Farmworker union leader murdered in Honduras 

Tegucigalpa, December 27 (RHC)-- In Honduras, various organizations and social movements reported this Sunday on their social networks the murder of Felix Vasquez -- the general secretary of the Union of Rural Workers (UTC) in the department of La Paz, Honduras.

Committed to the social struggle in the defense of the territory, he coordinated actions in the Coffee Fund of the Honduran department.  On various occasions, he was persecuted and threatened with death and reported the threats to the corresponding authorities.  Despite his repeated denunciations, he did not have any security protection.  

The murder took place in his home, and was witnessed by several people, including his children.  Witnesses said that several men were armed with a 9 mm pistol and knives, and shot the indigenous Lenca leader, killing him instantly.

Félix Vásquez was a substitute pre-candidate for a congressional seat for the Liberty and Refoundation (LIBRE) Party.

From his conviction of justice, he supported the sit-in demanding the liberation of the indigenous leader of Simpinula, in the Honduran municipality of Santa María, Victor Vásquez, coordinator of the Lenca Indigenous Council of Simpinula and leader of the Lenca Indigenous Independent Movement of La Paz-Honduras (MILPAH) who was unjustly imprisoned for accompanying other leaders who defended Lenca territory.   

These two social leaders denounced before the Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared of Honduras (COFADEH) a series of violations of rights that the Honduran population was facing.

The Independent Indigenous Movement Language of Peace Honduras (MILPAH), as they state on their official website, is organized "to defend in a more articulate manner its natural assets, especially its mountains, forests and rivers. MILPAH was born in response to irregular concessions of rivers and land in their territories to mining companies and hydroelectric projects.

Like the murder of Felix Vasquez, other crimes against important social leaders have occurred in Honduras.
Among them, the political femicide of Lenca feminist Berta Cáceres, an activist in defense of her territory and against capitalism in Latin America and the Caribbean.  Cáceres was also the leader of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras.