Another Indigenous Environmentalist Murdered in Honduras

July 7, 2016

Her name was Lesbia Yaneth Urquía and she was a member of The Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh). With the memory of the murders of Bertha Cáceres and Nelson Garcia still fresh in our minds, there is now another crime that remains unpunished. Urquía was found dead on Wednesday afternoon July 6 in Mata Mulas close to the Marcala municipal dump in La Paz.

Some press reports claim that the victim sustained a head injury which could have been caused by a sharp object, although others suspect that she was shot to death. Her body was sent directly to the head office of the Ministry of Public Health’s Forensic Department to undergo an autopsy.

According to reports by police officers, Urquía left her house on Tuesday, July 5, at 5pm local time on her bicycle. However after failing to return home her family began to search for her and they eventually found the activist dead in the Mata Mulas area.

In a report published in the Chilean newspaper El Mostrador; 2015 saw the highest number of environmental activists killed in Honduran history. Global Witness reports that 185 activists were killed in Honduras last year, representing an average of three deaths per week.

http://en.granma.cu/mundo/2016-07-07/another-indigenous-environmentalist-murdered-in-honduras

Source: Granma International