IRTF News

Public relations smear campaign targeting three Honduranorganizations: Lenca Indigenous Movement of La Paz (MILPAH), the Honduran Center for the Promotion of Community Development (CEHPRODEC), and the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), all which work to defend land and environmental rights.

Recent incursion of paramilitaries into the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó in Antioquia Department. They are entering communities, going to specific homes, and threatening to kill residents of the Peace Community if they refuse to collaborate with the paramilitaries.

Assassination of Afro-Colombian community leader Emilsen Manyoma Mosquera of CONPAZ (a network of community and victim organizations) and her partner Joe Javier Rodallega, in the port of Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca Department, where families are being forcibly displaced by paramilitaries.

Killing of indigenous and land rights defender Sebastian Alonso Juan, age 73, when armed men began shooting at demonstrators during a peaceful protest against hydroelectric projects Pojom I and Pojom II in San Matea Ixtatan in Huehuetenango Department.

Military shot in the knee Víctor Vásquez, President of the Lenca Indigenous Movement of La Paz Honduras (MILPAH), while he was providing assistance to a wounded man during a violent eviction of small farmers in Santa María in La Paz Department.

Assassination of environmental defender Aldemar Parra Garcia in El Hatillo, Bolívar Department, where US companies Drummond and Murray Energy Corporation operate four coal mines.

National Police arbitrarily detained and harassed four human rights defenders in La Ceiba, Atlántida Dept: Miriam Miranda, coordinator of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), and three members of the Platform of Social and Popular Movements of Honduras (PMSPH): Luis Gutierrez, Oscar Gaboa and Luis Miranda.

Police assaults with rubber bullets and tear gas against environmental defenders resisting construction of the Grand Inter-Oceanic Canal during a demonstration in Nueva Guinea, in the South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region (RAAS).

Assassination attempt on land rights activist Argemiro Lara, who is a member of MOVICE-Sucre branch (National Movement of Victims of State Crimes) and CPDH (Permanent Committee for the Defence of Human Rights).

Massacre of an indigenous Mayanga family of three in the autonomous Moskitia region where there are land disputes with outside settlers: Bernicia Dixon Peralta, her husband Feliciano Benlis Flores, and their 11 year-old son, Feliciano Benlis Dixon.