Organizations united in the Peasant, Indigenous, and Popular Alliance, along with the Garifuna people, mobilized this Tuesday in Honduras to demand an end to land grabbing, which they say has intensified in the last six months under the government of Nasry Asfura.
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On Lempira Day, more than 70 groups held sit-ins and blocked roads at strategic points such as Quebrada Seca in Yoro, the CA-13 highway in Atlántida, the CA-5 highway in Comayagua, the southern exit of Francisco Morazán, Choluteca, and the Cayo Campo-Tocoa highway in Colón.
During the protests, the communities denounced the approval of a legal framework that facilitates the judicial persecution of those who claim rights to land and the environment. Among the regulations cited are Decree 84-2026, which ambiguously expands the definition of terrorist association, and Decree 107-2026, which protects land for the agro-industrial, energy, and tourism sectors, limiting agrarian reform processes or public utility purposes.
Added to this is the maintenance of Decree 93-2021, which toughens the crime of land usurpation, approved during the administration of Juan Orlando Hernández and retained by the government of Xiomara Castro.
The social movement also questioned the weakening of agrarian institutions, the return to the ICSID, and the threat of consolidating the ZEDEs (Special Economic Development Zones). The Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (Ofraneh) supported the mobilizations and demanded compliance with the rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in favor of the communities of Triunfo de la Cruz, Punta Piedra, San Juan, and Cayos Cochinos.
Día del Cacique Lempira || #ANTIDERECHOS Nueva denuncia ante la CIDH contra el gobierno de Honduras por violentar derechos de pueblos indígenas
El abogado Mario Cañas informó sobre las acciones que se harán ante la CIDH ante la aprobación de leyes que contradicen sentencias… pic.twitter.com/AahTAoMeBd
— ReporterosdeInvestigación (@reporterosdeinv) July 20, 2026
The text reads, “Chief Lempira Day || #ANTI-RIGHTS New complaint filed with the IACHR against the Honduran government for violating the rights of indigenous peoples. Lawyer Mario Cañas reported on the actions that will be taken before the IACHR following the approval of laws that contradict rulings of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights #NationalCongressofHonduras”
OFRANEH is demanding the dismissal of charges against five defenders from San Juan, Tela, who were violently evicted on July 5. Rony Castillo, a member of the organization, stated that the Garifuna people demand the definitive closure of the legal proceedings against the five defenders of San Juan.
Castillo warned that the Tuba Mena encampment will remain in place until Decree 107-2026 is repealed and the legal case is resolved, asserting that the Judiciary has not provided answers to the communities.
For her part, Bertha Zúniga Cáceres, coordinator of COPINH, indicated that the government has not responded to the demands and that the simultaneous protests in different parts of the country have been ignored. Zúniga Cáceres announced that the organizations are preparing a new phase of nationwide mobilizations to demand the repeal of the contested decrees.
From the Aguán Valley, Esly Banegas, of COPA, linked the current struggles to the historical legacy of Chief Lempira. “We would like there to be many Lempiras here in the Aguán Valley, in these lands that they are trying to take from us as Garifuna people, as peasant people,” Banegas expressed in defense of ancestral territories.
#Honduras | A coalition of 70 peasant, Indigenous, and popular organizations denounced what it calls the continued territorial dispossession of rural, Indigenous, and Garífuna communities.
The alliance urged policy reforms and compliance with international rulings on Indigenous… pic.twitter.com/ENpHEhWTie— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) July 21, 2026
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