As hired gunmen kill human rights leaders to protect private interests, transnational corporations are suing Honduras for halting “mafia-style” investments made during coup-instituted regimes, before the current government led by Xiomara Castro.
Juan López is the latest in a long list of environmental defenders whose lives have been taken for opposing extractivism, often linked to narcotrafficking. He was assassinated on Saturday, September 14 as he left mass. I met him when he came to Washington, D.C. to receive the Letelier-Moffitt human rights award on behalf of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa, along with a large Honduran delegation. In his acceptance speech he bravely said that “the eye of the hurricane of global capitalism appears to be drugs, tied to agro-industrial, mining, and other industries.”
The best description of Juan comes from his colleagues with this Municipal Committee: “Juan López. A friend, a brother, an inexhaustible guide that dedicated his life to defending nature, justice and the wellbeing of the most vulnerable communities. Humble and knowledgeable, he did not seek to become famous. Instead he put down roots in villages, among the people, educating and empowering them with the dream that the Montaña de Botaderos Carlos Escaleras Mejía National Park would be free and that the people would learn to defend themselves from extractivism and oppressive forces. Juan was a man of deep faith, in love with life, people, and hope, that, with serenity and conviction, embraced the cause of justice, leaving behind an unerasable legacy in the hearts of those who knew him.”
The Honduran group received the Letelier-Moffitt prize for its campaign in defense of the Guapinol river against the wave of extractive industries funded by American, Canadian, and European corporations. The previous Honduran administration of Juan Orlando Hernandez (later extradited and convicted in the United States for narcotrafficking) responded to this resistance with repression, militarization of the region, and the arrest of environmental activists. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted protective measures in October 2023, but the current government of Xiomara Castro, despite the perilous situation, has not implemented these measures.
Juan, in his award acceptance speech, warned that “in the face of this neoliberal empire, with the same spirit as Berta Cáceres (a fellow Honduran water defender killed in 2016), we say: Wake up humanity, there’s no time left!”