IRTF News

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.

Digital attacks (misinformation and distortions meant to discredit and misrepresent) against the Committee of Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH).

Death threats against members of the Indigenous Councils Santiago Apóstol and San Isidro Labrador in La Paz Department who are opposing the construction of the Los Encinos hydro-electric dam on the Chinacla River: Ana Mirian Romero, Roberto Gómez, María Felicita Lopez and Rodolfo Vasquez.

Death threats by paramilitaries against human rights defenders from several organizations in Barrancabermeja: CREDHOS (Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights), ASORVIMM-Magdalena Medio (Association of Victims of State Crime), ACVC (Peasant Association of the Cimitarra River Valley), ANZORC (National Association of Rural Reserve Areas), and Marcha Patriótica.