Category Archives: Honduras

Honduras: man who planned Berta Cáceres’s murder jailed for 22 years

Posted on by

Roberto David Castillo sentenced for role in assassination of Indigenous environmentalist in 2016

A US-trained former Honduran army intelligence officer who was the president of an internationally financed energy company has been sentenced to 22 years and six months for the assassination of the Indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres.

Cáceres, winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders, was shot dead by hired hitmen on 2 March 2016, two days before her 45th birthday, after years of threats linked to her opposition of the 22-megawatt Agua Zarca dam on the Gualcarque River.

Nina Lakhani is author of Who Killed Berta Cáceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defender’s Battle for the Planet

Continue reading...

Mountain labs turn Honduras from cocaine way station into producer

Posted on by

Increase in coca plantations could give rise to a new generation of drug traffickers, and refortify the clans of old

After an hour-long hike from the nearest road, a Honduran anti-narcotics inspector with a shotgun slung from his shoulder led the way into a mountainside clearing littered with wilting coca bushes his unit had uprooted in the days before.

Black irrigation hoses crisscrossed the roughly four-acre field down to the confluence of two creeks, where, under a canopy, lay the charred remains of a makeshift laboratory for processing the coca leaves into paste – the precursor of cocaine.

Continue reading...

Ex-Honduran leader seeks to subpoena Biden, Trump and Obama in drugs case

Posted on by

Former president Juan Orlando Hernández’s also suggests he may seek testimony from Mexican drug lord El Chapo in New York trial

Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández has pleaded not guilty in a New York court to drug and weapons charges as his lawyer pledged to subpoena three former US presidents – and an imprisoned Mexican drug lord – to testify in his defence.

Hernández, who was extradited last month, wore shackles round his ankles at his arraignment in Manhattan on Tuesday, where he pleaded not guilty to three criminal counts, including conspiracy to import cocaine and weapons possession.

Continue reading...

Erosion of abortion rights gathers pace around the world as US signals new era

Posted on by

A leaked supreme court draft ruling shows the US is set to end 50 years of a woman’s right to choose. Elsewhere, the battle still rages

In 2022, abortion remains one of the most controversial and bitterly contested ethical and political battlegrounds. It is illegal for women to terminate their pregnancies in any circumstance in 24 countries, with a further 37 restricting access in any case except when the mother’s life is in danger.

As a leaked document signals that the US supreme court is poised to strike down the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade, millions of American women face losing their access to legal abortions, joining millions more living in those countries rejecting a woman’s right to choose.

Continue reading...

Ex-president of Honduras extradited to US on drugs charges

Posted on by

Juan Orlando Hernández accused of involvement with drug cartels and related weapons charges

US Drug Enforcement Administration agents have extradited the Honduran former president Juan Orlando Hernández to New York, where he will face federal drug trafficking and weapons charges.

Honduran national police delivered a handcuffed Hernández to DEA agents at the Tegucigalpa airport just over two months after he was arrested outside his home on 15 February following an extradition request from the US Department of Justice.

Continue reading...

Honduras judge says ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández can be extradited to US

Posted on by

Former first lady tells journalists her husband will be exonerated of profiting from drug trafficking

The former president of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández should be extradited to the US to face drug trafficking and weapons charges, a Honduran judge has ruled.

The supreme court of justice in Honduras tweeted on Wednesday that it had decided to grant the US extradition request.

Continue reading...

Ex-president arrested in Honduras as US requests extradition on drugs charges

Posted on by
  • Juan Orlando Hernández cuffed and taken away in Tegucigalpa
  • Arrest marks spectacular fall for man who was once key US ally

Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández has been arrested, a day after the US Department of Justice requested his extradition over drug trafficking and weapons charges, culminating a spectacular fall from grace for a man who was once considered one of Washington’s top allies in Central America.

On Tuesday afternoon Hernández left his home in a wealthy neighborhood in the country’s capital, Tegucigalpa, where he was cuffed at the hands and feet and provided a bullet-proof vest before being taken away in a police caravan to a special forces base. He will appear before a judge for his first hearing within 24 hours.

According to the extradition request submitted to Honduras, Hernández was part of a “violent drug-trafficking” conspiracy that trafficked roughly 500,000 kilos of cocaine since 2004.

Continue reading...

UN rapporteur ‘appalled’ by convictions for Honduran environmentalists who opposed open-pit mine

Posted on by

Legal and human rights experts condemn decision to find six activists guilty of crimes against mining company

Six Honduran environmentalists have been found guilty of crimes against a mining company, in a case widely condemned by legal and human rights experts.

The activists, from the small community of Guapinol, have been held in pre-trial detention for two and a half years after opposing an iron oxide mine which has polluted rivers relied upon by thousands of people.

Continue reading...

Honduras: can first female president usher in a new era for women?

Posted on by

Xiomara Castro’s inauguration will cap a remarkable rise but she faces daunting challenges around femicide and abortion

Xiomara Castro has been sworn in as the first female president of Honduras on Thursday, marking the culmination of a remarkable rise to power that began just over 12 years ago when she led a massive protest movement in response to the ousting of her husband, former president Manuel “Mel” Zelaya, in a military-backed coup.

Castro’s resounding victory in the 28 November election has generated hope for a new era for women in the country with the highest rate of femicide in Latin America and some of the region’s most draconian laws with regards to reproductive rights.

Continue reading...

Honduran president’s fall from grace poised to end in US indictment

Posted on by

As his term ends, Juan Orlando Hernández could be extradited on drug charges to the country that once saw him as a key ally

Along a paved road that climbs the hillside to Celaque Mountain national park in south-western Honduras, one-room shacks are overshadowed by high-walled mansions – including the homes of President Juan Orlando Hernández and his political allies.

Local people say the results of Hernández’s eight years as president are on full display.

Continue reading...

World’s poorest bear brunt of climate crisis: 10 underreported emergencies

Posted on by

Care International report highlights ‘deep injustice’ neglected by world’s media, as extreme weather along with Covid wipes out decades of progress

From Afghanistan to Ethiopia, about 235 million people worldwide needed assistance in 2021. But while some crises received global attention, others are lesser known.

Humanitarian organisation Care International has published its annual report of the 10 countries that had the least attention in online articles in five languages around the world in 2021, despite each having at least 1 million people affected by conflict or climate disasters.

Continue reading...

House of healing: the Honduran sanctuary for female rights defenders

Posted on by

In one of the world’s most dangerous regions for environmental and human rights activists, La Siguata offers a safe space for women suffering trauma as a result of their work

A milky-white and sky-blue stone hangs from a red string around Ethels Correa’s neck, and every so often she rubs it between her fingers.

“When I feel anger, I grab this stone and I begin to relax, because they taught me how to breathe, to relax the body and to relax the mind,” she says. “I carry it with me all the time.”

Continue reading...

The US military trained him. Then he helped murder Berta Cáceres

Posted on by

The indigenous activist was opposing the construction of a dam being constructed by Roberto David Castillo’s company

When Roberto David Castillo graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point, the Honduran cadet was confident he’d leave behind a legacy.

“He will be remembered by all as being a fearless leader committed to God, his family and serving others,” read the caption under his yearbook portrait.

Continue reading...

Honduras president-elect’s China pledge puts Taiwan and US on edge

Posted on by

Xiomara Castro has said she will foster ties with Beijing in what experts see as a move to counter US influence

Xiomara Castro’s victory in the Honduras presidential elections has placed the Central American nation at the heart of an intensifying diplomatic tug-of-war between Taiwan and China.

Honduras is one of only 15 remaining countries that recognizes the sovereignty of Taiwan, which China claims as part of its own territory. But Castro made a manifesto pledge to end that decades-long relationship and establish diplomatic ties with Beijing.

Continue reading...

Honduras presidential election: a referendum on the nation’s corruption and drugs

Posted on by

The next congress will have the opportunity to elect a new supreme court, attorney general and state auditors

Hondurans head to the polls on Sunday in the first general election since US federal prosecutors laid out detailed evidence of intimate ties between drug smugglers and the Honduran state.

The country’s past three presidents, as well as local mayors, legislators, police and military commanders have been linked to drug trafficking in what US prosecutors have described as a narco-state.

Continue reading...

‘She’s the only option’: Hondurans hope Xiomara Castro can lead the nation in a new direction

Posted on by

Candidate would be the country’s first female president who vows to stop the violence and corruption causing many to flee

A week ahead of what may be Honduras’s most consequential election since the country’s return to democracy in 1982, the leading opposition candidate for president delivered her final address to an audience of fervent supporters.

“Today we are united as an opposition to say enough! Enough of so much theft, corruption and drug trafficking,” said Xiomara Castro, 62, as she addressed the crowd in Tegucigalpa on Sunday. “Enough suffering for the Honduran people.”

Continue reading...

‘We can’t live like this’: climate shocks rain down on Honduras’s poorest

Posted on by

Rural communities like Chapagua that have done least to stoke the climate crisis barely have time to recover from one disaster before another hits

It was around dusk on the third consecutive day of heavy rain when the River Aguán burst its banks and muddy waters surged through the rural community of Chapagua in north-east Honduras, sweeping away crops, motorbikes and livestock.

Most inhabitants fled to higher ground after the category 4 Hurricane Eta made landfall in early November 2020, but fisherman Rosendo García stayed behind, hoping to safeguard the family’s home and animals. After a ravine on the opposite side of the village also flooded, there was no way out.

Continue reading...

Fire devastates Honduras’ Caribbean resort island of Guanaja

Posted on by

Blaze engulfs more than 200 houses and businesses, forcing hundreds of residents to flee

A huge fire destroyed or damaged more than 200 houses and businesses on the Honduran island of Guanaja on Saturday, forcing hundreds of residents to flee for safety and ravaging the tourism-dependent resort, relief authorities said.

Dramatic video footage shared on social media showed rows of seaside houses engulfed in flames and wooden homes collapsing in Guanaja, a Caribbean island about 44 miles (77km) off the north coast of Honduras.

Continue reading...

Land defenders: will the Cáceres verdict break the ‘cycle of violence’ in Honduras?

Posted on by

Conviction of businessman who conspired in murder of indigenous rights activist Berta Cáceres raises hopes of end to impunity

When Bertha Zuñiga heard that a former Honduran army intelligence officer and businessman had been found guilty of collaborating in the murder of her mother, Berta Cáceres, she breathed a big sigh of relief. Five years after the environmental campaigner was assassinated by hired hitmen, this was the verdict her family and friends had been waiting for.

“I know there is still a long road, maybe very long and very hard, but to have achieved a guilty verdict against the [former] president of a corporation, [who is] connected to the armed forces: it is unprecedented in our country,” says Zuñiga, 30.

Continue reading...

Berta Cáceres assassination: ex-head of dam company found guilty

Posted on by

Roberto David Castillo, former Honduran army intelligence officer, found to be co-collaborator in ordering murder

A US-trained former Honduran army intelligence officer who was the president of an internationally-financed hydroelectric company has been found guilty over the assassination of the indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres.

Caceres, winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders, was shot dead two days before her 45th birthday by hired hitmen on 2 March 2016 after years of threats linked to her opposition of the 22-megawatt Agua Zarca dam.

Continue reading...