US & Cdn-backed Honduran regime must prosecute DESA executives, including Atala Zablah family, who knew of and paid for killing of Berta Caceres

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June 2, 2021
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Action needed: Justice for Berta Caceres
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US & Cdn-backed Honduran regime must prosecute DESA executives, including Atala Zablah family, who knew of and paid for killing of Berta Caceres
* Below: COPINH's request for action
* Please use sample tweets below for twitter and other social media


Over the last month of the trial against David Castillo, for his pivotal role in the assassination of Lenca leader Berta Cáceres, Honduras and the world have witnessed how the Honduran Public Prosecutor's Office has had in its hands, for four years, evidence of illegal actions committed by the criminal structure called "DESA" leading up to and resulting in the killing of Berta, but has refused to act.

For comprehensive David Castillo trial updates:
* [link removed]
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Evidence presented in the trial against David Castillo, a military intelligence officer trained in the United States, shows that Castillo planned the assassination of Berta Cáceres in coordination with other already convicted employees of the DESA company, while he was the general manager of the illicit association called "DESA", a company under the control and command of the Atala Zablah family.

Records of chats, texts and audios presented by the Public Prosecutor's Office demonstrate the clear role of Castillo and his Atala Zablah family bosses in years of harassment, monitoring, and criminalization of Berta Cáceres and members of COPINH.

What is being revealed in this trial, in the courts of Honduras, about the role of powerful economic actors, about the extractive industry sector and the highest echelons of the Honduran State in the assassination of the indigenous rights defender sets a precedent not only for Honduras but for the entire region; it is a historic moment and an opportunity to tear down the walls of impunity, complicity and corruption.

Take action: June 2, Global Day of Action for #JusticeForBerta

NB: In the U.S. and Canada, send copies of your letters, tweets, social media, to your elected senators, members of congress, and members of parliament:
* U.S. Senate: [link removed]
* U.S. House: [link removed]
* Canadian Parliament: [link removed]

Remember: Honduras’ 12-year nightmare situation of violence and corruption, human rights violations and endemic poverty – including the assassination of Berta Caceres - are problems substantially Made in the US, Made in Canada.

Send a letter to Honduran authorities demanding that all those responsible for the murder of Berta Cáceres be investigated and prosecuted, including DESA board members and company executives, including members of the Atala Aablah family, highlighting that:
* The trial against David Castillo has evidenced the criminal structure behind the murder of Berta Cáceres. The accused, David Castillo, acted in subordination to members of the Atala Zablah family, who were the majority shareholders and were part of the board of directors of the company DESA.
* The trial has revealed how the structure behind the harassment, surveillance and femicide of Berta Cáceres, including the highest levels of the Honduran state and government, has had this evidence in its hands for the past four years;

Contacts
* Juan Orlando Hernández, President of Honduras, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Mauricio Oliva, President of Congress, mailto:[email protected]
* Rolando Argueta, President of Supreme Court of Justice, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Lidia Estela Cardona, Attorney General, +504 2235-6100
* Oscar Chinchilla, Attorney General, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Rosa Seaman, Secretary of Human Rights, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Danilo Morales, Director of System for Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Journalists, Social Communicators and Justice Operators, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) , [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Héctor Leonel Ayala, Secretary of State for Offices of Justice, Human Rights, Governance and Decentralization, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Blanca Izaguirre, National Commissioner of Human Rights CONADEH, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Other contacts
* Giampaolo Carmelo Rizzo Alvarado, Permanent Mission of Honduras to United Nations, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Roberto Ochoa Madrid, Embassy of Honduras in Brussels, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Luis Cordero Montoya, Embassy of Honduras to OAS, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
* Luis Suazo Barahona, Ambassador of Honduras to U.S., +1 (202) 699-7702
* Sofia Lastenia Cerrato Rodriguez, Ambassador of Honduras to Canada, [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

Demand justice for Berta on social media. Twitterstorsm for #JusticeForBerta
Take a picture of yourself and demand the capture of the intellectual authors of the crime and #JusticeForBerta.

Examples of tweets
* Evidence revealed in the trial against David Castillo is compelling to prosecute the other perpetrators responsible for the murder of #BertaCáceres: the Atala Zablah family. The @MP_Honduras must prosecute them. #JusticeForBerta #FaltanLosAtala.
* #BertaCáceres was murdered for defending indigenous and territorial rights in Honduras in the face of the violent imposition of extractive projects. The @MP_Honduras must prosecute and judge the executives who planned and paid for her murder. #FaltanLosAtala
* The @MP_Honduras has the evidence necessary to prosecute all those responsible for the murder of #BertaCáceres. It is their duty to investigate and prosecute the Atala Zablah family. Half justice is not justice. #JusticeForBerta #FaltanLosAtala.
* The evidence is clear: David Castillo is just one piece in the criminal structure behind the murder of #BertaCaceres. @MP_Honduras must prosecute the intellectual authors of the Atala Zablah family who ran the hydroelectric project Berta was fighting against.

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Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras - COPINH
(Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras)
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
www.copinh.org ([link removed])
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FB: Copinh Intibucá
Tw: @COPINHHONDURAS

In US/ Canada:
* www.hondurassolidarity.org ([link removed])
* Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective: www.solidaritycollective.org ([link removed])
* School of Americas Watch: www.soaw.org ([link removed])
* Rights Action: www.rightsaction.org ([link removed])

Background

Archives – COPINH & Berta Caceres
Over 20 years of Rights Action archives related to work in support of COPINH: [link removed]
A Rot in Honduras That Goes All the Way to the Top
By Hilary Goodfriend, May 27, 2020
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BOOK: Who killed Berta Cáceres? Behind the brutal murder of an environment crusader
By Nina Lakhani ([link removed]) , 2 June, 2020, [link removed]
Inside The Plot To Murder Honduran Activist Berta Cáceres
By Danielle Mackey, Chiara Eisner, December 21, 2019, The Intercept
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Films & videos: Berta Caceres

The Life and Death of Berta Cáceres (2020)
In 2016, environmental activist Berta Cáceres was shot dead in her home in Honduras. This film by Trocaire features interviews with Bérta's daughter, sister and mother.
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Berta Cáceres: In Her Own Words / En sus proprias palabras
Based on a 2012 interview we did with the Honduran environmental activist and co-founder of the Council of Indigenous People’s Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).
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Berta Cáceres, Goldman Environmental Prize (April 19, 2015)
In a country with growing socioeconomic inequality and human rights violations, Berta Cáceres rallied the indigenous Lenca people of Honduras and waged a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the world’s largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam. She is the South & Central America winner of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize, the world's largest award for grassroots environmental activists.
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Berta Caceres acceptance speech, 2015 Goldman Prize ceremony (2015)
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Berta's Daughters Speak (2019)
Berta Cáceres was killed for defending the river on which Indigenous communities depend. Her daughters continue that struggle, despite the risks – as witnessed in this Amnesty International interview.
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Austra Berta Flores, mother of Berta Caceres, speaks
Calling on international community to demand the full truth, so that those who paid and ordered the murder of her daughter be prosecuted.
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Assassination of Berta Caceres: repression, impunity, corruption & profitable businesses in Honduras (April 4, 2017)
Wide Angle interview with Grahame Russell about assassination of Berta Caceres; the U.S. and Canadian backed 2009 military coup; U.S. and Canadian business interests with the post-military coup regimes; why so many Hondurans flee to the U.S., year after year.
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Dos años después de su asesinato, Berta Cáceres no se murió, se multiplicó (Febrero 2018)
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Honduras: Blood and the Water (September 2016)
AlJazeera Faultlines 25 minute report on assassination of Indigenous, anti-imperialist, feminist, environmental activist Berta Caceres.
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Berta Vive (2016)
On March 2016, the assasination of Berta Cáceres shook the world. Gustavo Castro, Mexican environmental activist witnessed the crime and survived the horror of that night but was then trapped in Honduras. The defense against the construction of a dam at the Gualcarque River is the preface to this story. We follow Miriam Miranda, leader of the Garífuna people as well as a friend and comrade of Berta. Both women share the struggle for decolonization in a country that is being sold to transnational capital and where death is delivered in so many different ways.
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4 Years Seeking Justice (January 17, 2020)
Democracy Now interview with a daughter of assassinated Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres
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Tax-Deductible Donations (Canada & U.S.)
To support land, human rights and environmental defender groups in Honduras and Guatemala, and COVID and hurricane relief work, make check to "Rights Action" and mail to:
* U.S.: Box 50887, Washington DC, 20091-0887
* Canada: (Box 552) 351 Queen St. E, Toronto ON, M5A-1T8

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