Another indigenous environmentalist has been murdered in Honduras, confirming the country’s inglorious position as the world’s deadliest place to protect land and natural resources from exploitation.
Félix Vásquez, 60, an experienced leader of the Lenca indigenous people, was shot dead at home on the night of December 26 in Santiago de Puringla, a rural community in the La Paz department, in western Honduras – just weeks after reporting death threats linked to his work. His grown children were beaten and threatened by the four armed attackers in balaclavas, but survived the ordeal.
Vásquez had been involved in the defense of indigenous land rights since the 1980s and was known nationally for organizing opposition to environmentally destructive mega-projects such as mines, hydroelectric power, wind farms, and logging, and for helping expropriated communities reclaim ancestral land titles.
In recent weeks, a campaign of intimidation against several Lenca leaders, including Vásquez, had escalated amid a tense land dispute between a small indigenous community and a local farmer allegedly linked to the ruling National Party.
Vásquez had reported being tracked and monitored at home, while two other Lenca leaders were imprisoned on trumped-up charges related to the land dispute. Vásquez had also recently announced his intention to run for the progressive Libre party in the March 2021 primaries.
His death comes nearly five years since the murder of famed Lenca leader and Goldman prize-winner Berta Cáceres, who was shot at home in March 2016 after years of threats and harassment related to her opposition to an internationally funded dam. Seven men were convicted for their roles in planning and carrying out the murder, but none of those who ordered, paid for, and benefited from the crime has been brought to trial.
Vásquez’s death was condemned by rights groups, European and American lawmakers and diplomats. “Justice, the rule of law and the fight against impunity are more needed than ever”, tweeted UN representative Alice Shackelford.
But the hope for justice is low. “Félix was very smart and a great strategist who had been against extractivism for over 35 years, which is why he was murdered,” said Roger Medina, a friend and lawyer representing the local Lenca communities. “We live in a dictatorship, so I have no doubt that this will be another crime against another indigenous environmentalist that will go unpunished.”
On Tuesday, local media reported the killing of yet another defender, Adán Mejía of the Tolupán indigenous people, who was reportedly attacked on his way back from tending his maize crop in Candelaria, a rural community in the northern department of Yoro.
Honduras became one of the most dangerous countries in the world defending natural resources and land rights after the 2009 coup ushered in an autocratic government that remains in power despite multiple allegations of corruption, electoral fraud and links to international drug trafficking networks.
Hundreds of defenders have been murdered and disappeared, while many others have been silenced on trumped-up charges.
This year was particularly grim. In July, a group of black native Garifuna land defenders were forcibly disappeared by armed assailants in police uniforms. Eight Guapinol community water defenders have been held in custody during the pandemic, despite international condemnation of the prosecution for their peaceful protests against a polluting iron oxide mine.
According to a report by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, the “root cause of most social conflict” [in Honduras] is the systematic lack of transparency and meaningful participation ”of communities affected by the exploitation of natural resources.
Still, the link between political and economic elites means that crimes against environmental advocates are rarely prosecuted. Investigations of allegedly corrupt officials sanctioning large-scale projects without legally required consultation and environmental impact assessments are also rare.
In La Paz alone, at least 40 mega-projects have been sanctioned on indigenous territory without consulting local communities.
Marlen Corea, 32, vice president of a collective of indigenous and campesino environmental groups in La Paz that collaborated with Vásquez, said, “Every community leader without exception is being threatened as part of the campaign of intimidation to silence us and our resistance to projects to exploit natural resources imposed on our territory without consultation. That’s why Felix was murdered, but our fight is righteous. “