Environmental Human Rights: News & Updates

On July 6, Honduran police violently evicted members of the Garífuna community of San Juan-Tela, using tear gas and live ammunition and arresting five human rights defenders. The incident occurred after a new law gave security forces more power to carry out evictions in areas that were more involved in economic projects. Garífuna and campesino organizations argue that the law protects economic interests while threatening ancestral and rural communities. The communities talk about the long history of land conflicts and state violence. Since then, other communities have faced evictions, arrests, and violence. Grassroots organizations have now been organizing protests and appealed to international organizations, asking for the revoking of the law, as well as the protection of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and campesino land rights.

Sign the letter in support of the Garífuna community of San Juan-Tela: https://grassrootsonline.org/garifuna/

this article reviews the case of recently pardoned Juan Orland Hernandez 

Juan Orlando Hernandez, the convicted drug trafficker pardoned by President Donald Trump last December, came home with a skip in his step after receiving a pardon  despite moving 400 tons of cocaine through Honduras while he was in offfice. 

In the first few months of 2026, forced evictions affecting Indigenous and rural communities have surged in Guatemala due to land concentration, commercial expansion, and a biased justice system. In response, campesino organizations and human rights advocates are calling on President Bernardo Arévalo to halt extrajudicial evictions and honor the 2024 Agrarian Accord to protect displaced families.

On March 17th, El Salvador changed their constitution making laws much harsher by allowing life sentences for crimes like murder, rape, and terrorism. In the article it is stated that acts related to some sort of gang violence or offense are now being considered as acts of terrorism, causing these alleged gang members or "terrorists", who without being given a just trial, are serving life sentences, hurting innocent people who were falsley accused during President Bukele's gang crackdown. The changes are especially concerning for women and children as well.  Women could face life in prison over abortion-related cases with little regard of context, and children as young as 12 could receive life sentences without parole. The article also describes concerns about prisoners being forced to work and families being exploited for money.

Overall, the author believes the reforms are less about real justice and more about punishment and control. Instead of focusing on rehabilitation, preventing violence, and protecting people’s rights, the government is making it easier to imprison people for life.

For decades, wealthy Honduran elites and the global tourism industry have been violently destroying ancestral Garifuna lands along the Carribean shoreline in Honduras. Following U.S. intervention in Honduras' election in November 2025, violent disposession of Garifuna communities has spiked, including the July 6 illegal detention of five Garifuna land defenders.

Was a  Canadian military/security consultant company  complicit in the 2016 assassination of Indigenous Lenca land defender Berta Céceres? Did they financially benefit?  What was their role in broader intimidation efforts against Indigenous land defenders?

The reopening of the Fenix nickel mine in Izabel (northeastern Guatemala) is moving ahead despite pushback from the affected indigenous communities who were not informed prior, defying the Inter-American court of Human Rights who ruled that the continuation or modification of the Fenix mining project must be supported by prior, free, informed, and culturally appropriate consultation with the Maya Q'echi' community. In addition to violating the local community's rights, the mining project has significant environmental impacts that  poullte water, air, and soil quality. 

On June 4th, the community of Copal AA La Esperanza invited NISGUA to participate in their annual Mother Earth Festival—a day to celebrate the soil, water and forest that sutain their livelihoods and to explicitly reject the corporate interests that exploit them.