Honduras: Amnesty International urges authorities to guarantee justice for the murder of Juan López
The preliminary hearing against three men accused of taking part in the murder of environmental defender Juan Antonio López, coordinator of the Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT), will be held at the court of San Pedro Sula in Honduras on 3 June. Amnesty International said that this trial may prove crucial in enabling the family of Juan López to obtain truth, justice and reparation for his murder, which was committed on 14 September 2024 in the municipality of Tocoa. The organization calls on the Honduran authorities to ensure that all those suspected of involvement in Juan López’s murder, whether as instigators or perpetrators, are brought to justice in fair trials.
Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International, said: “The crime against Juan López is evidence that the situation of environmental defenders in Honduras has not improved. The organization welcomes the progress made by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in its investigations and hopes that all the authorities involved will effectively fulfil their duty to provide the family of Juan López with truth, justice and reparation”.
The crime against Juan López is evidence that the situation of environmental defenders in Honduras has not improved. The organization welcomes the progress made by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in its investigations and hopes that all the authorities involved will effectively fulfil their duty to provide the family of Juan López with truth, justice and reparation
Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International
On 6 October 2024, the Honduran Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that three people had been arrested as alleged perpetrators of Juan López’s murder. Three days later, a local court formally charged the suspects for the killing of the environmental defender and ordered their arrest. The three men have since been held in pretrial detention.
Tocoa communities at serious risk
Juan López was part of a group of 30 human rights defenders, including members of the CMDBCPT and their lawyers from law firm Justicia para los Pueblos (Justice for People, BJP), for whom the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) had ordered precautionary measures in October 2023. Days before his murder, Juan gave an interview in which he spoke out about the ineffective application of the protection measures by the Honduran government. Also in the days leading up to the murder, the Honduran National Commissioner for Human Rights (CONADEH) issued an early warning regarding the failure to implement such measures.
Human rights defenders from the communities of Tocoa and their lawyers have faced continued attacks – Juan López’s murder is not the only one – and criminalization for peacefully challenging the legality of the mining project in the Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras Mejía National Park since 2015.
In 2021, Amnesty International declared eight human rights defenders from Guapinol prisoners of conscience, after they were wrongfully imprisoned for more than two years simply for peacefully defending the right to water.
On 7 January 2023, human rights defenders Aly Magdaleno Domínguez Ramos and Jairo Bonilla Ayala were intercepted by armed assailants and shot and killed on the spot. Five months later, on 15 June 2023, Oquelí Domínguez, the brother of Aly Domínguez, was also killed in the community of Guapinol. To date, no one has faced trial for these crimes.
In February 2025, BJP reported surveillance activities against Kenia Oliva, one of the lawyers seeking justice for Juan López and other cases linked to the protection of the Carlos Escaleras National Park. The CMDBCPT and BJP have reported several instances of surveillance, defamation on social media and intimidation, as well as the forced displacement of defenders.
Honduras has the highest number of killings of land and environmental defenders per capita in the world, according to Global Witness. In a 2016 report, Amnesty International found that environmental defenders are attacked, and in some cases, killed, even when they are beneficiaries of precautionary measures ordered by the IACHR. The National Protection System, as part of the Human Rights Secretariat, is responsible for implementing protection measures. However, in recent years, national and international organizations have criticized this body as being weak and ineffective.
Ana Piquer said: “It is regrettable that the Honduran authorities are not taking the risks faced by human rights defenders in their country seriously. It is vital that Xiomara Castro’s government stops looking the other way and takes strong and immediate measures to end violence against Tocoa communities who are defending the environment, including by investigating all attacks against them.”
It is regrettable that the Honduran authorities are not taking the risks faced by human rights defenders in their country seriously. It is vital that Xiomara Castro’s government stops looking the other way and takes strong and immediate measures to end violence against Tocoa communities who are defending the environment, including by investigating all attacks against them
Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International
Amnesty International also calls on the Honduran state to take all necessary measures, in consultation with the affected individuals, to guarantee the safety of the family of Juan López, the witnesses of his murder, and all members of the CMDBCPT and BJP. Furthermore, the organization urges Honduras to develop and implement a protocol for investigating attacks against defenders, as ordered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case Escaleras Mejía et al. v. Honduras in 2018.
Guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment
Juan López was the coordinator of the CMDBCPT, an organization comprised by dozens of communities, religious groups and local environmental organisations from the municipality of Tocoa who since 2015 have been peacefully challenging the legality of the iron mining concessions granted to Inversiones Los Pinares (ILP), arguing that they have adversely affected the water quality of the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers, as well as the protected Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras Mejía National Park.
From the start, the CMDBCPT requested information on the concessions and associated environmental assessments from the relevant authorities, and submitted complaints to the National Congress, the local courts, and government bodies. As a result of these actions, a criminal case was recently brought against three ILP directors, on charges of illegal exploitation of natural resources and aggravated harm in Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras Mejía National Park. In a separate case, the Public Prosecutor accused the municipal secretariat of Tocoa of falsifying documents relating to a 2016 public consultation (cabildo abierto) which had favoured the development of the mining projects.
Furthermore, as a result of efforts by the communities of Tocoa and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Honduras, Decree 18-2024 entered into force on 6 May 2024. This decree reinstates the original boundaries of the Carlos Escaleras National Park, which had been questioned a decade ago by another decree that decreased the area of park with the highest level of protection. Decree 18-2024 also includes measures for the protection and restoration of the park, although the competent authorities have not yet publicly announced plans for the implementation of such measures.
However, the president of the National Congress of Honduras has submitted an initiative entitled “Special Law for the Promotion of Investment through Efficiency in Environmental Licensing Processes”, generating alarm among national and international organizations, as this could facilitate the implementation of mining projects without sufficient safeguards. The Environment Commission stated that mining projects and the territories of Indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants are excluded from the scope of the legislation. Nevertheless, according to information received to date, the text does not include any safeguards on participation, including access to information.
Astrid Puentes Riaño, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, reaffirmed in her 2024 report, that “[a]ccess to information, participation and access to justice are essential elements of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment […] and are also recognized human rights”. She also noted that “[a]ctive transparency is vital for the enjoyment of other rights, especially regarding matters of public interest, such as information related to the exploration and exploitation of natural resources”.
Ana Piquer concluded: “Guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment is not optional; it is an obligation that the Honduran state has committed to. The Honduran state’s commitment to the environment and to environmental defenders, however, has been insufficient and lacking in direction, but there is still time for it to get back on track. Since this is a long-term responsibility, we also call on candidates for the upcoming general election in November 2025 to include in their programmes proposals that reflect the urgency in addressing this problem.”
Guaranteeing the right to a healthy environment is not optional; it is an obligation that the Honduran state has committed to. The Honduran state’s commitment to the environment and to environmental defenders, however, has been insufficient and lacking in direction, but there is still time for it to get back on track. Since this is a long-term responsibility, we also call on candidates for the upcoming general election in November 2025 to include in their programmes proposals that reflect the urgency in addressing this problem
Ana Piquer, Americas director at Amnesty International
Amnesty International also urges Honduras to sign and ratify the “Regional Agreement on Access to Information, Public Participation and Justice in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
Additional information
In 2012, the National Congress of Honduras declared the area where the Guapinol and San Pedro rivers meet in the Botaderos mountains a national park (Decree 127-2012), with the aim that the park – which in 2016 was named “Carlos Escaleras Mejía” in honour of a farmer who gave his life defending the land and water in the area – would be protected from the impacts of heavy industry, including mining. The authorities designated areas that should remain free from activities that could be harmful to the environment, and “buffer zones” in which mining could only take place subject to a series of evaluations, including an environmental impact assessment.
One year after the area was declared a protected zone, the National Congress decided to expand the park’s buffer zone and thus reduce the size of the area with the highest level of protection (Decree 252-2013). This opened the door for the Honduran Institute of Geology and Mining (INHGEOMIN) to grant mining concessions in this area. In 2014, INHGEOMIN granted two exploration concessions – ASP and ASP2 – to the Emco Mining Company (renamed Inversiones Los Pinares in 2017). The following year, the same company obtained a mining concession for the ASP project after obtaining the required environmental licence, which was not without controversy. These projects are currently suspended.
The megaproject developed in the area around the Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras Mejía National Park also includes a petroleum coke power plant and an iron oxide pelletizing plant. On 9 December 2023, hundreds of Tocoa residents turned up at a town council meeting to reject the energy project. The CMDBCPT has reported that, on 14 May 2025, INHGEOMIN issued a decision declaring community opposition to the renewal of the concession for the pelletizing plant to be unfounded.
Contact: [email protected]