Indigenous Rights

Over 70 rural, indigenous, and Garífuna organizations held nationwide road blockades and demonstrations on July 20 demanding the government repeal three decrees that criminalize land claims, broaden the definition of terrorism, and shield agricultural and energy-sector lands from legal challenges including agrarian reform.

New Land LLC, a foreign-controlled firm, announced plans for a "smart city" tech park in Honduras's Moskitia region without consulting indigenous communities, prompting local leaders to warn of similarities to controversial autonomous economic zones.

Indigenous peoples of the Moskitia region protested in Tegucigalpa against a proposed agribusiness law they say would legitimize illegal land seizures, and demanded the government fulfill a 2019 commitment to formalize land titles in ancestral territories.

Environmental organizations and indigenous leaders are demanding transparency in an oil contract signed for Honduras's Caribbean region, citing undisclosed terms they say harm local communities.

Indigenous representatives in La Moskitia say a newly approved agroindustrial law will legitimize illegal occupation of their ancestral territories and accelerate forest destruction, and they are demanding enforcement of a six-year-pending land survey.

Rural, indigenous, and human-rights organizations filed a constitutional challenge seeking to suspend Decree 107-2026, which they say enables land seizures and strips protections from campesino and indigenous communities to shield agribusiness, energy, tourism, and ranching projects.

A civil-society watchdog warns that the Asfura administration is advancing laws that criminalize peasant and indigenous land claims while protecting agribusiness interests, citing passage of a sweeping anti-terrorism statute, an agroindustrial-protection law, and a self-defense expansion tied to property defense.

Indigenous Maya Chortí communities in Copán are filing a nullity action against Minosa's 30-year mining concession extension, arguing the company improperly invoked an automatic administrative approval (afirmativa ficta) without meeting legal requirements or consulting affected populations.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that Honduras's newly approved agroindustrial law could harm indigenous and rural communities' land and territorial rights and deepen social conflict, urging Congress to align it with international standards.

Residents of Azacualpa, Copán, elected a Maya-Chortí Indigenous Council to defend their territory against Minosa, which continues operating despite its concession expiring in 2023 and having destroyed the community's ancestral cemetery.

A judge in San Pedro Sula convicted four indigenous leaders of usurpation despite the National Agrarian Institute granting the Lenca community legal title to the disputed land in El Cacao, prompting rights groups to appeal and take the case to international bodies.

Honduras granted a 2013 oil concession covering 35,256 square kilometers of Caribbean waters in La Moskitia, a UNESCO World Heritage site, without consulting the four indigenous peoples living there, violating international law.

A report warns that 77 territorial conflicts, most described as high-intensity, remain active in Honduras amid what analysts characterize as a shift toward punitive government responses.