Honduras shooting: At least 19 killed in two separate attacks as gunmen open fire on workers, police

Gunmen carried out two separate attacks along the coast of Honduras on Thursday (May 21), killing at least 19 people, including six police officers, according to authorities. The first attack occurred at a plantation in the municipality of Trujillo, where at least 10 workers were shot dead, National Police spokesperson Edgardo Barahona said. The northern region has long been affected by agrarian disputes tied to land ownership and natural resource control.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has previously granted precautionary protections to environmental and land-rights activists in the area due to threats, surveillance, and intimidation linked to their work. The 2024 killing of environmental activist Juan Lopez drew international attention to the dangers faced by environmental defenders in Honduras, one of the world’s deadliest countries for activists. According to the nongovernmental organisation Global Witness, five environmental activists were killed in Honduras in 2024 and 18 in the previous year.

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Authorities recently arrested three suspects accused of orchestrating Lopez’s murder, marking a rare instance of accountability in a country known for high levels of impunity. In the second attack, armed assailants targeted police officers in the municipality of Omoa near the Guatemalan border in the Cortes department.

Police said six officers, including a senior commander, were killed in the ambush while traveling from the capital, Tegucigalpa, to Omoa as part of an anti-gang operation. Barahona said the exact death toll from the Trujillo attack remains uncertain because relatives had already removed some victims’ bodies before investigators arrived.

The Security Ministry announced that both the National Police and armed forces would respond to the attacks. Authorities also formed special investigative teams, including forensic experts and prosecutors. Honduras has long struggled with gang violence and crime linked to transnational drug trafficking, although homicide rates have declined significantly since reaching a peak of 83 murders per 100,000 people in 2011, according to the World Bank.

Human rights groups have repeatedly criticized Honduras for relying heavily on militarized anti-crime strategies, arguing that such policies have contributed to abuses including torture, forced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings. The criticism intensified during a three-year state of exception that suspended certain constitutional rights and expanded security force powers before ending in January 2026.