HONDURAS: ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENDERS
High-ranking politicians and business tycoons are implicated in a wave of violence against environmental activists in Honduras, according to an investigation by the anti-corruption group Global Witness, which says the country’s elites are using criminal methods to terrorize communities with impunity. At least 123 land and environmental activists have been murdered in Honduras since a military coup d’état in 2009 forced out the populist president Manuel Zelaya; many of the victims have been members of the indigenous and rural communities opposing mega-projects on their territories. This has made Honduras the most dangerous country in the world today for environmental and land rights defenders.
Protestors from the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations ( COPINH) have set up camp in Rio Blanco to protest the construction of the Agua Zarca Dam. The demands of Honduras's indigenous people are routinely ignored. Sandwiched between Guatemala and Nicaragua on the Caribbean coast, Honduras is blanketed in forest and rich in valuable minerals. But the proceeds of this natural wealth are enjoyed by a very small section of society. Honduras has the highest levels of inequality in the whole of Latin America, with around six out of ten households in rural areas living in extreme poverty, on less than US$2.50 per day. A recent report documents shocking levels of violence and intimidation suffered by rural communities for taking a stand against the imposition of dams, mines, logging, or agriculture on their land - projects that are controlled by rich and powerful elites, among them members of the political class. The root causes of the abuses are widespread corruption and the failure to properly consult those affected by these projects.
Julia Francisco Martinez in Candelaria, Honduras. Her husband, whose body was found with burn marks and his hands bound with laces from military boots, was found dead in 2014 after protesting against government land-grabbing.
Local children from a once-pristine region of the Gualcarque River located downstream from the highly controversial Aqua Zarca Dam.
A local man who helps supply the the protestor camp next to the Gualcarque River located downstream from the Aqua Zarca Dam.
A man on his horse in heavy rain near a 'safe house' location where activists meet near the Gualcarque River in Western Honduras.
Environmental protestors sing while driving to a remote camp in Western Honduras.
A scarring view of hydroelectric dam pipes traverse the landscape in Western Honduras
Protestors from the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations ( COPINH) have set up in camp in Rio Blanco to protest the construction of the Agua Zarca Dam.
Paramiitary members connected to controversial government projects watch protestors at the river camp. The former security head for the DESA dam company is one of seven people arrested for the killing of Berta Caceras, an environmental activist who gave her life defending the Gualcarque River
Protestors from the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations ( COPINH) have set up camp in Rio Blanco to protest the construction of the Agua Zarca Dam.
Alan Garcia, an environmental defender, survived being shot at close range by the Honduran Military during a protest against the Agua Zarca Dam. The same incident took his father's life.
A lawyer from Tegucigalpa who helps environmental protestors fight legal cases.
A local man who was shot in 2014 for protesting the controversial Agua Zarca Dam.
Alan Garcia, an environmental defender, shows off a plastic shell used against protestors from the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations ( COPINH) survived being shot at close range by the Honduran Military during a protest against the Agua Zarca Dam. The same incident took his father's life.
Julia Francisco Martinez at the grave of her husband, whose body was found with burn marks and his hands bound with laces from military boots
A man at the grave of a protestor who was killed in 2014 by a paramilitary group.
A recent report documents shocking levels of violence and intimidation suffered by rural communities for taking a stand against the imposition of dams, mines, logging, or agriculture on their land - projects that are controlled by rich and powerful elites, among them members of the political class. The root causes of the abuses are widespread corruption and the failure to properly consult those affected by these projects.