Renan Zelaya Vásquez (Indigenous Lenca Council of Reitoca)
Sources
Members of the National Police carried out violent and illegal raids on the homes of defenders of the Lenca Indigenous Council of Reitoca in Honduras. During the raids, the National Police broke down the doors of the houses, assaulted several defenders and detained five defenders : Jose Orlando Rodas, Andres Avelino Gutiérrez, Jairo Noe Oliva, Renan Zelaya Vásquez and Jorge Montes. . Many people from the town of Reitoca, in solidarity with their detained comrades and in denunciation of the police actions, took to the streets to protest, and were injured and affected by the violent repression with which they were attacked, in which a large number of tear gas bombs were used. The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Honduras denounces the systematic violation of the human rights of the defenders of the Lenca people of Reitoca by the police forces, who have been using all their repressive machinery at the service of the extractive industry for several years when the community organized to resist the illegal hydroelectric dam on the Rio Grande built by the hydroelectric company Promotora de Generación de Energía limpia S.A. (PROGELSA).