'Berta Lives': Demonstrators Demand Justice for Slain Activist, End to US Military Aid to Honduras
'Berta Lives': Demonstrators Demand Justice for Slain Activist, End to US Military Aid to Honduras
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Common Dreams
"Berta didn't die, she multiplied!" was the cry heard around the world on Wednesday afternoon.
Rights defenders worldwide stood in solidarity and called for justice for slain Indigenous activist Berta Cáceres on Wednesday, rallying for a global day of action at Honduran embassies in Ottawa, New York, and London, among other cities.
Cáceres, a prominent environmental activist in Honduras, was murdered in her sleep in March in what many observers suspect was a politically motivated assassination. "The death of Berta Caceres has filled us with indignation," COPINH, the Indigenous rights group Cáceres founded, wrote on Facebook this week. "Pain is with us, but the strength of her thought and work and the need for justice also accompanies us."
Cáceres had been leading local Indigenous resistance to a controversial dam project. Activists and rights defenders are extremely vulnerable to criminalization and violence under the current government, as Common Dreams reported, and military and energy company officials were arrested in connection to her murder last month.
Supporters taking part in Wednesday's demonstrations are demanding an independent investigation into Cáceres' death as well as an end to U.S. military aid to the repressive Honduran regime, which has been in power since a 2009 U.S.-backed coup.
More:
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/15/berta-lives-demonstrators-demand-justice-slain-activist-end-us-military-aid-Honduras
LBN:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141490464
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In Honor of Berta Cáceres, Rep. Hank Johnson Introduces Historic Bill to Stop U.S. Aid to Honduras
June 15, 2016
In an unprecedented move, a group of congressmembers are calling on the United States to suspend all military aid to Honduras until the country addresses its gross human rights violations. On Tuesday afternoon, Democratic Congressmember Hank Johnson of Georgia introduced the bill in Congress demanding the U.S. halt all funds to Honduras for their police and military operations, including funds for equipment and training. The United States currently provides hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Honduras through the Northern Triangle’s Alliance for Prosperity Plan. The legislation is named after indigenous and environmental leader Berta Cáceres, who was murdered in Honduras in March. We speak with Georgia Representative Hank Johnson about his landmark bill.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I want to turn now to Honduras. In an unprecedented move, a group of congressmembers are calling on the United States to suspend all military aid to Honduras until the country addresses its gross human rights violations. On Tuesday afternoon, our guest, Democratic Congressman Hank Johnson of Georgia, introduced a bill in Congress demanding the U.S. halt all funds to Honduras for their police and military operations, including funds for equipment and training. The United States currently provides hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Honduras through the Northern Triangle’s Alliance for Prosperity Plan.
AMY GOODMAN: The legislation is called the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, named in honor of slain indigenous environmental leader Berta Cáceres. In March, she was murdered in her own home in La Esperanza, Honduras. For a decade, she led the struggle against the Agua Zarca Dam, planned along a river sacred to the Lenca people. Honduran authorities have charged five people in connection with her death, including a Honduran army major and employees of DESA, the company behind the dam. But Cáceres’s family has called for an independent investigation.
Congressmember Hank Johnson of Georgia, talk about this legislation, what you’re calling for and why you’re involved with this.
REP. HANK JOHNSON: Well, this legislation would suspend financial aid to the republic of Honduras for military operations and training and also weaponry equipment. It would suspend U.S. financial assistance to Honduras for those purposes until such time as the republic of Honduras can demonstrate that it has adequately and transparently investigated and taken action on the many killings, unlawful and extrajudicial killings, of human rights activists, environmental activists, LGBT activists, human rights defenders in Honduras. There’s been a scourge of killings. The killings have been linked to the corrupt police and security forces and also the military units within Honduras. And it’s time for action. It’s time for the United States to stop supporting these kinds of regimes. Quite frankly, they’re illegal. This is an illegal regime that overthrew a duly elected president. And since that time, this kind of violence has rained down on human rights defenders in Honduras. And it’s time for the United States to stop its support for those kinds of activities by that government.
More:
http://www.democracynow.org/2016/6/15/in_honor_of_berta_caceres_rep
[center]
Berta Caceres
Rep. Hank Johnson. [/center]
