Gunmen kill 20 people in palm plantation massacre in Trujillo, Honduras.
NEWS:
Twenty people were killed in an armed attack at the Paso Aguán palm plantation in the community of Rigores, Trujillo, in Honduras' Colón Department, on May 21, 2026. The massacre occurred in and around a structure used by the Tierra Prometida church inside the plantation, where prosecutors said victims appeared to have gathered before beginning their workday.
The video being published with this report records the attack itself and shows the armed violence as it unfolds. The footage directly records people being attacked with firearms at the site. It does not, by itself, establish the motive, the identities of the shooters or what happened before the recorded sequence.
The death toll was confused during the first hours after the attack. Early reports referred to 11 victims, while a Rigores resident who reached the area said he had counted 17 bodies near the entrance to the plantation. Honduran authorities initially declined to confirm that figure because no bodies remained at the main scene when investigators arrived.
The Honduran Public Prosecutor's Office later explained why the scene was so difficult to process. Relatives had removed bodies before forensic teams reached the plantation and taken them to homes and other locations in the community. Prosecutors said the movement of the bodies altered the crime scene and limited the collection of forensic evidence. Investigators nevertheless recovered ballistic evidence and other material from the plantation.
By May 22, forensic authorities had formally identified 19 victims. The list included men and women ranging from teenagers to older adults, including three minors, two aged 14 and one aged 16. Three sisters were also among the dead. Police later said a 20th body had been found, bringing the official toll from the Rigores massacre to 20.
Authorities said motorcycles, personal belongings and work tools were left at the site. Prosecutors said the victims were believed to have been preparing to begin their workday when armed men attacked. The location is part of the Bajo Aguán palm-growing region, an area with a long history of land disputes, armed groups and violence connected to control of agricultural territory.
The motive became one of the most disputed parts of the case. In the immediate aftermath, Security Minister Gerzón Velásquez described the killings as appearing to be an execution intended to spread fear. Police later said their main working theory involved rivalry between criminal structures competing for control of territory used for palm production and profits from the irregular commercialization of the crop.
That theory remained an investigative position, not a final judicial finding. Honduras' national human rights ombudsman urged authorities to avoid premature conclusions and examine all reasonable hypotheses connected to the territorial conflict in the Bajo Aguán. The agency cited the area's history of agrarian conflict, territorial disputes, armed actors, illegal weapons and serious human rights violations.
The first major arrest publicly linked to the massacre came on June 2. National Police detained Carlos Alexis Molina Mencías in La Ceiba. Police described him as the suspected leader of a criminal structure referred to as "Gato Negro" and said he was being investigated for alleged participation in the May 21 attack. Authorities said the arrest was carried out during a court-authorized raid.
Williams Noé Reyes Izaguirre was later arrested in La Ceibita, Tocoa. A national criminal court subsequently ordered pretrial detention for Molina Mencías and Reyes Izaguirre. Prosecutors accused them as alleged co-perpetrators of murder, attempted murder and criminal association. Later court proceedings also linked the case to allegations that motorcycles and cellphones belonging to victims were stolen during the attack.
The investigation expanded again in July. Police said a July 7 operation known as Phase II Rigores targeted alleged members of the criminal group Los Canechos in simultaneous raids in Atlántida, Colón and the Bay Islands. Seven suspected members were detained. During one raid in Matarras, Esparta, a man identified by authorities as an alleged member of the group died in an exchange of gunfire with police.
Police reported seizing two shotguns, two rifles, four pistols, ammunition and magazines, tactical vests, military-style clothing, cellphones and motorcycles during those operations. Authorities said the detainees were being investigated for possible links to the Rigores killings, but the arrests did not by themselves establish that every person detained took part in the massacre.
By July 15, Dennis Joel Romero Morales had also been ordered into pretrial detention in the case. A judge found sufficient grounds for the criminal process to continue against him on allegations of murder, attempted murder, robbery with violence and intimidation, and criminal association. The court also maintained the detention orders against Molina Mencías and Reyes Izaguirre.
The July court proceedings included documentary, forensic and testimonial evidence, including advance statements from two protected witnesses. Defense attorneys disputed the accusations and sought dismissal of the case. The judge instead ordered the three defendants to remain in pretrial detention at the Támara National Penitentiary while the prosecution moved forward.
News story written by DarkGore.
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