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berta caceres
US Progressive Caucus Hails Honduran Election as Chance for 'New Chapter' in Relations
"We encourage the Biden administration to use this opportunity to make a clean break with previous presidential administrations, which worked to ensure that the 2009 coup d'état succeeded."
Dec 03, 2021
Calling the victory of Honduran President-elect Xiomara Castro "an opportunity for a new chapter in U.S.-Honduras relations," Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal on Friday congratulated the first woman and socialist to be elected leader of the Central American nation long plagued by American subversion of democracy.
Castro, a political activist and the wife of former Honduran President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya, won last week's presidential election by more than 15 points over right-wing Tegucigalpa Mayor Nasry Asfura.
Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in a statement that she hopes this new phase of bilateral relations is "one based on mutual respect, support for democracy, and equitable development."
\u201cThe Honduran people have elected a new president in a historic election \u2014 and presented the United States with an opportunity to reset our countries' relationship.\n\nOur chair @RepJayapal is calling for a clean break from previous administrations' policies toward Honduras \u2b07\ufe0f\u201d— Progressive Caucus (@Progressive Caucus) 1638561944
"We encourage the Biden administration to use this opportunity to make a clean break with previous presidential administrations, which worked to ensure that the 2009 coup d'etat succeeded, legitimized the deeply flawed elections in 2009, 2013, and 2017, and pushed policies that have resulted in surges in Honduran insecurity, poverty, mass migration, and organized crime," the congresswoman added.
Democratically elected in 2005, Zelaya challenged Honduras' status as a U.S. client state while spurning the neoliberal economic policies of his oligarchic predecessors. In just three years in office, he implemented policies including an 80% minimum wage hike, universal free education, free school lunches for 1.6 million children, free electricity for low-income households, and land reforms including government subsidies for poor farmers.
Zelaya's progressive reforms earned him powerful enemies among the Honduras oligarchy--in which a handful of families control 90% of the nation's wealth--and in U.S. business and political circles. In 2009 he was ousted in a military coup led by Gen. Romeo Orlando Vasquez Velasquez, a two-time graduate of the U.S. Army School of the Americas, also known as the "school of assassins" due to the plenitude of dictators and human rights criminals among its alumni.
\u201cHondurans elected their first woman president, Xiomara Castro, ousting the conservative ruling party in a landslide.\n\nThe government has been under the control of the conservative National Party since 2009, which has been marked by corruption and scandals.\u201d— AJ+ (@AJ+) 1638400010
"Immediately following Zelaya's unconstitutional ouster, members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus mobilized to denounce the overthrow as a military coup and call for the reinstatement of the elected president," said Jayapal.
However, despite initially condemning the coup and despite a demand by the United Nations General Assembly for the "immediate and unconditional restoration" of Zelaya's rule, the administration of then-U.S. President Barack Obama recognized the illegitimate presidency of Porfirio Lobo, the Honduran oligarchs' hand-picked candidate in an election marred by government violence and widely viewed as fraudulent.
As Hondurans took to the streets to protest against the coup regime, state security and paramilitary forces responded by killing hundreds of actual and perceived opponents while then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked behind the scenes to ensure Zelaya did not return to power. Before she was assassinated in March 2016, Indigenous land defender Berta Caceres blamed Clinton for helping to legitimize the coup regime.
Jayapal said that since the coup, "Progressive Caucus leaders have organized and protested against the brutal repression, autocratic governance, violations of human rights, and murders of labor organizers, human rights activists, environmental defenders, journalists, and Afro-Indigenous leaders under Honduras' post-coup regimes."
"The Progressive Caucus has also been at the forefront of demanding a change in U.S. policy," she added, "including an end to U.S. weapons and training for Honduras' repressive security forces until real efforts have been made to end impunity and restore the rule of law."
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Conviction of Dam Company Executive for Murder of Berta Caceres Hailed as 'Step Towards Justice'
"However, justice for Berta will never be truly complete until everyone who took part in the crime, including those who planned it, is brought to justice."
Jul 05, 2021
Human rights advocates on Monday welcomed the conviction of Roberto David Castillo Mejia, a Honduran businessman and former military intelligence officer, for the March 2016 assassination of Indigenous environmental activist Berta Caceres, while calling on authorities in the Central American nation to bring everyone involved in planning the murder to justice.
"Until allthose responsibleare heldaccountable,other human rights defendersin Honduraswill continue to lose their lives."
--Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International
The Guardianreports the Tegucigalpa high court found Castillo--formerly head of the dam company Desarrollos Energeticos, or DESA--guilty of collaborating in Caceres' murder. The court ruled that Caceres was killed for leading the campaign to stop construction of the $50 million Agua Zarca dam, a local grassroots effort which caused delays and monetary losses for DESA.
The environmentally destructive hydroelectric project is located on the Gualcarque River, which is sacred to the Indigenous Lenca people, and was approved despite its failure to comply with Honduran and international environmental requirements.
Caceres, who was 44 years old when she was murdered, was co-founder and coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), a group dedicated to the defense of the environment in Intibuca and the protection of the Lenca. In 2015 she received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for leading "a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the world's largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam" project at Rio Gualcarque.
According to The Guardian:
After a trial that lasted 49 days, the high court... ruled that Castillo used paid informants as well as his military contacts and skills to monitor Caceres over years, information which was fed back to the company executives. He coordinated, planned and obtained the money to pay for the assassination of the internationally acclaimed leader, which was carried out by seven men convicted in December 2018.
COPINH hailed Monday's verdict as "a popular victory for the Honduran people" that "means the criminal power structures failed to corrupt the justice system."
"Berta lives, the fight continues!" the group tweeted.
\u201c\u270a\ud83c\udffd\ud83d\udd34Esta es una victoria popular del pueblo hondure\u00f1o.\nSignifica que las estructuras de poder criminal no lograron corromper el sistema de justicia.\n\n\u00a1Berta vive, la lucha sigue! \n#FaltanLosAtala\u201d— COPINH (@COPINH) 1625506251
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, said in a statement that "the long-awaited prosecution of David Castillo, convicted as co-author of the murder of Berta Caceres, is an important step towards justice and the result of her family and COPINH's tireless efforts to secure truth, justice, and reparation. However, justice for Berta will never be truly complete until everyone who took part in the crime, including those who planned it, is brought to justice."
"We urge the prosecutors to keep uncovering the truth," Guevara-Rosas continued. "Until all those responsible are held accountable, other human rights defenders in Honduras will continue to lose their lives, for raising their voices and defending the most vulnerable. The Honduran authorities must put an end to impunity."
Noting that Honduras is "the most dangerous country for defenders of land, territory, and the environment," Guevara-Rosas admonished the Honduran government, which she said "seems to look the other way when human rights defenders are attacked instead of fulfilling its obligation to protect them."
"Authorities must take this seriously and do whatever is necessary to keep human rights defenders safe from harm, so that a crime like the murder of Berta Caceres is never repeated," she added.
\u201cThe conviction of the murderer of Honduran #humanrights defender Berta C\u00e1ceres is a step toward justice, but @ErikaGuevaraR said it: the full truth must be uncovered. @amnesty @ofraneh @COPINHHONDURAS @RedDefensoras\nhttps://t.co/dKI1aywEX4\u201d— The Council for Global Equality (@The Council for Global Equality) 1625513965
A 2019 profile (pdf) of Castillo by five human rights advocacy groups states:
Evidence suggests that the murder of Berta Caceres was part of a pattern of violence, corruption, intimidation, malicious prosecution, and impunity for violence orchestrated by Castillo and others at DESA, who appear to have functioned as a criminal structure...
Castillo and his associates and employees at DESA enlisted the support of key agencies of the Honduran government, using influence in the Ministry of Security, police, and military and improper influence in the Honduran judiciary, seemingly to advance efforts to intimidate, persecute, and neutralize Berta Caceres and COPINH's opposition to the Agua Zarca Hydroelectric Project.
DESA, and representatives it employs, continue to promote the stigmatization of Berta Caceres, COPINH and Indigenous Lenca villagers in Rio Blanco after Caceres' murder.
Prior to Castillo's arrest, eight other men, including Douglas Bustillo and Sergio Rodriguez, both of whom worked with Castillo at DESA corporation, and both graduates of the U.S. Army School of Americas (SOA), were arrested and charged with Caceres' murder. Bustillo, Rodriguez, and five other men were convicted of murdering Caceres in 2018.
A 2017 report (pdf) by international legal experts concluded Caceres' murder was not an "isolated incident" and alleged "willful negligence by financial institutions." The report found that the targeting of Caceres was part of a "strategy" by DESA employees, private security firms, and public officials "to violate the right to prior, free, and informed consultations of the Lenca."
"The strategy was to control, neutralize, and eliminate any opposition," the report said.
\u201c\ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf3Estamos siguiendo la trasmisi\u00f3n en vivo de la audiencia del #TribunalSentanciaNacional, dando lectura del Fallo en la causa instruida contra #DavidCastillo, acusado de coautor\u00eda en el asesinato de #BertaC\u00e1ceres\n@COPINHHONDURAS \n#JusticiaParaBerta \nhttps://t.co/AGFF430uHA\u201d— Erika Guevara Rosas (@Erika Guevara Rosas) 1625503821
Caceres co-founded COPINH in 1993 and led campaigns against dam building, illegal logging, U.S. military bases on Lenca land, and other environmental and social injustices. Her work became increasingly dangerous following a 2009 coup perpetrated by SOA-trained military officers and backed by the Obama administration, as numerous activists were assassinated, attacked, or threatened for their work.
Shortly before her assassination, Caceres excoriated former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for her role in the coup.
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As Key Suspect Tried, Encampment Demands Justice for Berta Caceres
Honduran movements need our solidarity in demanding justice for Berta.
Jun 28, 2021
After five long years, social movements in Honduras are finally getting closer to bringing some justice to the assassination of beloved social movement leader Berta Caceres. Today, David Castillo sits on trial as a key perpetrator of her murder.
Five years ago, Indigenous feminist Berta Caceres from Grassroots International partner COPINH was murdered for defending Lenca territory against the Agua Zarca mega-dam project. As we've since learned, company officials and Honduran state actors had a hand in her assassination.
"We're here with all of the force, with all of the rebelliousness, and happiness that Berta left us in hearts, in our struggles, and in our organizations."--Katherin Cruz, Red Nacional de Defensoras
She, like many Indigenous organizers, was a water protector. Her murder was, as COPINH calls it, a territorial femicide.
Berta's being "a woman leader of the territories" was "a determining factor in the way in which her entire persecution and murder were carried out," said Bertha Zuniga Caceres, Berta's daughter and general coordinator of COPINH.
But all of the architects--both physical and intellectual--of her assassination still aren't being prosecuted. Furthermore, there are serious concerns of the court's impartiality given the state's recent history of corruption.
In response, social movements are occupying land outside the Supreme Court of Justice. COPINH (the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras) and OFRANEH (the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras) are joining feminist and human rights organizations in the "Campamento Feminista !Viva Berta!" to demand real justice and transparency.
Every day, hundreds have joined from all different parts of the country to remember Berta's legacy. They share meals made from foods carried from Indigenous territories. They share equal parts in laughter and resolve as the smell of traditional herbal burnings fills the air around them. And they aren't giving up.
The prosecution of Castillo is a significant step forward. As the president of the DESA (Desarrollos Energeticos Sociedad Anonima) corporation, he oversaw and stood to profit from Agua Zarca's development.
But the corruption goes much deeper than even Castillo. The entire structure of Honduras' coup government has made the country one of the most dangerous places in the world to be an environmental activist. DESA's Board of Directors, with its deep ties to the state, is not being prosecuted.
So social movements have encamped.
"This is an encampment of resistance, an encampment of dignity, of struggle and of the demand for justice," said Miriam Miranda from OFRANEH. "It demonstrates the need not only to fight for justice but also to fight against this corrupt model, against impunity from the application of justice."
As ever, the Afro-descendent Garifuna and Indigenous peoples of Honduras have seen their fates as linked. The presence of Miriam, in COPINH's words, "along with dozens of colleagues from the Garifuna community, has filled this legitimate fight for justice for Berta Caceres and for the peoples with light and strength."
The Honduras Solidarity Network is running an online campaign to support the Campamento Feminista's demands.
According to Katherin Cruz of the Red Nacional de Defensoras, the encampment will remain for the duration of Castillo's trial. In a radio interview she emphasized how important raising visibility of the deep corruption and complicity of the state, the dimensions of patriarchal violence, is to this case.
Honduran movements need our solidarity in demanding justice for Berta. The Honduras Solidarity Network is running an online campaign to support the Campamento Feminista's demands.
Those encamping know the trial will be long, but they're in it for the long haul. They've been waiting for 5 years already, said Cruz, and they will carry on--until justice is won.
"Sixty-three months ago Berta was unjustly taken from us," wrote COPINH. "They wanted to bury her, but they didn't know she was a seed--a seed of change that flourishes in the rebellious hearts of the peoples, because memory is a way to keep going, to keep fighting. Berta has made herself into millions."
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