The Guardian reports on the killing of environmental defender Juan Bautista Silva and his son Juan Antonio Hernández
Photo: Environmental defender Juan Bautista Silva Ventura and his son Juan Antonio.
On February 28, COPINH posted:
“ALERT
Environmentalist Juan Bautista Silva Ventura and his son Juan Antonio were murdered in the community of Las Botijas, Comayagua. They disappeared after documenting illegal logging in the area and were found dead on February 27.
This crime is not an isolated incident. It adds to the systematic violence against those who defend the land and the environment in Honduras.
We demand that the Honduran Public Ministry carry out an immediate, transparent investigation and punish those responsible.
No more impunity! Defending life cannot cost us our lives.”
Now, The Guardian reports:
“At about 6pm on Wednesday 26 February, Ana Luiza Hernández Raudelez saw her partner, Juan Bautista Silva, 70, receive a phone call.
A land defender who had spent more than 20 years working for the local environment, Silva was preparing to leave on a motorcycle trip to photograph illegal logging near Las Botijas, in Comayagua, central Honduras, to support a complaint to the prosecutor’s office.
As he was about to set off, Ana suggested he take their son, Juan Antonio Hernández, 20, with him, as his new mobile phone took better photos.
The next day, father and son were found dead and dismembered below a cliff close to Las Botijas.
Honduras the most dangerous country per capita for defenders
The murders are a fresh reminder of the severe violence faced by nature defenders in Honduras, which in 2023 became the country with the highest number of defenders killed per capita in the world.
Laura Furones, a senior adviser at Global Witness, says Honduras emerges “pretty regularly” as a “worrying country” for land defenders’ rights. Among the factors behind the high rate of violence against land defenders, she explains, is the presence of natural resources, which may be exploited for agricultural purposes or corporate interests.
Activists who are perceived to “get in the way of these interests” may risk being attacked as well, she says.
Frank Cruz, Conadeh’s coordinator of the Office of the Ombudsman for Indigenous and Afro-Honduran people, says cases like the death of Silvas and his son will further dissuade land defenders from reporting environmental crimes. “The message sent is: ‘do not report, because if you report, you will be killed.’”
Deterrence needed
“If the aggressors or perpetrators of these crimes, deaths and acts of violence knew they would face investigation, charges, and prosecution at the hands of state organs, they would not commit these crimes,” Cruz says, adding that the government needs to implement medium- and long-term measures to “regain the confidence” of such communities. “The less impunity there is, the less normalisation. The more prosecution there is, the more awareness.”
Blanca Jeannette Kawas Fernández
The country has previously faced condemnation for its handling of environmentalists’ murders. In April 2009, Honduras was sentenced by the Inter-American court for the death of Blanca Jeannette Kawas Fernández, an environmental activist who was shot and killed in February 1995.
Kawas had publicly opposed illegal logging and economic projects to be implemented on the Punta Sal Peninsula on the northern coast. At least one agent of the state was found by the court to have been involved in her death.
Berta Cáceres
In March 2016, environmental activist Berta Cáceres was shot dead, sparking violent clashes. Prior to her death, Cáceres had been involved in efforts to prevent the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River, considered sacred by the Lenca Indigenous community.
Cáceres, the winner of the 2015 Goldman Environmental prize, had long faced threats and was found to have been killed by hitmen.
Juan López
The murder of Juan López – an anti-mining activist, water defender, and local religious leader – in September 2024 sparked international condemnation, including from the Biden administration and the pope.
López was driving home from church when a group of men shot him. Since 2018, López had been advocating against a mining project in the Carlos Escaleras national park, named in memory of another Honduran environmentalist, who was murdered in October 1997.
Update on investigation
Over a month has passed since Silvas’ and Antonio’s deaths. No suspects have been arrested. There have been no updates since 19 March, when police commissioner Miguel Martínez said that the case was “now in the hands of the public prosecutor’s office”, adding that “everything is moving forwards”.”
The full article can be read at Killed, dismembered and scattered: the Honduran father and son who made a stand against illegal logging (The Guardian, April 14, 2025).
0 Comments