A Honduran organization demanded protection on Wednesday for the family and colleagues of environmentalist Juan López, who was murdered on September 14. The 46-year-old activist, who led a crusade against an open-pit mine, was shot dead after leaving a Catholic church in Tocoa, 220 km northeast of Tegucigalpa, where he also served as a councilman, in an act condemned by the UN and Pope Francis.
“We are calling on the human rights protection mechanism (…) to provide protection for Juan López’s wife, children, and his companions who supported him in his campaign,” said Berta Oliva, the coordinator of the Committee of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras.
“They are in danger,” the activist declared during a press conference. Leonel George, López’s colleague in the environmental committee and also a councilman,said in a phone interview that López’s wife and two daughters are already under police protection, but others in his circle remain at risk.
“There is great concern because with the arrest [of four suspects in the crime] and the ongoing legal proceedings, the risk increases for those of us working to demand justice,” said George. Four alleged perpetrators of the crime were arrested in recent days, but social organizations say the intellectual authors of the crime have yet to be arrested.
López was a staunch opponent of open-pit mining and had denounced damage to a forest reserve and rivers in the Tocoa area. In November 2021, López spoke in an interview about the risks environmentalists face in Honduras. “When you get involved in defending public resources in this country […] you clash with powerful interests,” he said.
López’s murder recalls the case of renowned Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres, who was killed in 2016 in one of the deadliest countries for environmental activists, according to the NGO Global Witness.
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