Aguán News Alert | September/October 2024
Image Description: Juan López pictured reading a book. | Photo Credit: Guapinol Resiste.
Violence worsens in Bajo Aguán with the murder of defenders Juan López and Selvin Noé García
Tocoa, Colón, Honduras. – Violence against land and environmental defenders worsened in Bajo Aguán during the months of September and October. During the month of September, hitmen took the life of environmental defender and leader, Juan Lopez. In mid-October, Selvin Noe Garcia, a member of the Brisas del Aguán Cooperative, was murdered by people linked to organized crime. These murders are an example of the violence against the campesino movement carried out by the economic and political elite, who are linked to organized crime groups.
Justice for Juan and the Río Guapinol Defenders
Murder of Environmental Defender and Municipal Councilman Juan Lopez: On September 14, Juan Lopez, coordinator of the Municipal Committee in Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT), was vilely murdered by hitmen. On September 15, people organized under the CMDBCPT, the Agrarian Platform, COPA, and the communities of Aguán took to the streets to demand justice for Juan. On September 18, the CMDBCPT communicated their political statement in a press conference, which included a series of lawsuits over the advancement of justice for Juan López.
Indignation from National and International Community: After the murder of Juan López, national and international advocacy organizations spoke out condemning his murder and demanding justice, including Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Comprehensive Ecology Commission of Latin America and the Caribbean (CEILAC), SHARE Foundation, Committee for Missing Relatives in Honduras (COFADEH), San Óscar Arnulfo Romero Parish, the diocese of Trujillo, and Pope Francis.
Mobilizations in Tegucigalpa: On September 23-26, popular organizations in the country mobilized to demand justice for Juan Lopez and Berta Cáceres, an end to the criminalization of social protest and greater access to land for peasants. On September 23, Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (COPINH), as well as campesino organizations of Bajo Aguán held a sit-in on CA-5 highway. During the mobilizations, from the 24th to the 26th, 25 organizations camped under the National Congress, carrying out mobilizations to the Supreme Court of Justice and to the Presidential House. The demonstrations were the site of several worrying incidents including: the arrest of Pedro Audiel Recinos Morales, member of the Remolino Cooperative, during a police seizure of buses that were taking campesinxs from Bajo Aguán to Tegucigalpa; infiltration of the mobilization by a person belonging to the Colombian Special Forces; and the disappearance of Juan Pablo Guillén, member of the Paso Aguán Cooperative, who was found alive six days later.
Image description: Campesinos mobilize from the National Congress to the Presidential House, demanding access to land and justice for murdered land defenders. Photo Credits: Contra Corriente.
Prosecution of Lenir Pérez and Other People Related to Pinares-ECOTEK: On September 24, the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced the presentation of a tax demand against 13 people linked to the companies Los Pinares, S.A. of C.V. and Inversiones ECOTEK S.A. de C.V., including the businessman Lenir Perez, for his responsibility in environmental damage to the “Carlos Escaleras” Montaña de Botaderos National Park. After the announcement, the CMDBCPT issued a written statement and held a press conference.
Prosecution of Material Authors of the Murder of Juan López: On October 5, authorities of the National Police announced the arrest of people linked to the murder of Juan López, after which the CMDBCPT issued a press release. On October 6, the defendants' declaration hearing took place on the case of Óscar Alexis Guardado Alvarenga, Lenin Adony Cruz Munguíaí, and Daniel Antonio Juárez Torres, during which the court decided to impose preventive measures of judicial detention.
Guapinol Environmental Defenders Declared Innocent: On October 29, water defenders from Guapinol, including the recently murdered Juan López, received definitive dismissal by the Tocoa trial court after six years of criminalization and harassment. This decision came after the widely condemned decision of the Court of Appeals of La Ceiba to reopen the case, despite an injunction previously issued by the Supreme Court of Justice in favor of Guapinol's defenders.
IACHR Visits the Aguán Valley: On October 31, the IACHR visited the CMDBCPT and others in Bajo Aguán and Honduras to follow up on the implementation of preventative measures for at-risk members of the Guapinol community.
ANALYSIS: Structures and systems responsible for Juan Lopez’s murder
Murder of Juan López, from Guapinol, motivated by video of a meeting between drug traffickers with the mayor and brother-in-law of the president of Honduras (Reportar Sin Miedo, September 18)
The military bought assets of the Alutech company from Lenir Pérez before the murder of Juan López (Radio Progreso, September 18)
The commercial connection between the transnational Nucor and the Los Pinares mine in Honduras was maintained at least until 2023 (Contra Corriente, October 8)
Latest News
Honduran Security Forces Attack EACI Cooperative Members: On September 1, families belonging to the Empresa Asociativa Campesina de Producción Isleta (EACI) were violently evicted from the Isletas farm after they tried to recover their lands. State security forces accompanied by private guards who work for the Empresa Agrícola Santa Inés (ASISA), a subsidiary of the American and Irish banana company Dole Foods, shot and attacked the members of EACI (for more images, see here). Previous attempts to reclaim the farm have also been met with violent repression. In October 2023, a force of approximately 200 officers accompanied by helicopters and drones expelled the families from the farm. On October 14, 2023, security forces shot and killed a young man, Kevin Meza. The cooperative members were evicted again on November 24, 2023. Both eviction orders in 2023 were issued irregularly by Judge Marco Antonio Vallecillo Banegas, who has since been arrested for participating in acts of extortion.
Cooperative Celebrations: On September 7, the 153 families organized with the Camarones Cooperative commemorated the third anniversary of recuperating of their lands and the community celebrated the development projects that they have been able to carry out for the benefit of peasant families. On September 11, the cooperatives organized with the Agrarian Platform and COPA celebrated Children's Day.
Historic Settlement in Favor of the Victims of Violence in Bajo Aguán: On October 3, a US court in Delaware approved a historic settlement that concluded a class action lawsuit brought by the small-scale farmers of the Bajo Aguán against the private sector arm of the World Bank, known as the International Finance Corporation (IFC). In 2009, the IFC disbursed a $30 million loan to the African palm company Dinant Corporation, despite knowing that the company was linked to waves of violence against land defenders in the Bajo Aguán Valley. Under the settlement, the first of its kind, IFC will pay $5 million in reparations to 13 unnamed plaintiffs.
Assassination of Selvin Noé García Pérez: On October 17, Selvin Noé Garcíaí Pérez (27 years old), a member of the Brisas del Aguán Campesino Cooperative was murdered. He shot by men in a white car without license plates on the detour of the San José del Cinco community in Bonito Oriental, Colón. He leaves behind his widow and two children, ages 5 and 10.
Commemorating Carlos Escaleras: From October 17 to 19, communities and campesino organizations participated in activities to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the murder of Carlos Escaleras Mejía, assassinated in 1997 for his defense of the environment in Bajo Aguán. This year, the Agrarian Platform won the Carlos Escaleras Award, for their work in defense of land and life.
Leader of Organized Crime Group Arrested: On October 21, Juan Carlos Lizama, alleged leader of “Los Cachos”, an organized crime group at the service of the Dinant Corporation, was arrested for illegal possession of high caliber weapons. Lizama has been denounced on multiple occasions by campesino cooperatives and the Agrarian Platform. In 2022, cooperative members accused Lizama of shooting at members of the Camarones Cooperative. In 2023, Lizama was accused of being behind a murder plot against members of campesino cooperatives and the Agrarian Platform. It is important to note that on October 27, the Council of Ministers voted to revoke a decree that previously prohibited the possession of weapons in the region.
Member of Remolino Cooperative Still Missing
Abel López Perdomo is still missing, after being kidnapped on January 30, 2024. In nine months, there have been no answers from the authorities about the whereabouts of Abel.
Historical Context
In the 1990’s, World Bank-led structural adjustment measures transformed the Bajo Aguán region of north-east Honduras from one of the nation’s primary sources of fruits, vegetables and basic grains into an African palm oil monoculture destined for export to insatiable Global North markets. Over the course of this process, thousands of campesinos were dispossessed of their farms to make way for massive palm plantations, owned by a handful of Honduran elite.
Since then, campesino cooperatives have engaged in a multi-decade struggle to recover their land, suffering violent repression by corporate and state entities as a result. The immediate post-coup period was especially brutal, taking the lives of approximately 150 small farmers by 2014. In recent years, many more have been murdered, disappeared, and criminalized. The vast majority of these crimes remain in impunity.