The political killings you don’t hear about

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Many people in America consider Charlie Kirk’s murder a shocking, unprecedented act of political violence.

But the reality is, activists across the world are brutally gunned down and disappeared almost every day for their political speech. They just don’t have Kirk’s power or platform.

Take Juan López, an environmental activist from Honduras. He was shot dead in front of his family, friends and neighbors last fall as he was traveling home from church—six shots to the chest, one to the head. López had been fighting to protect the Carlos Mejía Escaleras National Park from iron oxide mining which has ravaged the area with pollution. Having faced years of prior threats and even jail time over his activism, López was supposed to be under special protection by authorities in Honduras. But those protections failed to materialize.

Or take Alberto Ortula Cuartero, a vocal environmental activist from the Philippines. The local government leader was publicly gunned down last fall by a passing motorbike rider. He was murdered after testifying against the Tribu Manobo Mining Corporation, alleging they were working on a falsified permit for nickel exploration. Cuartero was known in his community for mobilizing people against nickel mining, which is poisoning water and farmland in the region. His killer remains unidentified.

There’s also Julia Chuñil Catricura, who wasn’t publicly assassinated, but mysteriously disappeared while walking with her dog. The 72-year-old Indigenous Mapuche activist was well-known for speaking out about business interests destroying the native forest stewarded by her tribe. Chuñil had been threatened and harassed because of her advocacy for Indigenous sovereignty and stewardship over that land before her disappearance. Her dog returned from the walk. She did not.

The activists mentioned above are just three of the 146 people who were murdered or went missing while defending their land, forests, and water from