Honduras ranch shooting deaths rise to 20: authorities

At least 20 people were killed in a shooting rampage on a palm plantation in northern Honduras, authorities say, in one of the deadliest attacks in the country this year.

Deputy Commissioner Jasser Ramos told broadcaster TN5 that 20 bodies were found.

The dead included 15 men, three women and two children, he said, after authorities had previously reported difficulty securing the scene because relatives began removing the bodies before investigators had finished their work.

Prosecutors said the attack was carried out by several gunmen who opened fire near the church of an African oil palm plantation as workers prepared to start the work day.

Authorities did not provide detailed information about the cause of the incident, but Security Minister Gerzon Velasquez said that initial evidence pointed to criminal groups.

The attack took place in the Bajo Aguan region on Honduras’ northern Caribbean coast, in an area long plagued by violent land disputes, drug trafficking routes and widespread African palm cultivation.

African palm is a crop used to produce palm oil, which is found in processed foods and cooking oils and is also used in soaps, cosmetics and biofuels.

Violence in the region fueled migration; It has led farmers and their families to flee threats, murder and poverty in a region increasingly dominated by big landowners and palm trees.