Honduras church massacre exposes “sustainable” palm oil violence

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

On May 21st 2026, Heavily armed men massacred 20 peasant workers, including five children, inside a church in Rigores, Honduras. The victims were preparing to work on palm oil plantations tied to RSPO-certified companies like Dinant and Grupo Jaremar. While the government blames gangs, rural unions attribute the slaughter to violent land-grabbing by multinational palm oil giants. Workers organisations including La Vía Campesina and theRigores Peasant Movement demand justice and an immediate end to extreme violence and criminalisation of land defenders and peasant workers. We must stand with workers against corporate violence and horrific human rights abuses.

A dawn prayer shattered by violence

As the dawn broke over the rolling hills of Rigores, Honduras on the morning of 21 May 2026, palm oil workers and their families were praying in a small church before beginning their daily toil. Their peaceful prayer was destroyed when heavily armed men wearing Honduran police uniforms stormed the church, opening fire on the group of 20 people.

Nearby, on this day, the endless rows of palm oil monoculture owned by multinationals like Dinant, it’s subsidiary Exportadora del Atlántico and Grupo Jaremar – (all plantations certified “sustainable” by the RSPO) would remain emptied of workers. But in the days that followed, work would resume, it would be as though nothing unusual had occurred.

The victims included 17 men and three women, and five of those murdered were children. These workers belonged to peasant groups affiliated with the Rigores Peasant Movement. A part of the National Union of Rural Workers, an organisation fighting for the rights of Honduran peasant workers and their families.

Government officials deflect blame to drug cartels

In the immediate aftermath, Honduran authorities attempted to frame the massacre as a consequence of gang warfare. Security Minister Gerzon Velasquez described the aftermath on the palm oil plantations as a harrowing scene, noting that the perpetrators executed the victims with high-calibre rifles and shotguns. Furthermore, a senior government investigator explicitly dismissed the idea that the massacre involved a land dispute, insisting instead that the violence was related to drug trafficking.

Authorities later announced the arrest of Carlos Molina, known as El Gato Negro, whom they suspect of masterminding the attack. Meanwhile, Honduras has recently approved new legislation to militarise public security and categorise gangs as terrorist groups.

Peasant workers’ unions expose palm oil land-grabbing motive

Local human rights defenders and peasant unions reject the official narrative provided by the government. Instead, these groups argue that the massacre is a direct result of violent land-grabbing orchestrated by powerful and global agribusiness interests.

Local farmer groups accuse transnational corporations of sponsoring armed paramilitaries to carry out violent land seizures. These armed groups terrorise residents to prevent them from reclaiming their disputed territories. Therefore, organisations like La Vía Campesina Honduras strongly condemn the brutal attack, pointing out that rural communities live in a constant state of vulnerability. Nearly 200 people have already died in the context of the agrarian conflict in this specific region.

The brutal reality of palm oil land-grabbing in Honduras

The victims of the Rigores massacre were labouring on lands directly linked to major palm oil corporations. These companies include Grupo Jaremar, Dinant, and its subsidiary Exportadora del Atlántico which, as of June 2026 have active human rights and environmental complaints with the RSPO. Despite holding certifications from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, these entities are deeply entangled in the violent dispossession of local communities.

Peasant movements highlight how campesino families are criminally underpaid while facing armed intimidation. The expansion of monoculture plantations drives massive deforestation, ecocide, and the destruction of rural livelihoods. Consequently, the dispossession of these communities forces them into extreme poverty, stripping them of their traditional ways of producing food and managing their natural resources.

Demands for justice and institutional accountability

In response to the violence, peasant organisations have issued a series of urgent demands to the Honduran state. Firstly, they demand a thorough, independent, and impartial investigation into the massacre with public accountability. Secondly, they call for the immediate capture and trial of individuals behind the crime. Additionally, the unions insist on security guarantees for the surviving families and the entire community of Rigores. Furthermore, they demand an effective institutional presence in territories affected by agrarian conflicts. Finally, they require the government to halt any legislation that criminalises defenders of peasant and Indigenous territories.

The Catholic church condemns the atrocities

Religious leaders across the region have also expressed outrage over the killings. Church authorities in the Diocese of Trujillo confirmed that the victims were taking refuge before starting their working day. In a public statement, the Bishops Conference of Honduras rejected the violence, expressing sadness and anger at the lack of response.

Furthermore, the conference stated that society cannot accept superficial justifications for such horrendous deeds. Meanwhile, the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council demanded that the government urgently guarantee protection for peasant families and implement solutions respecting human rights.

Escalating violence and aggressive security laws

The Rigores massacre occurred in the context of surging violence across the Central American nation. Just hours after the church killings, a police squad engaged in a deadly shootout in Corinto, near the Guatemalan border. This botched raid resulted in the deaths of five police officers and two gang members.

The operation lacked proper intelligence, which forced the Ministry of National Security to suspend several high-ranking police directors. President Nasry Asfura has pledged to crack down on organised crime, but human rights groups worry that increased militarisation will only lead to more violence against peasant farmers and rural communities simply trying to live off the land.

Globalising the struggle for peasant rights

The tragedy in Rigores echoed far beyond Honduras and was felt widely in other peasant movements across Latin America. Regional networks, including the Latin American Coordination of Rural Organisations, have expressed solidarity with the Honduran people. They note that violence against rural communities is structurally linked to land concentration and the advance of agribusiness.

Consequently, workers groups and unions vow to continue to stand up in courage and solidarity. What they are wanting is far from unreasonable, involving concrete and protected rights to food, land and safety agrarian reform, food sovereignty, and social justice.

For rights groups like La Vía Campesina Honduras, the struggle for land remains their reason for existence. Defending life is not a crime, and the peasant struggle will not stop as long as corporate profits are valued above human lives.

Food sovereignty and the control of natural resources

The fight for the Aguán valley is not solely about physical territory, but also concerns the fundamental right to food sovereignty. Peasant leaders argue that whoever controls the land ultimately controls the cycle of life, including what food is produced and who has access to it.

Transnational agribusiness relies on monopolising seeds, water, and technological inputs, leaving countries increasingly dependent on a system that concentrates wealth in a few hands. Consequently, this model socialises losses and dramatically raises the cost of living for ordinary citizens. Therefore, campesino movements fight to ensure that natural resources remain in the hands of the people who actually work the land.

Remembering historical massacres to fuel resistance

Rights advocates draw painful parallels between the Rigores tragedy and historical atrocities like the Eldorado dos Carajás massacre in Brazil. Thirty years after that notorious crime, the Honduran peasant movement finds itself facing identical patterns of corporate-backed violence.

However, instead of surrendering to fear, these communities are becoming organised to fuel a peasant resistance. They mobilise to demand that land, seeds, and water must serve the people rather than functioning purely as business assets. Ultimately, the workers and their families who lost their lives in Rigores will be remembered in terms of solidarity and a courageous struggle for a better tomorrow for working people in Honduras.

ENDS

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Further information

Birrell, D. (2026, June 05). Children among palm oil workers murdered in Honduras after taking refuge in church. Premier Christian News. https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/palm-oil-workers-murdered-in-honduras-after-taking-refuge-in-church

CLOC Mesoamerica. (2026, May 27). CLOC Members in Central America and Mexico Denouce the Massacre in Colón, Honduras. La Vía Campesina. https://viacampesina.org/en/2026/05/cloc-members-in-central-america-and-mexico-denouce-the-massacre-in-colon-honduras/

Global Forest Watch. (n.d.). Interactive map showing tree cover loss, mining, and oil palm concessions in Colón, Honduras. World Resources Institute. Retrieved June 08, 2026.

La Vía Campesina Honduras. (2026, April 23). 17 April Honduras: The dispossession of a peasant community also implies the dispossession of a way of producing food. La Vía Campesina. https://viacampesina.org/en/2026/04/17-april-honduras-the-dispossession-of-a-peasant-community-also-implies-the-dispossession-of-a-way-of-producing-food/

La Vía Campesina Honduras. (2026, May 22). La Vía Campesina Honduras denounces the massacre of peasants in the community of Colón. La Vía Campesina. https://viacampesina.org/en/2026/05/la-via-campesina-honduras-denounces-the-massacre-of-peasants-in-the-community-of-colon/

Meriguet, P. (2026, May 26). At least 20 farmers massacred in Honduras. Peoples Dispatch. https://peoplesdispatch.org/2026/05/26/at-least-20-farmers-massacred-in-honduras/

News Central TV. (2026, June 08). Honduras palm farm massacre leaves 19 dead. News Central TV. https://newscentraltv.com/honduras-palm-farm-massacre-leaves-19-dead/

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