Rapid Response Network

Continuing harassment and attacks on members of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). On April 13, COPINH members, 1300 members of Honduran social movements and international delegations from 22 different countries gathered for the international meeting “Berta Cáceres Vive” celebrating the life of Berta Cáceres and demanding justice for her assassination on March 2.

Assassination attempts against LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) rights advocates Juan José Zambrano and Jlo Córdoba. Juan José Zambrano is a member of the Association for a Better Life for People Infected with and Affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras (APUVIMEH) which works with the LGBTI community and those affected by HIV/AIDS.

The Honduran government has placed a risk on the life of human rights defender Martha Ligia Arnold in the Bajo Aguán Valley but accusing her of having ties to organized crime. Martha Ligia Arnold, President of the Permanent Human Rights Observatory for the Bajo Aguan (OBDHBA),

Disappearance of Fidencio Gómez Sántiz, an indigenous member of the National Front for Socialism (FNLS). He was last seen on March 5, accompanied by his wife and son at the Jet Ja transport terminal near the local market of Ocosingo, Chiapas State. He has not been seen since.

Murder of environmental rights defenderWalter Méndez Barrios, who was shot and killed outside his home in Las Cruces, in the Department of Petén, on the morning of March 16. He was a founding member of Petenero Front Against Dams (FPCR), an organization formed in 2005 to fight for the land rights and the right to water and other natural resources of those affected and threatened by the construction of hydroelectric dams.

Assassination of William Castillo Chimo, age 43, founder and treasurer of the Association of Agroecological and Mining Brotherhoods of Guamocol (AHERAMIGUA). AHERAMIGUA is a human rights organization in Guamocó in southern Bolívar Department that works to defend land rights, particularly the right of local communities to remain on their land.

unjust detaining of Gustavo Castro Soto, the sole witness to the murder of Berta Cáceres. The violation of his rights to due process and refusal of the government to allow him to return safely to his home country of Mexico.

assassaination of Berta Cáceres, Indigenous Rights leader and human rights defender, in her hometown of La Esperanza. Co-founder of COPINH who spent her life defending indigenous land and environmental rights.

assassination of five indigenous Tolupán residents of San Francisco Locomapa, whose community has been organizing to defend their ancestral lands from the economic interests of outsiders: large private landholders, hydroelectric dam companies, mining companies, and the timber industry.