Aly Dominguez (38) and Jairo Bonilla (28) were two Guapinol water defenders who were killed in January of this year, 2023. Their movement involves organising to protect their rivers from an open-pit iron oxide mining project in the Carlos Escaleras National Park, Honduras.
The families of Dominguez and Bonilla say they were killed by unidentified gunmen after weeks of threats related to their activism. Honduran police have said that Dominguez and Bonilla died in a robbery gone wrong, but family members say their motorcycles and personal belongings were not taken.
Oquelí Domínguez, brother of defenders Aly and Reynaldo Domínguez was killed in the community of Guapinol (department of Colón, northern Honduras) on June 15th, 2023.
Every year, environmental defenders are intimidated and killed for the work they do in their communities, and many of these cases never leave the local news cycles or are investigated further. One thing we can do is to not forget their names or contributions.
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