Aguán News Alert | July 2025
Assassinations Against Campesinos Continue in the Bajo Aguán
Tocoa, Colon.- Armed criminal groups continue to murder, kidnap, and intimidate campesinos and land defenders in the Bajo Aguán region of Honduras. On July 17, Ramon Rivas Baquedano and his son Carlos Rivas, both members of organized campesino cooperatives, were murdered by a heavily armed group. Then, on July 26, armed individuals killed Hector Otoniel Hernández Castro, member of the Gregorio Chávez cooperative and the brother of the campesina leader Wendy Castro. On August 1, Abel Monroy, the father-in-law of a member of the Chile Agricultural cooperative, was murdered while on his way to work. The Agrarian Platform and other popular organizations have condemned the murders and called on the Attorney General’s Office and Secretariat of Security to take action. These attacks are not isolated events but rather part of a larger attempt to create fear among campesinos and cooperative members and dispossess them of their land.
Nevertheless, communities in Bajo Aguán remain committed to the fight for justice. On the 10 month anniversary of the murder of land defender and community leader Juan López, people marched peacefully through the streets of Tocoa, demanding justice and prosecution of the intellectual authors of his murder. On August 1, popular organizations of Bajo Aguán commemorated the seven year anniversary of the Camp for Water and Life with a Walk for Justice.
Latest News
The fight for justice for Juan López continues: On July 14, people marked the 10 month anniversary of the murder of Juan López. A peaceful walk through Tocoa was organized to demand justice, followed by a service held by the San Isidro Parish.
Two campesinos murdered by a group of armed men: On the morning of July 17, while on their way to work, Ramon Rivas Baquedano and his son Carlos Rivas were ambushed and murdered by heavily armed men. Ramon Rivas Baquedano was a member of La Aurora cooperative, and Carlos Rivas was a member of Gregorio Chávez cooperative. In 2023, Ramon Rivas Baquedano’s brother and nephew, Hipólito Rivas and Javier Rivas, were murdered under similar circumstances. The Agrarian Platform reported that within 30 days, four campesinos were murdered in Bajo Aguán. Popular organizations called on the Attorney General and the Police Directorate of Investigation to investigate the recent murders in Bajo Aguán and demanded that the Secretariat of Security take immediate action to protect the lives of campesinos and land defenders. They insist that these murders are not isolated incidents, functioning instead part of a broader tactic of intimidation and dispossession.
The Agrarian Platform abroad: The Agrarian Platform attended the People’s Summit for Peace and Against War in Caracas, Venezuela on July 25.
Image credits: Alba Movimientos.
Member of the Gregorio Chávez cooperative murdered: On July 26, while working on an African Palm oil plantation on the Pasó Aguán estate, Hector Otoniel Hernández Castro and two others were attacked by armed men. Otoniel Hernández, 22 years old, was killed in the attack, and the two others were unharmed. Otoniel Hernández was a member of the Gregorio Chávez cooperative and the brother of Wendy Hernández, sub-coordinator of the Agrarian Platform. Wendy Hernández has been vocal against the armed criminal group operating out of “lot eight” on the Pasó Aguán estate. In 2025 alone, ten members of cooperatives associated with the Agrarian Platform and Coordinator of Popular Organizations of the Aguán (COPA in Spanish) have been murdered, five of whom belonged to the Gregorio Chávez cooperative. The Agrarian Platform denounced Otoniel Hernández’s murder as part of a systemic attack on campesinos in Bajo Aguán and called for immediate action by the Attorney General, the Secretariat of Security, and the Secretariat of Human Rights. To read more about the violence against campesinos in Bajo Aguán, click here.
Image credits: Plataforma Agraria.
Popular organizations organize a Walk for Justice: Marking the seventh anniversary of the Encampment for Water and Life, popular organizations coordinated a Walk for Justice on August 1. The Camp for Water and Life was a peaceful action organized to stop the Los Pinares mining project in the Botaderos Mountain, which is the source of the Guapinol, Ceibita, and San Pedro rivers. After 87 days, the camp was violently evicted and its participants criminalized. The participants in the walk demanded justice for the Carlos Escaleras National Park and heroic land defender Juan López. During the walk, the National Police employed tactics of intimidation against peaceful protesters. The police arbitrarily stopped vehicles and confiscated licenses.
Man with ties to agricultural cooperative murdered: Early in the morning on August 1, while on his way to work in the municipality of Bonito Oriental, 48 year-old Abel Monroy was murdered. He was the father-in-law of a member of the Chile Agricultural Cooperative. Abel Monroy’s family members reported that a few days before, a group of men came into Abel’s house, threatened him, and said he would “pay” for his son’s struggle for land.
Historical Context
In the 1990’s, World Bank-led structural adjustment measures transformed the Bajo Aguán region of north-east Honduras from one of the nation’s primary sources of fruits, vegetables and basic grains into an African palm oil monoculture destined for export to insatiable Global North markets. Over the course of this process, thousands of campesinos were dispossessed of their farms to make way for massive palm plantations, owned by a handful of Honduran elite.
Since then, campesino cooperatives have engaged in a multi-decade struggle to recover their land, suffering violent repression by corporate and state entities as a result. The immediate post-coup period was especially brutal, taking the lives of approximately 150 small farmers by 2014. In recent years, many more have been murdered, disappeared, and criminalized. The vast majority of these crimes remain in impunity.
