Honduras :: Justice for Berta Cáceres
Pressure mounts on government to investigate the murder and guarantee protection for the family of the activist
In order to guarantee justice for the murder of the indigenous activist Berta Cáceres, which occurred on Thursday, March 3, in Honduras, international bodies and organizations are stepping up pressure on the Honduran government to investigate the crime and protect the activist’s family and colleagues. Cáceres was 43 years old, the coordinator of COPINH (Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), the mother of four children and the winner of the 2015 Goldman Prize, one of the most prestigious environmental awards.
According to reports by the local media, the activist was shot dead by two armed men who broke into her house while she slept. Her colleague and also human rights defender, Gustavo Castro Soto, was wounded at the scene by the same killers.
According to COPINH, the indigenous leader’s safety was at risk. Cáceres had received numerous death threats for her role in demonstrations for the environment and against corporations and hydroelectric dams, and also for leading protests in 2009 against the coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.
To assure her protection, the IACHR (Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the OAS) granted a precautionary measure for the activist in June 2009, when she was receiving constant threats from military agents. Last Saturday, March 5, the Commission extended the scope of the precautionary measure to members of COPINH, to the relatives of Cáceres and to Castro Soto, who were all considered at risk on account of their involvement with Cáceres and with activities in defense of human rights.
Recently, the Mexican organization Otros Mundos Chiapas (Other Worlds Chiapas), run by Castro Soto, reported that the Honduran authorities are preventing the Mexican activist from leaving the country on the grounds that he must observe legal procedures required by the government.
In response to the delay and the lack of commitment by the authorities to investigate the crime, Conectas has called for the search for the perpetrators be “impartial, exhaustive and immediate”. In a document submitted to the IACHR on Tuesday, March 8, the organization requested that a special committee be set up to visit Honduras and conduct a serious and independent investigation into the death of Cáceres. On the same day, Conectas sent a second petition to the Honduran embassy in Brasília requesting that the country properly comply with the precautionary measures for human rights defenders in the country, in order to ensure that cases of violence are not repeated.
Click here to read the letter sent to the Embassy of Honduras in Brasília.
Click here to read the letter sent to the IACHR.
