Rapid Response Network

Concern for the safety of Afro-descendant leaders from Cauca Department who have been threatened as a consequence of their campaign to protect their territorial rights and against illegal mining.

Murder of journalist Francisco Pacheco Beltrán, from Taxco, Guerrero state. He was a reporter for several regional newspapers and a regular contributor to a radio station.

Ill treatment and arbitrary arrests of José Miltiades Sánchez, director of the organization LGBTI Association Youth Movement (AJEM), as well as Cidar Armando Arias Mendoza and Evin Omar Ponce Garcia, both members of the association.

Continuing death threats against trade unionists and human rights defendersin the Valle del Cauca Department.

Continuing harassment and attacks on members of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). On April 13, COPINH members, 1300 members of Honduran social movements and international delegations from 22 different countries gathered for the international meeting “Berta Cáceres Vive” celebrating the life of Berta Cáceres and demanding justice for her assassination on March 2.

Assassination attempts against LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) rights advocates Juan José Zambrano and Jlo Córdoba. Juan José Zambrano is a member of the Association for a Better Life for People Infected with and Affected by HIV/AIDS in Honduras (APUVIMEH) which works with the LGBTI community and those affected by HIV/AIDS.

The Honduran government has placed a risk on the life of human rights defender Martha Ligia Arnold in the Bajo Aguán Valley but accusing her of having ties to organized crime. Martha Ligia Arnold, President of the Permanent Human Rights Observatory for the Bajo Aguan (OBDHBA),

Disappearance of Fidencio Gómez Sántiz, an indigenous member of the National Front for Socialism (FNLS). He was last seen on March 5, accompanied by his wife and son at the Jet Ja transport terminal near the local market of Ocosingo, Chiapas State. He has not been seen since.

Murder of environmental rights defenderWalter Méndez Barrios, who was shot and killed outside his home in Las Cruces, in the Department of Petén, on the morning of March 16. He was a founding member of Petenero Front Against Dams (FPCR), an organization formed in 2005 to fight for the land rights and the right to water and other natural resources of those affected and threatened by the construction of hydroelectric dams.