On 9 January 2011, human rights defender Mr Juan Ramón Chinchilla escaped from captivity after being kidnapped the previous day and reportedly tortured by various unidentified individuals.

Further Information

Juan Ramón Chinchilla is a member of the Executive Committee of the Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular (National Popular Resistance Front) as a representative of the Juventudes en Resistencia (Youths in Resistance) and the Movimiento Unificado Campesino del Aguán (United Campesino Movement of Aguán) and has actively been defending the rights of campesinos in the Aguán region.

On 8 January 2011 at approximately 20:00, Juan Ramón Chinchilla was accosted and kidnapped by unknown individuals on the road to the rural settlement “La Concepción”, in the municipality of Tocoa, as he traveled by motorcycle to his house.

It is reported that as he traveled Juan Ramón Chinchilla became aware that he was being followed by another motorcycle and a car, and therefore placed a telephone call to his colleagues alerting them to the situation.

Upon nearing La Concepción, Juan Ramón Chinchilla further noted that individuals were hiding in the surrounding trees, aiming firearms at him. He subsequently abandoned his motorcycle and attempted to escape, before being accosted by several masked men who covered his face and forced him into a vehicle.

Almost all of the individuals reportedly wore uniforms of the military, police, and those of a private security firm employed by a local landholder. When his colleagues arrived at the scene, they discovered only Juan Ramón Chinchilla's abandoned motorcycle, the body of which had been punctured by two bullets.

Juan Ramón Chinchilla was driven in the direction of Trujillo for approximately 40 minutes, arriving at a building in an isolated location where he would be held. Juan Ramón Chinchilla's captors asked him numerous questions concerning his work in defence of campesinos in Aguán, including the sources of information they publicise.

The following day, whilst a table of torture implements was on view, Juan Ramón Chinchilla's captors threatened to pull off his nails and burn him. It is reported that they then repeatedly punched his face, struck him over the back with an object, and set fire to his hair, before further threatening to set his head alight with gasoline.

On the night of 9 January, Juan Ramón Chinchilla's captors took the decision to move him to a new location, being concerned by the growing attention the case was gathering from national human rights organisations.

Juan Ramón Chinchilla was removed from the building in which he had been kept and accompanied on foot by his captors towards his new location. While en route, Juan Ramón Chinchilla took advantage of the darkness to escape from captivity into a nearby forest, before eventually finding help and contacting his colleagues.

A number of the alleged perpetrators were identified as foreigners, reportedly being overheard speaking in English, as well as another language which Juan Ramón Chinchilla could not identify.Juan Ramón Chinchilla noted that his group of captors had carefully organised his kidnapping, and further noted that they possessed significant amounts of information, including photographs, concerning local campesino organisations and their members.

In the days leading up to his kidnapping, Juan Ramón Chinchilla had accompanied the campesino group Buenos Amigos ('Good Friends') to various meetings, including a meeting with representatives of the Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras – CODEH (Committee for the Defence of Human Rights in Honduras) on 31 December 2010. He spent some hours in the company of the same campesino group on the morning of 8 January, the day of the kidnapping.

Subsequent to it, the Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras - COFADEH (Committee of Families of Disappeared Prisoners in Honduras) filed a writ of habeas corpus against the police headquarters of Tocoa, Trujillo, Sabá, Sonaguera, as well as against all others in the Departments of Atlántida, Colón and Yoro.

In addition the writ was filed against the military units in all of the aforementioned departments and private security firms employed by particular large landholders in the area who are in competition with the campesino communities for tenancy of the land.

Front Line is gravely concerned for the physical and psychological integrity of Juan Ramón Chinchilla, and believes his kidnapping and reported torture to be directly related to his peaceful and legitimate activities in defence of human rights, particularly in defence of campesino communities in Aguán.

Front Line further believes that these acts reflect a context of growing violence and insecurity for human rights defenders in Aguán, characterised by killings, death threats, criminalisation, and complete impunity for perpetrators thereof.