“Environmental activists are being killed in Honduras over their opposition to mining”, 06 May 2021

...32 people criminalized by the Honduran government for defending the Guapinol River against the environmental impacts of a new iron oxide mine in the Carlos Escaleras National Park. So far, at least eight people who have opposed the mine have been killed, putting its owner, Inversiones Los Pinares, at the centre of a deadly environmental conflict in the mineral-rich Bajo Aguán region. Local communities are concerned about the mine’s potential ecological damage. In their attempts to defend their territories, local leaders have been surveilled, threatened, injured and imprisoned, and some...have been killed...Inversiones Los Pinares is owned by Lenir Pérez, a businessman previously accused of human rights violations, and Ana Facussé, daughter of the late palm oil magnate, Miguel Facussé. Even though the mine hasn’t yet exploited the iron oxide in the 200-hectare concession, community water supplies are polluted, trees have been flattened and landslides and flooding are more frequent...The state also deployed the police and the army to protect the interests of Inversiones Los Pinares, eschewing the internationally recognized rights of the communities to organize, defend the environment and protest peacefully against the mine...Yet, in Honduras, these same activists are victims of defamation campaigns, criminalization, social media attacks and constant threats. Several residents have been forced to flee Honduras to escape criminal persecution. Meanwhile, the state uses corruption and police repression to guarantee impunity for those persecuting defenders...The conflict in Tocoa has increasingly gained the attention and support of the United Nations, particularly the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Oxfam and the Canadian Peace Brigades...