URGENT ACTION
Armed Men from Mininig Company Hold International Human Rights Defenders Captive

By Friendship Office of the Americas

On July 25, two international accompaniers from the Honduras Accompaniment Project (PROAH from its initials in Spanish), from Switzerland and France, were held captive for two and a half hours in the community of La Nueva Esperanza by armed men who guard the mining operations of Lenir Perez, the owner of Minerales Victoria. The armed men have been in this rural community in the department of Atlántida for almost two months, terrorizing the villagers and threatening those who refuse to sell their land to the mining company.

Action Alert: Human Rights Accompaniers in Honduras Held Captive

URGENT ACTION

The following day, 250 people marched to Nueva Esperanza to express support for the community’s peaceful opposition to the mine and the role of international human rights accompaniers.

The abduction of international human rights defenders comes in the context of human rights violations and impunity which batter the country with no end in sight. In the last several weeks we have witnessed the brutal murders of a journalist, judge, lawyer, and a member of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras; the forced exile of a union leader; and intensified threats against human rights defenders. read more…