedy and identify those responsible,” said Honduran President Xiomara Castro after the crime on the social network X.

“Justice for Juan López,” added the left-wing politician, expressing her solidarity with the family and friends of the environmentalist, who was a member of the ruling Libertad y Refundación (Libre) party.

Thelma Peña, López's wife, said in a brief phone call that the activist was “shot” shortly after leaving the church where she was not present.

In the early hours of Sunday morning, police said in a press release that units at the facility, including an anti-gang unit, were gathering evidence “that will enable the facts of the case to be clarified” and asked “the public who has relevant information about the crime to report it confidentially via their emergency number 911.”

IACHR Precautions

The environmentalist had recently called for the resignation of officials in Tocoa who belong to the Libre party after they appeared in a video in 2013 in which they negotiated bribes with drug traffickers, sparking a scandal in the country.

Carlos Zelaya, the brother of ousted former President Manuel Zelaya – who is in turn the husband of the current president – appeared in the video. After admitting to attending the meeting, he resigned from his post as deputy and as secretary of Congress.

The environmentalist has been under precautionary measures since October 2023 by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) because of threats against him and other environmentalists in Tocoa.

“The heinous murder of the well-known environmentalist Juan López is a reprehensible act. His life was an example of fighting spirit. He never gave up his tireless struggle alongside the people to preserve the natural resources of the northwest of the country,” said Honduras' Attorney General Johel Zelaya on X.

The prosecutor pointed out that “specialized teams” at the institution “are already conducting investigations to ensure that his death does not go unpunished.”

Danger for environmentalists

López was a staunch opponent of open-cast mining and denounced the destruction of the Botaderos forest reserve near Tocoa, 220 kilometers northeast of Tegucigalpa.

In November 2021, López commented on the risks faced by environmental defenders in Honduras: “When you engage in this country to defend common goods […] you come into conflict with major interests,” he said in an interview with AFP.

“When you leave home, you always don’t know what might happen and whether you will be able to return home and see your family again,” López said on that occasion.

In the interview, he said that someone once warned him that the same thing would happen to him as Berta Cáceres, the well-known Honduran environmental activist who was shot dead on March 2, 2016, for speaking out against the construction of a hydroelectric power plant in the west of the country. According to the non-governmental organization Global Witness, Honduras is one of the deadliest countries for environmental activists in the world.

The organization said in a report published last week that the Central American country, with 18 murders in 2023, is the fourth most dangerous for environmental activists, after Colombia (79), Brazil (25) and Mexico (18).