Pope Francis criticized the killing of an environmental activist in Honduras on Sunday, joining a growing number of international figures that have raised concern over the incident.
Earlier this month the environmental leader, Juan López, was fatally shot in the municipality of Tocoa in rural northern Honduras. He had dedicated years to fighting against mining companies to protect the rivers and forests of the region.
“I stand with those who see their basic rights trampled and with those who act for the common good in response to the cries from the poor of the earth,” Francis said at the end of his Angelus message at the Vatican.
The rural Caribbean region of Colón has seen a wave of slayings of environmentalists in recent years, and three activists from López’s organization were killed last year.
The religious leader joined several global leaders to condemn the killing.
Last week, Brian A. Nichols, assistant U.S. secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, demanded justice for López. The United Nations called for “competent authorities to carry out an immediate, exhaustive and impartial investigation to identify and punish the people responsible, both material and intellectual, for this murder.”
Honduran President Xiomara Castro called López’s death a “vile murder” and promised to meet mounting demands to investigate his slaying.
Latin America is the deadliest region in the world to be an environmental defender, according to the nongovernmental organization Global Witness, which tracks killings of environmentalists.
Honduras was listed as one of the most deadly countries for environmental defenders last year, alongside Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico. The four nations, where 140 environmentalists were killed in the previous year, accounted for 71% of the total number of slayings of environmental defenders worldwide.
Environmental leaders often act as watchdogs in rural regions, becoming an unwanted pair of eyes in places where organized crime thrives.
They also tend to challenge powerful companies and individuals seeking to profit from industries like mining and logging, doing so in remote swaths of Latin America far from the reach of the law.
Honduras gained international recognition for such violence following the murder of environmental and Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres in 2016. The killing continues to haunt Honduras as many details of her death remain unsolved.
