PBI accompanied organizations sign statement on the murders of Guapinol River defenders Ali Dominguez and Jairo Bonilla

This statement says: “One month after the murder of 2 Guapinol River defenders, more than 100 human rights organizations call for compliance with international obligations to guarantee access to justice and non-repetition measures.”

This refers to the murders of Guapinol community water and environmental defenders Ali Dominguez and Jairo Bonilla on January 7 of this year.

The statement highlights:

– “the Honduran State has not responded in an effective way to the critical situation of danger of the defenders of the CMDBCPT, Guapinol, San Pedro sector and their families, omitting its international responsibility to grant protection to defenders, the due, prompt and impartial investigation of the facts, as well as the guarantee of non-repetition”

– “the urgent need to guarantee the reliable, exhaustive and impartial investigation that clarifies the double murder of the Guapinol defenders, identifying the causes and the relationship with their work in defense of the rivers and the environment, as well as the acts of violence previously denounced and that remain unpunished due to the lack of substantive advances in the investigation stages”

– “the State must move forward in halting and repairing the environmental damage caused by the mining megaproject operating in the Botaderos Mountain, canceling projects that, being illegal, operate the State’s complicity and other companies that shields them from any responsibility”

Among the signatories of this statement are the PBI-Honduras accompanied organizations: the Alternative Community and Environmental Claim of Honduras (ARCAH); ASOPODEHU; Guapinol Environmental Committee; the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Property of Tocoa – Honduras; Committee for Free Expression (C-Libre); Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH); the Broad Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ); OFRANEH; as well as the PBI-Colombia accompanied “José Alvear Restrepo” Lawyers Collective.

The Canadian organizations that have signed the letter include: the Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network (ARSN); Canadian Jesuits International; Human Rights Clinic, University of Ottawa; Committee for Human Rights in Latin America (CDHAL); Common Frontiers; the Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN); and Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO).

To read the full statement and list of signatories, click here.

Further reading: PBI-Honduras amplifies calls for investigation into the murder of two Guapinol River defenders opposed to Los Pinares mine (January 13, 2023)