Sotero Chavarría
Sotero Chavarría es defensor de derechos humanos y miembro de la coordinación del COPINH. Las y los integrantes de la organización han estado haciendo campaña por su derecho al consentimiento libre, previo e informado en relación con los megaproyectos que amenazan los derechos ambientales y sociales del pueblo Lenca, obligándolos a salir de sus tierras ancestrales. Quienes integran el COPINH han sido constantemente blanco de represalias por su trabajo, y como resultado varios de sus miembros han sido asesinados.
Human rights defenders suffer extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment as well as judicial harassment, threats and stigmatisation. Journalists, lawyers, prosecutors, those defending the rights of women, children, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, indigenous and Afro-Honduran communities, and those working on environmental and land rights issues are particularly at risk.
LGBTI defenders in Honduras are doubly discriminated against. They are discriminated firstly because they are human rights defenders and secondly because they defend LGBTI rights. Journalists continue to face increased risks as they report on human rights violations. Constant threats, harassment and killings of journalists have led many to self-censor. Since the 2009 military coup, the number of killings, threats and acts of intimidation against campesinos and environmental rights defenders has increased. The perpetrators of violations against many defenders of environmental, land and indigenous rights, are often influential landowners or logging companies.
