Five years after the murder of Berta Cáceres | Tuita …

Five years ago, Honduras lost to one of its tireless leaders, Berta Cáceres. At around midnight on March 2, 2016, the co-founder of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh) was murdered at her home in the town of La Esperanza, located about 100 kilometers from the capital. Since The country has witnessed the web of impunity that surrounds attempts at justice to convict those responsible – material and intellectual – of the Cáceres murder. In the world, Berta is already a symbol of struggle and to commemorate her, Copinh organized a tweet as well as a virtual recital in which artists from seven countries will participate.

“The State has privileged the rights of companies and extractive industries. Even when it became clear that the company that took over the Gualcarque River was involved in Berta’s murder “said Miriam Miranda of the Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (Ofraneh) of the Garífuna people in dialogue with Page 12. Berta and the more than 200 organized communities of Copinh resisted the plundering of natural resources in their territories. The coup of 2009 was the scene of an institutional rupture that power groups in Honduras needed. During the last three administrations of the National Party (Porfirio Lobo from 2010 to 2013 and Juan Orlando Hernández from 2014 to the present), the government has granted numerous concessions for mining and hydroelectric projects. In none of these cases was there a free, prior and informed consultation, as provided for in Convention 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) on the right of consultation of indigenous peoples.

One of the concessions granted concerned the company Desarrollos Energéticos SA (DESA) and its “Agua Zarca” hydroelectric project on the Gualcarque river in the community of Río Blanco. While the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has ordered the Honduran government to provide protective measures for Cáceres, the administration of current President Juan H. Hernández has done the opposite.Berta Cáceres was indicted for theft of land and for causing losses at the DESA hydroelectric power station in 2013. The case was eventually closed in 2014. While being persecuted in Honduras, Berta’s character became de more and more internationally known. In 2015, Cáceres accepted the Goldman Prize – known as the Nobel Prize for the Environment – which was awarded to him in recognition of his struggle and that of the indigenous Lenca people.

The trial for the Cáceres murder also revealed a plot of impunity which has resulted in numerous postponements and complaints of irregularities by those close to Cáceres.. In this context, the Qualified Observation Mission was created on the trial for the murder of Berta Cáceres. The Mission supervised the first trial which culminated on November 30, 2018 in the conviction of seven of the material perpetrators of the Honduran woman’s murder. Currently, the Mission is also responsible for monitoring the trial of David Castillo, former director of DESA. He is the only brain that is on trial in Berta’s case. Just a few days ago and after a total of 11 suspensions, it was confirmed that Castillo’s trial for intellectual authorship of the Cáceres murder will take place from April 6 to 30 this year. Regarding this trial, Página / 12 spoke with Carmen López Flores, one of the lawyers of the legal team for human rights which is part of the qualified observation mission. “The impunity in this trial is manifested, on the one hand, by the inability of the courts to recognize the broad context: the antecedents, the networks of corruption which surrounded the murder of Berta Cáceres, which constitute its real motive. On the other hand, the permissiveness that justice operators sometimes exercise with power groups that seek to obstruct justice by delaying tactics “Stressed López Flores.

“The murder of Berta Cáceres revealed the face of this narco-dictatorship. She had precautionary measures, was covered by the protective mechanism and was murdered. And we wonder what they can do with invisible people, who are not known internationally as Berta Cáceres. His assassination reveals not only the participation of the state but also shows the great helplessness of the people who fight for nature and the environment in this country ” Miranda asserted. Currently, Ofraneh has formed the Garífuna Committee for the Investigation and Search of the Missing of the Triumph of La Cruz (SUNLA, which means “enough” in the Garífuna language). The SUNLA committee is the response of the Garífuna people to the Honduran state’s more than seven months of silence over the disappearance of four young people and the chairman of the board of directors of Triunfo de La Cruz, a community located on the north coast of Honduras. . “This case shows the modus operandi of the criminal group that runs the country. Although the involvement of the Directorate of Police Investigations (DPI) in the kidnapping of young people has been reported and proven, the state does not comment on the fact that the young people were abducted by persons linked to the military and to the Honduran police >>.

“It is also a country that has invested so much money to strengthen state security by strengthening private security companies and militarism.Miranda highlighted the reality of the Central American country. “It is clear, now more than ever, that not only are we defenseless, but that the state has promoted a policy aimed at emptying the territories and handing them over to organized crime. Proof of this is the migrant caravans. They all want to leave this country “.