Deniers and others who oppose environmental action in the US enjoy playing the victim and misrepresenting investigations of lawbreaking as full-on thought policing, but in many countries around the world, environmental advocacy has proven to be an actually dangerous—and often deadly—struggle.
On March 3, Honduran environmental activist and indigenous leader Berta Caceres was assassinated in her home in the middle of the night. Two days ago, a second member of the group she founded, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous organizations of Honduras (COPINH), was brutally murdered.
According to reports, Nelson Garcia was shot four times in the face in the Rio Chiquito community, where indigenous residents are being evicted to make room for a controversial Agua Zarca dam project. The US Agency for International Development is being called on to cut its support for the project, due to the intense local opposition.
Another COPINH member, Moisés Durón Sánchez was murdered in May 2015, and a fourth, Tomás García, was shot and killed by a military officer during a 2013 protest. At least 109 activists were killed in Honduras between 2010 and 2015, according to Global Witness.