Attacks against COPINH members

Front Line Defenders expresses strong concern over the continuing attacks, threats and intimidation against COPINH members and its supporters, which have intensified following the murder of Berta Cáceres on the night of 2 March 2016.

On 25 October 2016, immigration authorities at Tegucigalpa airport prevented international observer Luis Díaz de Terán López, who has been accompanying COPINH for the past two years, from entering Honduras and deported him.

According to reports, Honduran authorities held Luis Díaz at the airport for eight hours, before forcing him to fly first to El Salvador and then to Colombia. His documents and luggage were confiscated and returned to him only after he landed in Bogotá. When Luis got his belongings back, he realised authorities had taken away his hard-disk and digital camera.

The security officers declared the international observer, who is a Spanish national, had been deported because of some problems with his immigration status. However, while waiting to board on his flight to Colombia, Luis Díaz was told by the security guards who were with him that they were deporting him because “he was damaging the reputation of Honduras speaking to international media”.

This is not the first time international observers are under attack in Honduras. Shortly after Berta’s murder, on 15 April 2016, during the closing march of a three-day international meeting organised to commemorate the life and work of Berta Cáceres, demonstrators were violently attacked. Front Line Defenders was also part of this event along with many other international organizations. The following month, on 13 May 2016, Giulia Fellin was the target of a smear campaign on social media. An anonymous YouTube account called "Nos Queda Claro" (It Is Clear to Us) published a video, demanding the deportation of Fellin, falsely alleging the observer incited violence. As a result of the smear campaign, Giulia decided to leave the country early, rather than potentially face violence against her or against COPINH members.

On 20 October 2016, riot police attacked a group of people participating in a peaceful march organised by COPINH and supported by OFRANEH and other organizations in Tegucigalpa (“Marcha de la Resistencia por la Tierra, los Ríos y la Vida”).

When the demonstrators arrived in front of the Public Ministry and were preparing to hold the ceremony, the riot police started throwing stones at them and attacked them with tear gas and water cannons. According to COPINH, the people attacked were mainly unarmed women and children. Several of them were seriously injured.

Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, Berta's daughter, wrote on her Facebook page after the attack:

“It took us hours before we could find all our friends and colleagues who had run away after the attack, and help the wounded ones. Children were shocked and in panic because of the tear gas, and all the violence they witnessed. We are outraged because of the excessive use of force by the police, during a peaceful action. They didn't start any dialogue with us, and they didn't care about all the children and elderly people who were there".

They keep killing us and stigmatizing us, but we will keep defending our right to protest and to speak out.

Only ten days earlier, on the evening of 10 October, COPINH General Coordinator Tomás Gómez Membreño was driving to his house from the organisation's office in La Esperanza, Intibucá, when gunmen opened fire on his vehicle. In a separate attack on the same day, COPINH local leader Alexander García Sorto was awaken by shots fired through the door and window of his house in Llano Grande, Colomoncagua. Both human rights defenders survived the assassination attempts.

Front Line Defenders Protection Coordinator for the Americas, Ivi Oliveira, says: “Following the international outcry over the assassinations of Berta Caceres, Nelson Garcia and Lesbia Urquia we had hoped that the government of Honduras would finally bring perpetrators of violence to account. Instead, while the government talks a lot and does little, Honduras remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for human rights defenders, and members of COPINH and their supporters remain the targets of this relentless violence".

The government of Honduras must take urgent action to reverse this tide of violence and impunity.

As of November, Front Line Defenders has recorded at least 12 killings of human rights defenders in the country in 2016. In connection with Berta Cáceres’ murder, six suspects have been arrested. However, authorities have not identified the people behind the crime and the investigation has been marred with irregularities. Additionally, the authorities have refused to keep Berta Cáceres’ family updated on developments in the investigation.

On 29 September, two unknown individuals attacked María Luisa Ramos, Honduran Supreme Court of Justice Magistrate, who was travelling with documents, including key evidence, related to the investigation. The attackers forced the magistrate out of her car and took off in the vehicle, with the case file inside.

Berta's family and COPINH have called for an independent international investigation into her murder, led by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, as there are credible and serious doubts about the ability of the Honduran police to investigate, as well as questions about the government's prior knowledge of and potential involvement in the assassination.

Front Line Defenders supports Berta's family and COPINH members in that call, and reminds the Honduran government that any investigation into the murder of Berta has to take into consideration her human rights work, as well as at least 33 known threats she had received while conducting that work. Front Line Defenders also urges the authorities in Honduras to implement effective measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Berta Cáceres’ family and all COPINH members.

On 6 July 2016, the body of human rights defender Lesbia Yaneth Urquia Urquia was found near the municipal dump of Marcala, in the department of La Paz, Honduras. Lesbia had disappeared a day earlier, at around 5pm, when she left her house to go cycling.

Lesbia Yaneth Urquia Urquia was a community leader and a member of the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras (Copinh). She joined the organisation in 2009 during the protests against the coup d'etat. She actively worked to oppose the construction of the hydroelectric dam “Aurora I” in the municipality of San José, La Paz. The company behind the project is owned by Gladys Aurora López, president of the National Party and vice-president of the National Congress. 

COPINH has been active for over 20 years, peacefully defending of the territory and rights of the Lenca people. The organisation has led fierce campaigns against illegal logging and mega-projects, opposing the projects' detrimental effects on the rights of indigenous peoples. In recent months, COPINH members have been facing increasing harassment, threats and attacks, which have escalated since the killing of Berta Cáceres, who was murdered in her home in Intibucá, on 3 March 2016.

In their press release, COPINH said that this killing “confirms there is a plan to disappear the people who are defending the environment and the common goods.” COPINH stated:

“The death of Lesbia Yaneth is a political feminicide, and an attempt to silence the voice of those brave women who are courageously defending their rights and opposing the patriarchal, racist and capitalist system of of their society”.

Front Line Defenders strongly condemns the killing of human rights defender Lesbia Yaneth Urquia Urquia and calls on the Honduran authorities to launch a transparent and independent investigation. Front Line Defenders also condemns the ongoing threats and attacks against COPINH members and human rights defenders in Honduras.

On 15 April 2016, during the closing march of a three-day international meeting  - organised to commemorate the life and work of murdered Honduran human rights defender Berta Cáceres - demonstrators were violently attacked. Participants at the “Berta Cáceres Lives” meeting (Encuentro Internacional de los Pueblos "Berta Cáceres Vive") were demanding justice for Berta’s killing and expressing solidarity with COPINH (Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras), the organisation the human rights defender had founded in 1993.

Honduran and international participants went to the village of San Francisco de Ojuera, western Honduras, and marched towards the Gualcarque river, a sacred place for the indigenous Lenca people, where a ceremony would take place.

Front Line Defenders Americas Protection Coordinator Ms. Ivi Oliveira, who represented the organisation at the international meeting, reported:

"Before starting to walk down the river, we were surprised by a group of about 25-30 people, many with machetes and stones in their hands. They were carrying some posters saying ‘You come to our house without an invitation’ and ‘You will not violate our right to development’. They shouted at us to leave (‘go away gringos’,’go away Spaniards’) and threatened the protester. Specific threats were made against the new COPINH's coordinator and Lenca leader Tomás Gómez".

At the end of the ceremony on the river bank, as the first demonstrators started going back towards the buses, the same group of people attacked them using machetes and throwing rocks. At least nine people were injured.

The police were present on the premises during both incidents, but failed to effectively prevent and stop the physical attacks against the peaceful demonstrators. Some members of the caravan heard direct references to the killing of Berta Cáceres and reported that the attackers destroyed a big red blanket with her image.

Berta and COPINH fought relentlessly to stop the construction of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project in the Gualcarque river basin, as the dams had the potential to disrupt the livelihoods of the local communities and their access to water.

According to COPINH, the attackers were affiliated with Desarrollos Energéticos S.A. (DESA), the private Honduran energy company which is behind the Agua Zarca project. Some of the attackers were identified as sicarios who had previously threatened Berta and COPINH's members and who had been temporarily detained in 2015 for carrying high calibre guns.

Ahead of the gathering, on April 12, the hydroelectric company had published a statement telling COPINH members and their supporters to “be reasonable” during their next demonstration and “let common sense prevail”. They also urged the police to protect the company’s equipment and accused COPINH and its supporters of vandalistic acts.

Only two days after the incident, on 17 April 2016, the 'Canada Honduras Delegation for Justice, Land and Life' - which includes Canadian and First Nations leaders, lawyers, human rights and solidarity activists - went to the San Andres mine in La Unión, Copán, western Honduras. The open-pit gold mine is owned by Minerales de Occidente, a subsidiary of Toronto-based mining company, Aura Minerals, and it has been strongly opposed by the local community.

As the Canadian delegation was arriving to the town of Azacualpa, a group of an estimated 180 mine workers - some armed with machetes, sticks and rocks - blocked the public road. Jen Moore, Latin America Program Coordinator at Mining Watch, reported that the police was present but initially it did not mediate. The delegation was later notified it could safely travel to the community and the police managed to dispel the crowd. Mining Watch and the other NGOs of the delegation, however, have expressed grave concerns for this type of intimidation.

The attack suffered on 15 April is not new for the Lenca people and is not an isolated event – it occurred in the same location as a similar counter-protest in February, at which death threats were made against Berta. She was killed less than two weeks after that incident.

Ms Oliveira said: "The international delegation witnessed what the Lenca people suffer in a daily basis and it's for their lives that we are more concerned, people who will stay in the region". 

Berta's family and COPINH have called for an independent international investigation into her murder, lead by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, as there are credible and serious doubts about the ability of the Honduran police to investigate, as well as questions about the government's knowledge and potential involvement in the assassination of the 2015 Goldman Prize winner and indigenous leader.

Front Line Defenders supports Berta's family and COPINH members into that call, and reminds the Honduran government that any investigation into the murder of Berta has to take into consideration her human rights work, as well as at least 33 known threats she had received for carrying out that work.

Front Line Defenders expresses strong concern over the continuing attacks in Honduras, which represent a trend of intimidation and killings of those who defend environmental and lands rights.  Front Line Defenders strongly condemn the ongoing attacks, threats and intimidation against COPINH members and its supporters, which have intensified following Berta Cáceres’ killing. It also expresses grave concern for the lack of an independent investigation into the killings of Berta Cáceres and other COPINH members and urges the Honduran authorities to provide effective protection to all human rights defenders in the country.  

On 3 March 2016, environmental rights defender Ms Berta Cáceres was murdered by as yet unknown assailants who broke into her home in the city of La Esperanza in the early hours of the morning.

Berta Cáceres was deeply involved in an ongoing campaign in defence of the Gualcarque River, the site for the proposed Agua Zarca hydro-electric dam which is being developed by the Honduran company FICOHSA and the multi-national company SINOHYDRO. The human rights defender was one of the strongest voices of opposition to the construction of the hydroelectric dam, which was initiated without consent of local communities or proper consultations with them, in clear violation of the ILO Convention 169. 

The human rights defender was shot dead at approximately 1 am on 3 March 2016. It is believed that the assassination was carried out in retaliation for the human rights defender's work in defence of indigenous and environmental rights and denouncing human rights abuses in the context of large-scale development projects in Honduras. One week prior to her assassination, the defender had denounced the killing of 4 leaders of her community as well as threats against her and other human rights defenders, at a press conference.

The human rights defender had previously been threatened and faced persecution as a result of her human rights work, including her criminalisation through trumped up charges of usurpation of land and coercion, in a case that was dismissed in January 2014. A recrudescence in the threats  against Berta Cáceres and members of COPINH was reported in an alert issued by COPINH last February.

Other members of COPINH have been targeted in the recent past. On 15 July 2013, human rights defender and member of COPINH Mr Tomas García was shot dead by the Honduran Army as he participated in a peaceful protest opposing the Água Zarca project. To date, none of the perpetrators of his killing have been brought to justice.

On 5 March 2014, as human rights defender Ms María Santos Domínguez returned to her home, she was surrounded and attacked with sticks, stones and machete by a group of seven individuals. Her husband and her son came to her rescue but were also attacked, with her son losing his ear. María Santos Domínguez has faced death threats on repeated occasions.

María Santos Domínguez is the co-ordinator of the Organización del Consejo Indígena del Río Blanco y del Sector Norte de Intibucá (Indigenous Coucil of Río Blanco and the North of Intibucá). The human rights defender is also a member of the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Indígenas y Populares de Honduras – COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras) and an emblematic leader in the struggle for the defence of the Gualcarque river and the indigenous Lenca territory. Her husband, Mr Santos Roque Domínguez, is also a member of COPINH and a community activist.

On 5 March, just after noon, María Santos Domínguez was returning from preparing school lunches, on the route she normally uses. Santos Roque Domínguez phoned her several times due to the worry caused by the threats already made against the human rights defender. On the fourth call, María Santos Domínguez informed her husband that seven individuals, allegedly the same who had threatened her with death, and who had been waiting for her on her route, had her surrounded. In that moment, her husband and son left the house to search for the human rights defender and found her, having already received deep machete wounds, being beaten with sticks and stones by the group. Santos Roque Domínguez tried to reason with them and pleaded with them not to kill his wife, meanwhile his son attempted to aid his mother. Immediately, one of the group slashed the child with the machete, chopping off his right ear and part of his face. Santos Roque Domínguez was also gravely injured. The attack against the three family members has left them in a serious state of health.

María Santos Domínguez, as well as her husband and son, have been the target of serious threats and attacks because of their work in opposition to the Agua Zarca hydroelectric plant. The same group who attacked them on 5 March also destroyed their crops on a previous occasion.

Honduras is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a human rights defender, owing to threats, defamation, judicial harassment, physical attacks, attempted killings and killings. Indigenous leader and member of COPINH, Mr Justo Sorto was killed on 21 January 2014. Human rights defender Mr Tomás García was killed on 15 July 2013, and the case has still not been properly investigated.

Front Line Defenders roundly condemns the attempt on the life of human rights defender María Santos Domínguez, as well as the attack on her husband and son. Front Line Defenders considers the attack to be directly related to the peaceful and legitimate work of María Santos Domínguez and the Organización del Consejo Indígena del Río Blanco y del Sector Norte de Intibucá.

On 26 January 2014, at midday, human rights defender and co-ordinator general of the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras – COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras), Ms Berta Cáceres, was temporarily detained. This was in spite of the fact that Berta Cáceres had been granted a provisional suspension in the trial against her by the Appeals Court of Comayagua on 9 January 2014.

On 26 January 2014, Berta Cáceres was detained by members of the criminal investigation unit, who showed her an order for her capture and informed her that the authorities had not communicated any counter-order to them. According to sources, only her knowledge of her rights and the law lead to her release an hour later.

Berta Cáceres and the other members of COPINH have been facing a pattern of judicial harassment and criminalisation for approximately eight months, since Berta Cáceres and Mr Tomás Gómez Membreño were stopped by the army and detained in a military operation on 25 May 2013. The human rights defenders had been travelling with the intention of protesting against the construction of a dam on the River Gualcarque. COPINH has also suffered the killings of at least two of its members, Mr Tomás García and Mr Justo Sorto, in July 2013 and January 2014 respectively.

Front Line Defenders is concerned by this latest incident of harassment against Berta Cáceres as it sends a clear message to environmental and human rights defenders in Honduras that dissent will not be tolerated.

On 9 January 2014, the Appeals Court of Comayagua provisionally suspended the case against human rights defenders Ms Berta Cáceres and Messrs Tomás Gómez and Aureliano Molina. They had been facing charges of usurpation of land, coercion, and causing more than $3 million in damages to DESA, a hydroelectric dam company.

The Court further reversed a decision to displace the indigenous Lenca community from their ancestral lands, and revoked the arrest warrant which had been in place against the human rights defenders. No court date has been set for the final decision in the case.

Berta Cáceres is the general co-ordinator of Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Indígenas Populares – COPINH (Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organisations). Tomás Gómez Membreño and Aureliano Molina are also members of COPINH. COPINH works on land, environmental and indigenous rights, particularly in relation to large-scale development projects.

While Front Line Defenders welcomes the provisional suspension of the case against the human rights defenders, it remains concerned that the case has not been permanently suspended. Front Line Defenders is further concerned that the case was brought to court in the first place, considering the fraught circumstances which lead to the charges, detailed in an urgent appeal by Front Line Defenders on 27 May 2013. The case comes in the context of serious concerns in Honduras, and the region in general, that large-scale development projects are impinging on environmental rights and the rights of indigenous people, and that the principle of free, prior and informed consent is not being fully respected.

On 20 September 2013, a magistrate ordered the pre-trial detention of human rights defender Berta Cáceres following a hearing on charges of usurpation of land, coercion, and causing more than $3 million in damages to DESA, a hydroelectric dam company. Moreover, human rights defenders Aureliano Molina and Tomás Gómez Membreño have been ordered to sign on at a police station every 15 days.

Berta Cáceres is the general co-ordinator of Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Indígenas Populares – COPINH (Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organisations). COPINH, of which Tomás Gómez Membreño and Aureliano Molina are also members, are currently involved in a campaign for the defence of the Gualcarque river and oppose the construction of a dam by transnational corporations DESA, Sinohydro and FICOHSA group, which have launched Zarca Water Hydroelectric Project against the will of the indigenous inhabitants, the Lenca people, in clear violation of ILO Convention 169.

The official arrest warrant is due to be issued and Berta Cáceres is currently not in detention. The human rights defender's lawyer, Mr Víctor Fernández, is currently seeking to appeal the decision.

Front Line Defenders reiterates its belief that this case is part of an increasing tendency towards militarisation and suppression of human rights defenders in the country and calls for the charges against the above mentioned human rights defenders to be dropped immediately, as it is believed that they are solely related to their legitimate and peaceful human rights activities.

On 15 July 2013, human rights defender Mr Tomas García was shot dead by the Honduran Army as he participated in a peaceful protest in Achotal, Río Blanco, in the department of Intibucá.

Tomas García, whose son was injured during the incident, was a Lenca indigenous leader who sat on his community's Indigenous and Auxiliary Council, and an active member of Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Indígenas Populares – COPINH (Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organisations).

On 15 July 2013, Tomas García was walking with community members to a peaceful protest at the site of the construction of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam, owned by Desarrollo Energético Sociedad Anónima – DESA and the multinational SINOHYDRO, as part of an ongoing protest action known as 106 days of resistance, when he was shot dead by members of the Honduran Army. Allan García Domínguez, son of Tomas García, was seriously injured in the incident and remains in a critical condition in the Hospital in San Pedro Sula where he had an emergency operation on 17 July.

Other members of COPINH have been targeted in the recent past. On 13 June 2013, human rights defender Ms Berta Cáceres, general coordinator of COPINH, was granted a temporary stay in proceedings against her due to a lack of evidence. The human rights defender was arrested on 24 May 2013 and accused of possession of an illegal fire-arm, which she said had been planted in her vehicle. She was arrested along with Mr Tomás Gómez Membreño, who is also a member of COPINH, in a military operation. COPINH is currently involved in a campaign for the defence of the Gualcarque river, which is part of the site of the proposed hydroelectric dam.

Front Line Defenders condemns the killing of human rights defender Tomas García and is deeply concerned with regards to the policing of the state by the military, and that human rights defenders continue to lose their lives, face arrest and detention, and other reprisals whilst carrying out their peaceful and legitimate activities in defence of human rights.

On 25 May 2013, just after 1pm, Ms Berta Cáceres, general co-ordinator of Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Indígenas Populares – COPINH (Civic Council of Popular Indigenous Organisations) was conditionally released from her detention by Judge José Francisco Pineda Ayala del Juzgado in Santa Barbara, Western Honduras.

The human rights defender had been arrested the previous day along with Mr Tomás Gómez Membreño, who is also a member of COPINH. COPINH is currently involved in a campaign for the defence of the Gualcarque river which is the site of a proposed dam to be built by the Honduran company FICOHSA and the multinational SINOHYDRO.

On 24 May 2013, Berta Cáceres and Tomás Gómez Membreño were arrested in a military operation in the Agua Caliente sector of Santa Barbara. Twenty members of the engineering battalion based in the town of Siguatepeque stopped their car and conducted a search in a violent and aggressive manner, before requesting police backup. The police backup arrived in cars belonging to the companies responsible for the project which COPINH is currently opposing. The human rights defenders were informed that they were being arrested for possession of a weapon, supposedly found in the boot of their car. Whilst Tomás Gómez Membreño was released at 11pm that night, Berta Cáceres was placed in a cell and treated as a highly dangerous person.

Before her release, the Honduran Attorney General, Mr Nery Betancourt, directed the judge in the case to order Berta Cáceres to sign in at the court every Friday of the month, to ban her from leaving the country, and set a trial date for 13 June 2013. The organisation's car remains out of service.

Front Line Defenders is deeply concerned about the arbitrary arrest and detention, by the military, of Berta Cáceres and Tomás Gómez Membreño. It is felt that a dangerous precedent has been set with regard to the policing of the state by the military, and that the arrest of the two human rights defenders was motivated solely by their peaceful and legitimate work in defence of human rights in Honduras, particularly indigenous people's rights.

On 13 June 2012, Mr Juan Vásquez and Mr Sotero Chavarría were shot at as they returned from a meeting on a land conflict involving the indigenous community of La Cuchía, Santa Bárbara, and the case of an imprisoned community member.

Juan Vásquez and Sotero Chavarría are both members of the Executive Committee of the Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras – COPINH (Civic Counsel of Popular Indigenous Organisations of Honduras).

Juan Vásquez and Sotero Chavarría were returning from the abovementioned meeting when two unidentified individuals approached their vehicle on a motorbike and fired at least two shots at them. The attack caused them to lose control momentarily and crash the vehicle. Neither were injured but the car, which belongs to COPINH, was damaged at impact.

This attack comes in the context of ongoing intimidation and attacks against the human rights defenders and members of COPINH. On 31 March 2012, Mr Magdaleno Argueat, Coordinator of the Indigenous Council of COPINH in Las Lajitas, Colomoncagua, Intibucá, was threatened by unknown persons who insulted him and told him “a ustedes copines, que hablan mierda por esas radios hay que contarles la lengua, la represa va por qué va, pediremos que los maten” (you Copinh activists, you talk shit on these radios, one must cut your tongue, the dam goes ahead because it will, we will ask for you people to be killed).

Another member of COPINH, Mr José Saldivar Gámez, received a call to his mobile telephone in which he was warned that he would be killed if he continued to be active with COPINH. Other leaders in COPINH, Mr Rolando Gutiérrez, Ms Berta Cáceres and Mr Salvador Zuniga, have all reported receiving threats. Mr Juan Bautista, Ms Asunción Martínez and Mr Julio German were threatened with judicial processes and have received verbal death threats.

Front Line Defenders believes that the attack on Juan Vásquez and Sotero Chavarría is directly related to their work in defence of human rights and in particular their work in defence of the land rights of the farmers and indigenous communities in Honduras.