A suspect was arrested for the death of Nelson Garcia, an environmental rights activist and a colleague of the slain environmentalist leader Berta Caceres, Honduran officials said Sunday. The two activists died in similar circumstance, gunned down.
Didier Enrique Ramirez, also called as "Electric" was arrested over the murder of Nelson Garcia, 39, who was shot to death stemmed from a dispute with landowners, according to the Guardian. The Honduran authorities said, Garcia was shot by at least two gunmen, closed to his home in San Francisco de Yoyoa region, 75 miles north of the capital Tegucigalpa.
Garcia just returned to his house, after helping evicted Indians to move their belongings, when the incident happened, San Francisco Chronicle reported. The said Indians were evicted from their squatting land near Garcia's house. Authorities said, Garcia's murder was not related to Caceres' case, considering it, "isolated" act of violence". Garcia was killed nearly two weeks after the death of his colleague, the award-winning environmental activist Berta Cáceres.
Honduran Public Prosecutor said, Ramirez was waiting for Garcia to arrive, ambushing him while parking his car, according to Telesur. Officials had been under pressure to capture the murderers responsible for the deaths of Garcia and Caceres.
García is among the member of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras or Copinh, an organization which also Cáceres led until her death. Cáceres, received death threats because of her work, however, she won the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015.
Her efforts were recognized, in which she aims to prevent the construction of a $50m dam that threatened to displace hundreds of indigenous people. Her death sparked violent clashes between students and riot police, who fired teargas into the crowds at the University of Honduras.
But the organization that both Caceres and Garcia belonged to described Garcia's death as part of "the government's constant harassment" of Indian groups. Both activists were Lenca Indians and belonged to the Indian Council of People's Organizations of Honduras.
