Indigenous anti-dam activist killed in Honduras

AP News 23 Mar 2021

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A Honduran Indigenous activist who helped led a fight against the construction of a dam has been killed, authorities said Monday.

National Police Inspector Juan Sabillón said one suspect had been detained in connection with the killing of activist Juan Carlos Cerros Escalante on Sunday.

Cerros Escalante, 41, was a member of Honduras’ Lenca Indigenous community. He was gunned down Sunday in front of a church in the town of Nueva Granada, in the Caribbean coast province of Cortes.

Betty Vásquez, the coordinator of the Santa Barbara Environmental Movement, said Cerros Escalante was killed in front of his children.