|
Nine Years: We Still Demand Justice for Berta Cáceres!
March 2, 2025, Honduras Solidarity Network
March 2, 2025, marks nine years since the assassination of the anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist Honduran Indigenous social movement leader, Berta Cáceres, in 2016. This year, we celebrate Berta's life and continue to demand justice.
Her anti-imperialist efforts inspire us to denounce Donald Trump's threats to seize the Panama Canal, send troops into Mexico, and bankrupt any Latin American nation that defies him. Trump is terrorizing entire migrant and refugee communities in the U.S., including the thousands of Hondurans who fled their country due to the effects of the 2009 U.S.-backed coup d'etat and 13 years of narco-dictatorship.
The Honduras Solidarity Network (HSN) emphasizes that Donald Trump's current wave of bullying extremism is an escalation of U.S. intervention in the region but not an entirely new direction. It is a continuation of the historical and bipartisan U.S. policies in Latin America that destroy possibilities for decent, safe lives for the majority of the people.
The change of government in Honduras in 2022 and proposed reforms by the new President Xiomara Castro have faced interference from U.S. and Canadian corporations and the U.S. State Department from the beginning.
Under Trump 2025, the Honduras Solidarity Network is extremely concerned about even more aggressive interference, especially as the Honduras national elections approach in November 2025.
The quest for justice for Berta Cáceres is an ongoing battle, and it's far from over. Honduras remains one of the deadliest countries in the world for human rights, land, and environmental defenders.
During the 13 years of the post-2009 coup regimes, the U.S. and Canadian governments and corporations facilitated the systematic violation of human rights, including militarized repression against environmental, land, Indigenous, and human rights defenders.
The Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH) regime received U.S. taxpayer dollars in security aid and training from the United States government despite the warning bells, including several Congressional letters advising the U.S. government about the serious human rights abuses occurring under JOH.
These policies were consistent under Presidents Obama, Trump, and Biden until JOH was convicted of narcotics trafficking and other crimes in a U.S. federal court.
Berta Cáceres was a founder of the Indigenous organization COPINH (the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations in Honduras) and a tireless organizer against dictatorship, militarization, and U.S. interventions in Honduras as well as a defender of the land and natural resources and Indigenous communities.
Berta was assassinated in her home on March 2, 2016, as she tirelessly led opposition to the illegal construction of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam by DESA (Desarrollos Energéticos S.A.), a private company owned by the powerful Atala Zablah family in Honduras. In violation of international law, the local Indigenous Lenca community was not consulted. It did not give prior consent for the project, and the dam generated years of violence and conflict in the affected communities near the dam.
With Honduran and international supporters, Berta's family and organization have waged a long and arduous battle for justice for her, confronting powerful economic and political interests working for impunity for those involved. Extended delays by the courts in confirming some of the sentences and relatively light penalties for some of those convicted have postponed justice.
It was not until 2019 that seven hired hitmen, including employees of DESA, were sentenced to between 30 and 50 years of imprisonment for her assassination. In July 2021, David Castillo, the general manager of DESA and former military officer, was convicted as a co-author of the crime and sentenced to 22 years.
Masterminds still untouched
Meanwhile, other powerful masterminds of Berta's assassination have yet to be seriously investigated or charged. Among those implicated but not charged are members of the Atala Zablah family, several of whom were on DESA's Board of Directors and held other important positions in the company. Honduran prosecutors report that cell phone data and messages suggest that Daniel Atala Midence, Chief Financial Officer of DESA, was involved more directly in the assassination.
GIEI (Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts)
In February 2025, COPINH announced a new initiative to fight for justice for Berta: the installation of a new independent expert investigative group called the GIEI (Grupo Interdisciplinario de Expertos Independientes, or Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts). The GIEI will pick up where a previous independent group (GAIPE) left off and pursue the investigation to identify and insist on prosecuting all those who masterminded, authorized and financed the assassination.
We share the hope that the installation of the GIEI and the continuing persistent fight against impunity will expose all those involved and bring the masterminds of Berta's assassination to justice.
The Honduras Solidarity Network continues to support the demands for justice for Berta and all those subjected to violence and repression in Honduras. We also continue to insist on accountability for the U.S. and Canadian corporations and governments for their role in facilitating these crimes against the people in Honduras.
TAKE ACTION
Join us in demanding justice for Berta Cáceres and other land, environmental, and Indigenous defenders in Honduras. Amplify your support by participating in our social media campaign starting March 3. Share messages from the HSN, COPINH, and Honduran social movements using #JusticeForBerta, #JusticiaParaBerta, and #BertaVive.
Below are some of the messages we will be circulating:
- #BertaVive | On this day, we commemorate Berta's life and struggle against imperialist and capitalist exploitation in Honduras. Today, we remember the importance of her legacy in the struggle against the escalation of imperialist violence in the Trump administration.
- International multilateral development banks are complicit in the murder of Berta Caceres, Indigenous environmental defender.
- #JusticeForBerta means #JusticeForHonduras in the struggle against extractive projects backed by international investors.
- USAID partnered with DESA, the project which aimed to install a hydroelectric plan within an ancestral Lenca river. U.S. taxpayer dollars supported the violence against Berta Cáceres, a Lenca leader and land defender in Honduras. #JusticiaParaBerta
- #JusticiaParaBerta | We applaud the implementation of the #GIEI in the struggle to find justice in the murder of Berta Cáceres. The #GIEI seeks to fight impunity in Honduras by identifying the masterminds of her murder and creating an integral reparations plan for the Lenca communities affected by extractivism.
Today, we remember Berta Cáceres and her important struggle against neocolonial violence in Honduras. Her legacy reminds us of the importance of opposing violent extractivist projects at the service of the national elite and multilateral development banks. #JusticiaParaBerta
Honduras Solidarity Network
[email protected] | X: @hondurassol | Bluesky: @HondurasSolidarity.bsky.social | Facebook: Honduras Solidarity Network
|
