US and UN condemn slaying of environmentalist in Honduras

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. State Department and other global leaders on Tuesday denounced the slaying of another environmental leader in rural Honduras, adding to mounting concern of ongoing violence against environmentalists in Latin America.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro confirmed the killing of Juan López on Saturday in the rural Caribbean region of Colón, where a number of environmentalists battling mining projects have been slain in recent years. Castro called his death a “vile murder” and promised to investigate the slaying.

“I express my solidarity with his family, comrades and friends. Justice for Juan López,” she posted on X.

López was gunned down in the municipality of Tocoa after spending years combating mining companies to preserve the region's rivers and forests, according to Human Rights Watch. Few other details were immediately released by authorities.

Three activists from his same organization, Network Against Anti-Union Violence (RedContraVA), were killed last year.

Before his death, López had been provided protection by Honduran authorities and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights because he had received multiple death threats.

On Tuesday, Brian A. Nichols, assistant U.S. secretary of state for Western Hemisphere Affairs, echoed Castro and other Honduran leaders in demanding justice for López.

“I strongly condemn the murder of Juan López, a courageous environmental defender and municipal councilor in Honduras, and call for a thorough and transparent investigation,” he wrote on X.

His comments were followed by similar condemnations by the United Nations, which on Tuesday called on “competent authorities to carry out an immediate, exhaustive and impartial investigation to identify and punish the people responsible, both material and intellectual, for this murder.”

Latin America is the deadliest region in the world to be an environmental defender, according to the nongovernmental organization Global Witness, which tracks killings of environmentalists. Last year, Colombia, Brazil, Honduras and Mexico were ranked the most deadly regions to defend the environment.

At least 140 environmentalists were killed across just the four nations, accounting for 71% of the overall slayings of environmental defenders across the world, according to the organization's report released last week. Honduras, significantly smaller than the other countries on the list, made up 18 of those killings.

The Central American nation has for years raised the alarm over the number of environmental activists killed there.

Honduras received global attention when environmental and Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres was slain in 2016. The killing continues to haunt Honduras as many details of her death remain unsolved.

Environmental leaders often act as watchdogs in rural regions, becoming an unwanted pair of eyes in places where organized crime thrives.

They also tend to challenge powerful companies and individuals seeking to profit from extractive industries like mining and logging, doing so in remote swaths of Latin America far from the reach of the law.

That opposition can prove fatal for individuals like López, who the U.N. said “dedicated his life to the protection of natural resources”.