Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) reports and condemns the attempted murder of María Santos Domínguez, Coordinator of the Indigenous Advisory Organization of Río Blanco and of the Northern Sector of Intibucá, an emblematic leader of the fight for the defense of Río Gualcarque and of the Lenca Territory in Honduras. María Santos Domínguez is an important figure in the fight for Río Blanco and a member of the COPINH. Her husband Roque Domínguez and 12 year-old son Paulo Domínguez are also community activists and were also victims of the attack. 

On March 9, 2014, at around noon, María returned to her home after participating in school picnic. While we was making her way home, her husband Roque called repeatedly to make sure that she was alright, due to the constant threats she had been receiving. During the fourth call, María told Roque that she was being surrounded by seven men. At the moment, her husband left the house in search of his wife with their son Paulo. When they found her, she already had been badly wounded. She was slashed with a machete and had been hit with sticks and rocks by the group. Her husband tried to reason with her attackers, pleading that they not kill his wife. Meanwhile, her son was trying to help his mother when one of the attackers slashed the boy with a machete, cutting off his ear and slashing his face. The attack on the husband also left him with grave wounds. The three family members were left in a delicate state.

Maria, Roque and Paulo, had all participated very actively in the defense of the rights of the Lenca people. Leading up to the attack, they were being threatend and harassed for this work. Among the attackers were sympathizers of the hydroelectric project Agua Zarca. They have been hostile towards the Santos Domínguez family because they are members of COPINH and because they are activists for Indigenous rights.

COPINH pleads that the authorities do not leave this crime unpunished, as was the case for Tomas García, who was killed by a Honduran soldier, as well as many other cases of aggression and violence against the Lenca people of COPINH in Río Blanco. The fight to protect the Lenca territory and Indigenous autonomy has gone on for approximately one year.

COPINH demands justice and a stop to the violence and threats against the right to life, the individual and collective rights of the Lenca people from Río Blanco.
All three victims are quickly recuperating in the public hospital.

Read more about our Honduras: Tell US and Honduran Officials to Respect Indigenous and Campesino Rights campaign here.

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