The killing of two Honduran water defenders this month has sparked international outrage, with the United Nations calling for an investigation and locals questioning the government’s commitment to protecting environmental activists.

Aly Dominguez, 38, and Jairo Bonilla, 28, were members of the Guapinol water defenders movement, organising to protect their rivers from a controversial open-pit iron oxide mining project in Carlos Escaleras National Park. In recent years, several activists have been killed in unclear circumstances amid community opposition to the mine.

The families of Dominguez and Bonilla say they were killed by unidentified gunmen after weeks of threats related to their activism. Reinaldo Dominguez, Aly’s brother, told Al Jazeera that the killing capped off a long process of intimidation.

“We need action here,” he said after the funeral last week, which was attended by hundreds of residents. “The public ministry needs to investigate and put arrest warrants out for the armed groups … They say, ‘We lament this.’ We want action.”

Upon taking office a year ago, Honduran President Xiomara Castro promised to undo more than a decade of corruption since the 2009 coup against her husband, former President Manuel Zelaya.

Read the full article about environmental activism in Honduras by Jared Olson at Al Jazeera.