by SARAH BLASKEY
Yesterday the world woke to the terrible news that Berta Cáceres, world-renowned Honduran indigenous activist and mother of four, was murdered in her home in La Esperanza, Intibuca, Honduras. It was a shock to many who knew and worked with her.
Yesterday the world woke to the terrible news that Berta Cáceres, world-renowned Honduran indigenous activist and mother of four, was murdered in her home in La Esperanza, Intibuca, Honduras. It was a shock to many who knew and worked with her.
Cáceres was a founder of the Civic Council of Grassroots and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), a powerful coalition active in various struggles around Honduras. In 2015, she won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her part in organizing resistance to the Agua Zarca Hydro-Dam that threatened the environment and indigenous ways of life in Honduras’ Rio Blanco community.
“Berta was a force rooted in the past and imagining a different, decolonized future, free of the three systemic forces she routinely identified as her true enemies. Capitalism, racism and patriarchy,” freelance journalist and friend of Cáceres, Jesse Freeston, told Upside Down World.
But beneath the sadness of loss is an all-too-familiar fury.
Cáceres’ death was political murder. It was a premeditated, probably paid-for, assassination, carried out in the middle of the night. It was the ultimate retribution for her dedication to an on-going struggle for justice in Honduras.
Officials said Cáceres was killed in the course of a regular robbery. But in a country notorious for political assassinations committed with impunity, few really believe the police report. Even if by some twisted, morbidly-ironic coincidence Cáceres was killed as thieves broke into her home, they only just beat the assassins through the door. It wasn’t as though the assassins weren’t coming soon.
For years Cáceres had been the subject of persecution and death threats for her work with the Rio Blanco indigenous community to block a major hydroelectric dam project which was initiated without any input from the local indigenous community. She has been detained and unjustly accused of illegal activities. A secret ‘kill list’ targeting activists, journalists, and politicians was leaked to the press on Nov. 23, 2013 listing Cáceres as the number one target.
Her murder took place despite a recent ruling by Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granting Cáceres special security measures. According to an early AFP report officials denied that there was a failure on the part of security personnel the day of the murder.
The Tico Times reported, “The security minister said Cáceres had spent the night away from the home that was registered with the authorities. Fellow activists said she had moved to a safe house fearing for her life.” Recently, Cáceres was involved in what she deemed a “big altercation” with representatives of a hydroelectric company.
Beverly Bell, founder of Other Worlds, a collaborative women’s movement that worked with Cáceres, told Upside Down World that there is no doubt that Cáceres the murder was politically motivated.
“[Cáceres] is one of the biggest threats to the government because she is as the head of a movement that is trying to project indigenous land and waters from multinational investment with the backing of the United States government. It’s absolutely political,” Bell said in an interview.
There was at least one witness to Cáceres’ murder. Gustavo Castro Soto, member of Otros Mundos Chiapas/Friends of the Earth-Mexico, was visiting Cáceres as part of a peacekeeping delegation that night. He was injured during the attack. Castro went to the local court on the morning of March 3 with a lawyer from COPINH and a representative from the Mexican Embassy to report Cáceres assassination.
As of the time of writing, he has not left the local court. Fearing detention or persecution, international supporters issued an urgent statement late on March 3, calling for Castro’s protection and his safe return to Mexico.
International solidarity activists have taken to social media, calling for a swift investigation and justice for Cáceres and her family. The U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, James D. Nealon, tweeted on March 3, condemning the murder and offering “US government resources” to bring the criminals responsible to justice.
Unfortunately, Cáceres’ case is only unique because of the amount of international attention it has received. In Honduras, extreme violence and extrajudicial killings are routine, and often carried out with impunity by private security forces or even military and police. Multinational corporations have been accused of hiring thugs to violently push their agendas onto communities that resist them.
According to a 2015 Global Witness report, Honduras is the most dangerous country in the world to be an environmental activist. One hundred and one environmental or indigenous activists were killed in Honduras between 2010 and 2014.
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