“Justice for Juan Lopez. They killed Juan, not his fight. Juan Lopez lives,” reads a sign next to his coffin during a wake in Tocoa, Colon department, Honduras, on September 15, 2024. (Photo by ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP via Getty Images)
An anti-mining activist has been shot dead in Honduras, President Xiomara Castro said, vowing that justice would be brought about for the latest killing in one of the world's most dangerous countries for environmental activists.
Juan Lopez, 46, was shot dead on Saturday as he left a church in the northeastern town of Toccoa, his widow, Thelma Pena, told AFP.
In a post on social media platform “X” late Saturday, Castro condemned the “despicable murder” and said he had ordered an investigation.
“Justice for Juan Lopez,” Castro wrote.
Lopez, a member of the ruling Libre party, campaigned against open-cut iron-ore mining in a forest reserve near Toccoa, where he works in city hall.
In an interview with AFP in 2021, Lopez spoke about the risks environmental activists face in the poor and violent Central American country.
“When you start defending common interests in this country, you come into conflict with primary interests,” he said.
“You always have to keep in mind that when you leave your home, you don't know what's going to happen when you come back,” Lopez said.
At a recent press conference, the activist called for the resignation of a Libre executive who was caught on video negotiating a bribe with a drug trafficker in 2013.
The video recently ensnared the president's brother-in-law, Carlos Zelaya, who resigned from his seat in Congress after admitting to taking part in meetings with drug cartels.
Isabel Albaladejo, the local representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, called on investigators to consider “retaliatory measures” against Lopez, who had called for the resignation of a local mayor suspected of ties to organized crime.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had ordered protective measures against Lopez due to threats against him and other environmental activists in Toccoa.
Fellow human rights activist Joaquin Mejia paid tribute to the environmental activist, calling him a “comrade committed to social change.”
Mejia accused authorities of “failing to fulfill their duty” to protect Lopez.
Honduran Attorney General Joel Zelaya said the “reprehensible” killings will not go unpunished and paid tribute to Lopez's work.
“His life is an example of struggle. He never gave up in the constant fight to join hands with the people and protect our natural resources,” Zelaya said on X.
The NGO Global Witness says Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world for environmental activists.
In 2023, the number of murders of such activists was 18, putting the country tied with Mexico as third highest in the world. The top two were Colombia and Brazil.
The group said 148 environmental activists were killed in Honduras between 2012 and 2023.
Among them was Berta Cáceres, a prominent activist against a controversial hydroelectric dam who was murdered in 2016.
A council of indigenous groups co-founded by Cáceres said the Honduran government and Castro's regime “are responsible for this new murder by failing to guarantee Juan's life.”
©Agence France-Presse