Investigation launched into murder of two indigenous leaders

TEGUCIGALPA (AP):

Honduran authorities said on Wednesday they are investigating the murders of two activists indigenous leaders killed in separate incidents over the weekend.

Félix Vásquez, a longtime environmental activist from the Lenca indigenous group, was shot by masked men in front of relatives on Saturday in his home in Santiago de Puringla.

On Sunday, Jose Adán Medina was found shot to death in a remote location in the community of El Volcan, also in western Honduras. Medina was a member of the Tolupan indigenous group.

Vásquez, who was seeking the nomination of the opposition Libre party to run for congress, had fought hydroelectric projects and land abuses for years. National elections are scheduled for March.

Yuri Mora, spokesman for the Honduras prosecutor’s office, said that the office on ethnic groups and cultural patrimony was investigating Vásquez’s murder. He said investigators had executed searches and were about to call people in to make statements, but no arrests had been made.

He said Vázquez had filed complaints with the prosecutor’s office in the past against hydroelectric projects and on land management issues.

Honduras’ National Human Rights Commission condemned both killings and said it would investigate. It confirmed that Vásquez had reported threats and harassment. The commission had requested protective measures for Vásquez in January 2020, but they were never carried out.

Rafael Alegría, coordinator of the non-governmental organisation Via Campesina in Honduras, said Vásquez had been filing complaints and reporting threats since 2017, but the government never acted.

Alegría, himself a former national lawmaker, said that activists had been reporting harassment from mining, timber and hydroelectric companies, as well as large landowners, in the La Paz department for years.

“There is a union of terrible interests in western Honduras,” Alegría said. “There is constant persecution of farmers and indigenous communities. They murdered Bertha Cáceres in Intibuca and now Félix Vásquez, and others have been threatened.”