In April 2020, the Preventive Council of the Tolupan indigenous community in San Francisco de Locomapa filed an amparo action, submitting that, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, municipal authorities implemented a solidarity program to help the population but that they did so in a discriminatory way, providing food and assistance only to individuals and families politically linked to the local government.
In February 2021, the Administrative Court of San Pedro Sula upheld the request and ordered, among other things, that the municipality should elaborate a Permanent Action Plan to guarantee the right to food and provide immediate medical assistance to all members of the Tribe to address the biological-nutritional affectations derived from the violation of their right to food. In addition, it required local authorities to recognize the Preventive Council of the San Francisco de Locomapa community as a valid representative body of the community.
In May 2021, the Court of Appeal in Tegucigalpa overturned the ruling, stating that there was insufficient evidence to support the assumption that the deliveries of food aid and comprehensive medical services were carried out in a selective and discriminatory manner. For that, the community seized the Constitutional Court seeking protection of its rights.
On 14 July 2022, the Constitutional court delivered a historical decision and found that, while coping with the spread of COVID-19, municipal authorities had systematically carried out political sectarianism and discrimination against the indigenous community of San Francisco de Locomapa, thus violating their rights to food, health, and life. The Court clearly stated that local authorities have a duty to respect, protect, and promote the economic, social, and cultural participation of minorities.
