We Condemn the Massacre of Rural People in Honduras

Grassroots International expresses our deep solidarity and concern with rural peoples in Honduras after yesterday’s massacre in the community of Rigores.

We are concerned for the rights of all Hondurans in the new context they have faced recently. Peasants, Indigenous Peoples, Garífuna communities, women, LGBTQIA+ people, and workers have suffered from violence and, unfortunately, will continue to suffer from violence so long as impunity reigns.

Below we share a statement from the global peasant movement La Via Campesina.

La Vía Campesina Honduras denounces the massacre of peasants in the community of Colón

May 22, 2026

In response to the massacre that occurred on May 21st in the community of Rigores, Colón department, La Vía Campesina Honduras strongly condemns this brutal act that has shaken the entire country and demonstrates the vulnerability and lack of security in which our peasant communities live.

The lives of young people, children of members of the peasant enterprises of the Rigores Peasant Movement, were taken. To date, 17 men and 3 women have been cowardly murdered. The violence cannot continue. The impunity in this country cannot continue.

We demand the following from the Honduran State:

• A thorough, independent, and impartial investigation of the events, with public results and accountability to society.
• The immediate capture and trial of those materially and intellectually responsible for the massacre.
• Security guarantees for the families of the victims and for the entire community of Rigores.
• Effective institutional presence in territories affected by agrarian conflicts, not just when bodies are already on the ground.
• Halt the advancement of legislation that criminalizes the defense of peasant and Indigenous territory.
• Public recognition of the link between land concentration in the hands of agribusiness and the violence suffered by Honduran rural communities.

The struggle for land is legitimate. Defending life is not a crime. As long as agribusiness continues to be valued more than the peasantry, we will remain standing, organized.

Justice for the victims of Rigores!

The land belongs to those who work it!

The peasant struggle does not stop!