Honduras: News & Updates

Nina Lakhani covered in The Guardian the murder of Guapinol defenders Aly Domínguez and Jairo Bonilla.
UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders Mary Lawlor condemned the murder and calls for an independent investigation.
ContraCorriente published an important investigation into the economic ties between Lenir Pérez and the State of Honduras. "Lenir Pérez, the businessman who owns the concessions in the Guapinol mine and the Palmerola airport, maintains his power intact despite the official discourse of President Xiomara Castro against these projects. Accused of benefiting from his relations with former president Juan Orlando Hernández to obtain irregular contracts and abuse the human rights of communities, Pérez could maintain privileged access to the new government through the legal work of Pamela Blanco Luque, partner and wife of Tomás Vaquero, Minister of Government, Justice and Decentralization."

Faced with the escalation of violence in the community of Guapinol in Tocoa municipality in Colón Department, Honduras, the Observatory for Justice for the Defenders of the Guapinol River have expanded their mandate. Originally formed to lead a campaing to “Free the Guapinol 8” (political prisoners), the Observatory, consisting of both domestic and international partners, is now calling for independent investigations and effective protection measures for community residents in Guapinol and for members of the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Public and Common Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT).

According to the Observatory, the Honduran government has neglected its obligation to protect the Montaña de Botaderos National Park “Carlos Escaleras.” That neglect has resulted in the recent assassination of two water and environmental defenders on January 12: Aly Domínguez and Jairo Bonilla. In recent weeks, the families of Guapinol have been the targets of slander campaigns on social media and in the press. This social stigmatization comes on top of the threats, criminalization, arbitrary detention and murders they have experienced since 2018. Why? Because they dared to organize publicy against the government’s carving out a slice of the national protected area in order to grant a concession to the mining company Inversiones Los Pinares (owned by the land baron family Facussé) to extract iron oxide. The large-scale industrial mine would contaminate the drinking water sources (two separate rivers) for thousands of families. Those in positions of power have the sole objective of silencing the voices of opposition.

The Observatory calls for an independent investigative entity to take into account the activities of both water defenders assassinated on January 12, as well as the Guapinol community as a whole and the CMDBCPT. The Observatory calls for establishling lines of investigation and hypotheses of the crimes, as required by regional and international human rights standards. The Observatory will also continue working on its original mandate so that the Honduran State complies with the resolution of the United Nations Working Group on arbitrary detention. This would require the government to make full reparations to the eight defenders of Guapinol who were arbitrarily detained for 914 days and ensure that this violation of their human rights is not repeated.

"The state of emergency was implemented in Honduras under questioning and rejection by human rights defenders and other sectors of society, who asserted that the measure places the population in a situation of greater vulnerability. A recent report by the National Human Rights Commissioner (CONDAEH) states that approximately 60% of the police interventions reported as successful actions by the Security Secretariat took place in localities other than Tegucigalpa, Comayagüela and San Pedro Sula (...). The director of Conadeh's National Human Rights Observatory, Carlos Joaquín Méndez, in an interview with Criterio.hn stated that they have found that police interventions do not require the suspension of guarantees or a measure as restrictive as the one currently in place in Honduras. In Méndez's opinion, there is an urgent need to implement structural measures in the country, to adopt a comprehensive approach strategy that involves public policies and not a state of exception, "this is an exceptional measure for exceptional situations", he revealed."

Expanding the State of Exception Smells of Danger and Is Associated with Possible Police Abuses.   Leticia Salomón, a sociologist and researcher, is of the opinion that suspending constitutional guarantees always smells of danger and is associated with the excesses that the police can commit when capturing alleged suspects of committing criminal actions and that result in human rights violations.

Mirna Flores, a violence and security researchers, issued a warning: “It must be taken into account that as the state of exception expands, it can be perpetuated, and strengthen an authoritarian culture, and we cannot continue emulating a system like the one in El Salvador, based on arrests and full jails,” he says. Flowers.

For Flores, it is necessary to counteract the “strong hand” discourse, and that the State implement comprehensive measures that give new opportunities to youth. "Criminal gangs must be forcefully attacked, but this is done institutionally, with a reliable and efficient police force, that is not corrupt and that earns the trust of the citizenry and with citizens that from the municipalities participate in the strategies of security.

In this monthly newsletter, please read about (1) Immigration Court in Cleveland, OH, (2)  The Biden Administration’s Plans to Overhaul Border Policies after the End of Title 42, (3) Title 42: Expelling Migrants in the Name of Health Measures. Update on Removal Flight Trends, (4) Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Renewed for Haitians, and (5) At The Border: Recent Incidents at and around the US-Mexico Border. TAKE ACTION ITEMS: After reading the articles, please take a few moments to advocate for migrant justice with our TAKE ACTION items: (1) Urge Congress to Reject Racist, Anti-Asylum Policies, and (2) Permanent Pathway to Citizenship for DACA and TPS Recipients.

Donny Reyes, co-founder of the LGBTI Rainbow Association in Tegucigalpa, joined with other activists who are calling on the state to protect the rights and very lives of LGBTI people in Honduras, where at least 46 members of the community were killed in 2022. They also named the state as the main aggressor. “We are concerned about the increase in violence; we are in a state of great vulnerability and lack of protection,” said Reyes. The levels of impunity and defenselessness of the LGBTI community "continue to rise," said the activist, who expressed his concern about the "lack of protection" towards the members of the group.