14 May 2025. Eight months following the murder of human rights defender Juan López in Honduras, the undersigned organisations reiterate our solidarity with his family and with the Municipal Committee in Defense of the Common and Public Goods of Tocoa, the parish of San Isidro de Labrador, the national and international grassroots organisations and networks and all the people whom Juan touched with his unwavering struggle for the protection of the commons, water, forests and, above all, for a more just world.
We demand that the Attorney General Johel Zelaya carry out a prompt, exhaustive and diligent investigation and capture all those responsible for the planning of his murder, and for the threats and intimidation he received during his lifetime, and which continue to affect defenders in the area.
In this regard, we condemn the fact that the State of Honduras has not fully implemented the protection measures in accordance with MC 137-2023, granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) a year and a half ago. We urge the head of the State’s Legal Representative (PGR), Manuel Antonio Díaz Galeas, and the Secretary of Human Rights, Angélica Álvarez, to rectify the breach of their international human rights obligations and fully implement the measures through coordinated efforts and in good faith with the beneficiaries, including the immediate implementation of Decree 18-2024, to restore the Carlos Escaleras National Park and prevent further damage from the Pinares/Ecotek/Emco extractive megaproject.
We demand that the MP dismantle the criminal structure behind the murder of Juan López and that it investigates the other crimes the structure has committed, both against local human rights defenders and against the Carlos Escaleras National Park and the commons in Tocoa. The multiple ongoing judicial processes serve to show how this criminal structure has operated to guarantee the illegal implementation of the extractive megaproject even without the consent of the affected communities.
We support the community expressions of that have rejected the Pinares/Ecotek/Emco mine, pelletizing plant and petcoke thermoelectric project that puts the life and water of the People of Tocoa at risk, and we demand that the expressed will of the people be respected.
For Juan and for all those who defend life and water, we demand justice!