PBI-Honduras meets with COPINH following armed attack on Nery González and murder of Marco Antonio Pineda

On December 16, PBI-Honduras tweeted:

“This week we met with @COPINHHONDURAS who shared with us the situation of the communities of Río Blanco, Achiotal, where Nery González was shot last Sunday, and Guachipilin, where Marco Antonio Pineda was recently murdered.”

They also noted on Facebook:

“From PBI we show concern about the levels of risk, violence and criminalization faced by the defenders of land, territory and environment as a result of their advocacy work. We recall the importance of conducting extensive research to shed light on the facts that happened.”

On December 15, Criterio.hn reported:

“The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh) denounced from its social networks the attempted murder of leader Nery González in the community of Achiotal in the municipality of Siguatepeque, Comayagua, central Honduras.

The organization specified that due to their territorial struggle, the indigenous community of Achiotal is persecuted and criminalized by the landowners of the area, the prosecutor’s office, members of the National Police and soldiers of the First Battalion of Engineers, located in Siguatepeque, department of Comayagua.”

COPINH has also posted:

“On November 23, our colleague Marco was heading towards the Guachipilin community located in the municipality of La Paz, La Paz together with his cousins, when they were arbitrarily detained for no apparent reason by the national police in the El Encinal community in Peace.

The police assaulted one of our colleagues, beating him brutally; Marco was going to see if his cousin was okay; when one of the officers fired his weapon at him, causing a serious wound to his chest that ended up taking his life.

We hold the State of Honduras responsible for the persecution and arbitrary harassment of the National Police against indigenous communities in #Honduras.”

PBI-Honduras has accompanied the Civil Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organisations in Honduras (COPINH) since May 2016.