TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduran authorities on Tuesday arrested three people, including a powerful politician, accused of masterminding the 2024 assassination of an environmental leader, which became a symbol of government corruption and the ongoing perils of protecting the environment in the region.
Adán Fúnez, former mayor of the city of Tocoa, was captured at his home Tuesday on suspicion of masterminding the killing, following years of accusations by religious and environmental leaders.
Juan López was an anti-corruption crusader who led a fierce community effort against an iron oxide mining project in Colon, a rural region of northwestern Honduras, which activists said endangered the zone’s dense jungles and crystalline waters, including protected reserve areas. López was one of the fiercest critics of Fúnez, a supporter of the mine and close ally of Honduras’ former President Xiomara Castro.
In September 2024, López called on Fúnez to step down because of a corruption scandal.
