Carlos Hernández
Carlos Hernández was a lawyer and human rights defender from Honduras. He represented Arnoldo Chacón, the Mayor of the town of Arizona, and active supporter of the right of the communities there to resist the hydroelectric dam imposed on the Río Jilamito area by the company Generación Eléctrica (INGELSA). Along with four others - Elena Gaitan, Tulio Enrique Laínez Gonzales, Julio César Leiva Guzmán, and Claudio Ramírez Espinoza – Arnoldo Chacón was criminalized for his involvement in the Movimiento Amplio por la Dignidad y Justicia (MADJ)- organized encampment (Campamento Digno en Defensa del Río Jilamito) that was constructed 11 months ago to oppose the negative impact of the activities of the hydroelectric company INGLESA in this area. Elena Gaitan, Tulio Enrique Laínez Gonzales, Julio César Leiva Guzmán, and Claudio Ramírez Espinoza are represented in their case by lawyers from Witness for Peace partners in MADJ, and Arnoldo Chacón retained Carlos Hernández as his counsel. They criminally charged with illegal occupation crime against the State of Honduras and the company INGELSA, because of the peaceful protest they have carried out since May 2017, by establishing “Campamento Digno en Defensa del Río Jilamito” in Arizona municipality.
Human rights defenders suffer extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment as well as judicial harassment, threats and stigmatisation. Journalists, lawyers, prosecutors, those defending the rights of women, children, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community, indigenous and Afro-Honduran communities, and those working on environmental and land rights issues are particularly at risk.
