From the Movimiento Madre Tierra/ Amigos de la Tierra Honduras, we categorically condemn the assassination of the young environmentalist, 16-year-old Luis Fernando Ayala. He was a member of the Movimiento Ambientalista Santabarbarense (MAS). This violent assassination took place in the village of Concepción del Sur, in the municipality of Gualala, department of Santa Bárbara. Various communities of this municipality have been in struggle for more than three years against the mining concession for the extraction of gypsum authorized for an indefinite period that threatens to disappear the community of Arenales in that municipality. Luis Fernando Ayala was an environmental activist that struggled against the installation of mining companies and hydroelectric dams.
The report sent by amnesty international regarding the situation of human rights in the world, in which they refer to Honduras, emphasizes the violence that continues advancing in the country. The country continues to be a hostile and dangerous territory for defenders of the earth and of human rights. Such is the reflection of this regrettable act that today the Movimiento Ambientalista Santabarbarense (MAS) is dealing with.
We express our solidarity with their communities and all of the processes driven by the social activists united in the MAS. We urge the international community to be attentive to this situation and we unite under the demand for an investigation that deals with the facts and avoids impunity.
We demand justice, no more impunity!
February 20, 2017