Camilo Frank Lopez

On January 25th, a well-known Tuahka Indigenous leader was killed. Camilo Frank Lopez was shot in the forehead while he was leaving a local bar with his cousins. Lopez was the Tuahka Indigenous Territorial Government Prosecutor.

Nicaragua’s Caribbean region was never colonised by the Spanish, and to this day several  indigenous peoples, of whom the most numerous are the Miskitu, who have their own language are found along the whole of the misnamed ‘Mosquito Coast’ from Honduras to southern Nicaragua.

While they observe many cultural traditions their lives are otherwise not very different from those of the ‘mestizo’ (mixed race) peasant farmers found across rural Nicaragua, including the Caribbean. They do, however, retain a long standing hostility towards governments in Managua, which have often ignored them. The Miskitu lands, along with those of other indigenous groups, are threatened by the advance of the ‘agricultural frontier

21 deaths in two years resulted from land conflicts, Camilo Frank Lopez, a community leader was one of them. land disputes of the kind found in the north-east corner of Nicaragua are unfortunately common in many countries which have an agricultural frontier.

 

 

 

 

 


If you would like to provide a personal recollection, please email us at: HRDMemorial@frontlinedefenders.org

Region:Americas

Country:Nicaragua

Department/Province/State:North Caribbean Coast Autonomous Region

Sex1:Male

Age:no information

Date of Killing:23/01/2017

Previous Threats:No information

Type of Work:Lawyer

Organisation:leader of Buriti Tuahka people

Sector or Type of Rights the HRD Worked On:ESC Rights

Sector Detail:Indigenous Peoples' Rights, Land Rights

More information:Front Line Defenders

1This database records an individual's chosen gender identity. If they do not self-identify as male or female they can use the option of recording other/neither or use the term NBGI (non binary gender identity).