Rapid Response Network

Speaking up to denounce the irreversible damage to land and waterways caused by large scale mining operations is dangerous. There were more than 60 registered assassinations of environmental defenders in Guatemala between 2014 and 2024; the majority were in Izabal and Alta Verapaz Departments.

Marco Antonio Zuleta Quevedo worked as a ranger and forest firefighter to protect the Sierra de las Minas Biosphere Reserve, the largest cloud forest habitat in Central America. He received death threats for reporting illegal resource extraction. On May 9, he was shot and killed while walking home in Usumatlán, Zacapa Department.

Misael Mata Ascencio was active in the anti-mining resistance formed by 54 communities in the Sierra Santa Cruz region of Izabal Department, where Río Nickel S.A. (a subsidiary of Canada-based Central America Nickel, or CAN) had filed more than a dozen mining exploration applications for nickel and other minerals. While working as a security guard on a farm in his community, he was beaten and shot to death on May 14.

In addition to urging authorities to continue the investigations, we ask that the government invest more time and resources to consult with Indigenous communities about their legitimate concerns regarding mining operations.

Last month, the Peace Commission of the Evangelical [Protestant] Council of Colombia (CEDECOL) issued a statement condemning the massacre of eight Christian church leaders in a rural area of Calamar municipality, Guaviare Department.

Upon receiving personal summons from an illegally armed group (understood to be a dissident faction of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC), the eight appeared for their respective meetings over a two-day period (April 4-5), from which they never returned. Unrelenting, international organizations and members of the public security forces discovered the location of the mass grave in a rural area of the same municipality; this was later confirmed by the Office of the Attorney General Office on July 1. 

We are urging the Colombian government to take the following actions:

(1) conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the killing of these eight church leaders, publish the results, and bring to justice those materially and intellectually responsible

(2) consult with religious leaders who conduct pastoral work in regions occupied by illegally armed groups to devise protection mechanisms, in strict accordance with their wishes

(3) accelerate efforts to bring justice and closure to the fate of so many others who have been disappeared or lost their lives at the hands of illegally armed groups

Maryuri Hernández, Jesús Valero, James Caicedo, Óscar García, Nixón Peñaloza, Maribel Silva, Isaid Gómez, and Carlos Valero: ¡presente!

At the public hearing held during the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights’ (IACHR) 193rd Period of Sessions (July 14-25, 2025), “civil society organizations stated that the Salvadoran criminal justice system is being misused, compounding concerns around the erosion of independence of the judiciary and the prosecution service and the adoption of regressive legal reforms since 2021. They also warned that the criminalization of human rights defenders and journalists—alongside increased harassment, intimidation, and violence against them, and the adoption of the Foreign Agents Law—has had a chilling effect on their work, restricted civic space, and forced dozens of people into exile while triggering the closure of several civil society organizations.”’

In this RRN letter to authorities in El Salvador, we denounced the criminalization of human rights lawyers Rudy Joya and Ivania Cruz; both are spokespersons for UNIDEHC (Human and Community Rights Defense Unit). They have suffered retaliation for filing multiple legal actions against members of the Bukele Administration for human rights abuses and corruption. Under the Organized Crime Court, which is typically reserved for violent gang members, the human rights lawyers were falsely charged with “illicit groupings.”  Arrest warrants were issued for them after their preliminary hearing.

On August 15, the IACHR repeated its recommendation to end the State of Emergency. We echo the recommendation of the international body to instead develop a “comprehensive, multi-sectoral public security policy that addresses the causes and consequences of crime, based on evidence and with a human rights perspective.” We also urge the immediate removal of the fraudulent charges against Rudy Joya and Ivania Cruz.

The Garífuna people, desendants of Indigenous peoples from the Caribbean and formerly enslaved Africans, have lived on the Atlantic coast since 1797. Despite having collective land title to many of their communities on the  northern coast, local mayors and other authorities have illegally sold and issued building permits to developers looking to get rich with tourist golf resorts, ports for cruise ships, and luxury retirement villages. The national government has mostly turned a blind eye, despite having been condemned three times by the Inter-American Court of Human rights for violating the Garífuna people’s right to collective land ownership in three separate communities.

One of the most notorious foreign investors is Randy Jorgensen of Canada. Late last year, more than 3,500 archaeological artifacts belonging to several Indigenous and pre-Columbian cultures—including sacred items likely taken from burial sites—were found in Jorgensen’s former property near Trujillo, Colón Department. Although the Attorney General did seize 233 of Jorgensen’s ill-gotten properties, Jorgensen has not been arrested or charged in relation to the property seizures. Furthermore, the Attorney General has taken to public action to investigate the illegal collection of cultural artifacts.

We echo the demands of OFRANEH (Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras) and call on authorities to:

(1) arrest Randy Jorgensen and conduct a full criminal investigation into the charges of land usurpation, money laundering, and illegal possession and trafficking of cultural artifacts

(2) protect the recovered cultural artifacts, with a commitment to returning them to the rightful Indigenous communities.

(3) fully enforce land titling decisions in favor of the Garífuna and hold accountable public officials who failed to protect Indigenous rights.

The families of the Gregorio Chávez Campesino Enterprise in the community of Panamá, Colón Department—like too many farming families in the Bajo Aguán Valley—have experienced violence for many years, much of it the result of violent conflicts between campesinos and the palm oil giant Dinant Corporation. The cooperative farm is named for Gregorio Chávez, who was brutally murdered (presumably by private security guards of Dinant) while going about his daily farming activities in July 2012.

More recently, Josué Esaú Aguilar Cárcamo, the 22-year-old son of Guadalupe Cárcamo, one of the leaders of the Gregorio Chávez Campesino Cooperative, was assassinated on May 31, at about 6:30pm, riddled with bullets as he rode his motorcycle in the nearby community of Rigores. That followed the killing of two other members of Gregorio Chávez in late January of this year. The campesino coalition Agrarian Platform (Plataforma Agraria) has accused Dinant of bankrolling Los Cachos, a criminal organization often described as a “death squad,” to provide private security for Dinant. 

We are urging that the government of Honduras:

(1) conduct a thorough and transparent investigation to discover the material and intellectual authors of the assassination of Josué Esaú Aguilar Cárcamo, publish the results, and bring them to justice

(2) implement the agreement signed on April 23 with the United Nations, which awarded Honduras $2 million dollars toward “preventing and managing social conflict in Bajo Aguán through the protection of human rights and access to justice”

(3) fully install and activate the Bajo Aguán Truth Commission (also known as the “Tripartite Commission”) to investigate the causes of and those responsible for unpunished violence

(4) install a United Nations-backed anti-corruption commission and guarantee its independence

El Tumbador, a farm in the campesino community of Guadalupe Carney, Trujillo, Colón Department, has long been a central area of dispute between campesinos and the palm oil giant Dinant corporation; the farming families have been victims of violence for many years. Douglas Alexander Pereira was likely targeted for his leadership and security role, placing him in direct opposition to the control over the farm land in the Bajo Aguán Valley that Dinant hopes to maintain.  He was shot and killed on May 13 by two armed men while carrying out his security duties for the cooperative’s small convenience store. Community members persist in their demands for justice and accountability in their friend’s assassination.

We are urging that authorities in the Honduran government: 

(1) conduct a thorough and transparent investigation to discover the material and intellectual authors of the assassination of Douglas Alexander Pereira, publish the results, and bring them to justice

(2) work with campesino organizations in the Bajo Aguán Valley to devise and implement a protection mechanism for the campesino families and leaders who face extreme violence for defending land promised to them under the Agrarian Reform 

(3) conduct a complete and unbiased investigation into the criminal ties between agroindustrial companies (like Dinant) and illegally armed groups 

The Bukele Administration continues to use the penal system to persecute those who peacefully exercise their right to free expression and protest.

The 300 families of El Bosque Cooperative (Santa Tecla, La Libertad Department) understandably organized to protest an eviction order that would force them off land that is rich with fertility and water resources, which they have lived on for years. The families rely on these resources for agriculture and have cultivated a strong community with a school to raise their children.

When they organized a protest in May in the neighbourhood of President Bukele, the government pushed back. Alejandro Henríquez (a lawyer and environmental defender) and José Ángel Pérez (an evangelical pastor, day laborer, and president of the El Bosque Cooperative) were charged with public disorder and resistance. A judge ordered them to six months pre-trial detention. They sit in overcrowded prisons, at risk of mistreatment and illness.

We are urging that authorities in El Salvador: (1) release from pretrial detention Alejandro Henríquez and José Ángel Pérez; (2) drop all false criminal charges against Alejandro Henríquez and José Ángel Pérez; (3) if the charges stand, hold transparent and fair trials for the five community leaders arrested from El Bosque Cooperative; and (4) stop misusing the penal system to persecute those peacefully exercising their rights.

For almost two decades, the Indigenous Xinka people of Santa Rosa Department have been resisting El Escobal–a silver mining project in the municipality of San Rafael Las Flores.  Since 2007, the Xinka have organized peaceful protests in opposition to the progression of El Escobal, aided by the State’s willingness to grant mining exploration and exploitation licenses without concern for Indigenous rights. Now, a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Guatemala (CC) has given them the opportunity to a formal consultation and presentation of their decision on El Escobal’s continuance.

Previous Xinka resistance to El Escobal was met with State violence and intimidation. On March 13, 2013, four Xinka community leaders were kidnapped and tortured by an armed group following a consultation in the village of El Volcancito. Shortly after, Xinka communities held a protest near the mine in opposition to the government granting El Escobal a 25-year mining license. This was met by violent eviction by the police, who employed rubber bullets, tear gas, and arbitrary detention. Escalation continued when former President Otto Pérez Molina declared a state of siege in four municipalities in the conflict zone, deploying 8,000 soldiers and police in the region. 

In 2018, after years of peaceful protests, criminalization, and legal battles, the CC issued a historic ruling. The court suspended the license for exploitation of El Escobal mine and ordered the State to conduct a consultation with the Xinka people in accordance with the International Labor Organization (ILO) standards. This consultation was the first in Guatemalan history formally conducted with an Indigenous people relating to an extractive project. Additionally, the CC recognized that the Guatemalan State had violated the Xinka people’s right to a free, prior, and informed consultation regarding projects that impact their territory, also established by ILO Convention 169. On May 8, 2025, the Xinka People’s Parliament of Guatemala presented the results of their consultation, saying NO to the reopening of El Escobal and stressing the Guatemalan State’s clear violations of their rights, identity, and spiritual connection to the land. 

In a press release on the rights of transgender persons issued March 31, 2024, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) reminded the member nations of the Organization of American States (OAS) that recognition of gender identity is essential to all civil, political and human rights. The IACHR expressed its disposition to work with member nations and civil society to promote and guarantee the human rights of persons who are trans, non-binary, or otherwise of the sexual diversity community.

In Colombia, trans people were given the right to change their gender on all identification documents starting in 2015. In October 2019, Bogotá elected their first woman and lesbian mayor. Various elected representatives across national, departmental, and local levels now come from the LGBTI+ community. Increased visibility in TV shows and media coverage has grown more consistent.

Despite the advances, hatred and violence against LGBTI+ persons (especially transgender persons) persists. In 2024, the Office of the Human Rights Ombudsman reported a 30% increase (compared to the previous year) in cases of bias-based violence against transgender women, transgender men, and non-binary people.   And so far this year, at least 24 LGBTI+ have been killed.

Three of those hate killings have happened in just one town, Bello, a suburb of Medellin. In a horrific act of violence on April 4, assailants abducted Sara Millerey González, a 32-year-old trans activist, beat her, broke her arms and legs and threw her into the Playa Rica River and left her to die. The incident gained national attention because onlookers recorded her screaming from the water and posted videos on social media. When rescuers finally retrieved her and took her to an emergency clinic, she was suffering from a punctured lung and hypothermia. She died from a heart attack the following day, with her mother at her bedside. “I knelt down and hugged her and told her that I loved her very much. I told her she was going to be with God, because no one in heaven was going to humiliate or discriminate against her for being her.”

The National Commission of Human Rights in Honduras recently reported that more than 60 human rights defenders, including environmental defenders, were killed under violent circumstances during 2020-2025. The majority of those crimes remain in impunity.

We wrote to the National Commissioner to express our dismay over the lack of justice in the case of environmental defender Juan Antonio López, who was assassinated while walking home from church on September 14, 2024 (cf our letter of 21 SEP 2024). Local bishops, the bishops conference of Latin America, and even the late Pope Francis publicly decried his assassination and called for justice.

As a leading member of the Guapinol Environmental Defense Committee (in Tocoa, Colón Department), Juan López worked tirelessly to protect the Guapinol and San Pedro Rivers from the destructive impacts of the Los Pinares/Ecotek mining project in the Montaña de Botaderos “Carlos Escaleras” National Park. Despite a 2024 presidential decree (Decree 18/2024) designating the park as a protected zone, reports persist that the mining company continues to operate illegally in restricted areas, protected by armed groups and with impunity.

Since 2012, Honduras has recorded at least 149 murders of environmental activists, with one of the highest per capita rates in the world. The similarities between the López case and that of murdered Indigenous Lenca environmental defender Berta Cáceres (March 2, 2016) are striking and deeply troubling: obstruction of justice, denial of state responsibility, and failure to dismantle the networks of corruption and violence that enable these crimes.