The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:
“’These are historic moments in the fight against impunity and require the ongoing support and vigilance of national and international society,’ the CMDBCPT [Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa] states.
The National Territorial Court of San Pedro Sula issued an indictment against [the former mayor of Tocoa] Adán Fúnez, [along with] Héctor Méndez, and Juan Ángel Ramos, who are accused of the murder of human rights defender Juan López and of the crime of criminal conspiracy.
The CMDBCPT, represented by Justice for the People Law Firm, recognizes the importance of this ruling, which is based on technical, documentary, and testimonial evidence presented during a hearing lasting more than 17 hours [on May 15-16], which PBI attended as an international observer.
-The preliminary hearing [for the three alleged intellectual authors of the murder] will be held on August 12, although it cannot be ruled out that the defense will file appeals, which would delay the judicial process.
-Meanwhile, on May 25, Lenir Pérez [one of the most powerful businessmen in Honduras and the co-owner of Inversiones Los Pinares, a controversial iron mining project in Tocoa] will face an initial hearing for the illegal extraction of natural resources and aggravated damage to Carlos Escaleras National Park.
-The trial against the perpetrators [the alleged material authors Oscar Alexis Guardado Alvarenga, Daniel Antonio Juárez Torres and Lenin Adonis Cruz Munguía] of Juan López’s murder will take place in mid-June.”
Tu Nota has further explained:
“A judge issued a formal indictment early Saturday [May 16] morning with the measure of preventive detention against the former mayor of Tocoa, Colón, Adán Fúnez, as well as against Juan Ángel Ramos Gallegos and Héctor Eduardo Méndez, accused of the murder of environmentalist and former municipal councilor Juan Antonio López.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) believes that the three defendants are responsible, as intellectual authors, for the crime of murder to the detriment of López, a renowned environmental defender of Bajo Aguán and critic of mining projects in the northern part of Honduras.
Fúnez, Méndez and Ramos Gallegos were captured on May 12 during a series of raids carried out in the municipality of Tocoa, as part of the investigations related to the crime of Juan López that occurred on September 14, 2024.
The case has gained national relevance because the Prosecutor’s Office supports the hypothesis of the existence of an organized structure aimed at silencing one of the main environmental defenders of the Bajo Aguán region.”
Accompaniment
With PBI-Honduras, PBI-Canada coordinator Brent Patterson visited Tocoa and Guapinol on October 29-30, 2024, about six weeks after Juan Lopez was killed.
Peace Brigades International has accompanied Municipal Committee for the Defence of Common and Public Goods of Tocoa (CMDBCPT) processes and the defenders of the Guapinol River since January 2019.
As PBI-Honduras physically accompanies this process, PBI-Canada continues to follow this from Canada.
Additional reading: Wiretaps and protected witnesses would implicate Adán Fúnez in the murder of Juan López (Marcia Perdomo, Criterio.hn, May 16, 2026).
