Who killed Berta Cáceres? Behind the brutal murder of an environment crusader

[Judi Lynn]

Could there ever be justice for someone like Berta in a country like Honduras, where impunity reigns supreme?

Nina Lakhani
Tue 2 Jun 2020 00.00 EDT

The final few months of Berta Cáceres’s life were filled with ominous signs. Just before Christmas 2015, she confided in her sister Agustina that her life was in danger. “The messages never stop, the harassment never stops, they have me under surveillance. They don’t care that I have children. Those sons of bitches are going to kill me.”

Berta was involved in numerous land and water struggles alongside indigenous Lenca communities across western Honduras. But the battle to stop construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque river, in the community of Río Blanco, had her more worried than usual. Berta told her children she was scared, and that they should take the threats seriously. “Mum said there was a group of dangerous sicarios [hitmen] attacking the Río Blanco community and asking about us, her daughters,” said Laura, 23, the youngest, home from midwifery college for the Christmas break. “I knew the threats were serious because she wouldn’t leave me alone in the house, not even for a night.”

Berta had reasons to suspect the hitmen were hired by Desa, the dam construction company. Desa’s trumped-up criminal charges against her and other leaders of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh) had failed to silence them. Was it now it was pursuing other means to stop the opposition?

Her sense of unease intensified on 12 February 2016. Douglas Bustillo, a thuggish former army lieutenant and Desa’s ex-security chief, messaged her Copinh deputy, Tomás Gómez, out of the blue, accusing Berta of cashing in on the Río Blanco struggle to win the prestigious Goldman environmental prize.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/02/who-killed-berta-caceres-behind-the-brutal-of-an-environment-crusader


















Rest in Peace, Berta Cáceres.

[Judi Lynn]

1. ...Investigation into the murder of leading activist exposed the magnitude of corruption in Honduras

Who Killed Berta Cáceres?: Investigation into the murder of leading activist exposed the magnitude of corruption in Honduras
Her murder triggered international condemnation which forced an investigation, and the eventual conviction of seven men

By Nina Lakhani
Tuesday, 2nd June 2020, 7:00 am
Updated
1 hour ago

Berta Cáceres was a Honduran indigenous and environmental rights defender. In 2015, she won the Goldman Prize, the world’s most prestigious environmental award, for leading a campaign to stop the construction of an internationally financed dam on a sacred river, which would have destroyed the local community.

Less than a year later, on 2 March 2016, she was shot dead at home. Her murder triggered international condemnation which forced an investigation, and the eventual conviction of seven men – including hitmen, military officers and company managers, shedding rare light on the state-sponsored political violence and corruption in Honduras.

In an edited extract from her book, Who Killed Berta Cáceres?, former i writer Nina Lakhani examines the early attempts to frame her colleagues.

. . .

'Crime of passion'
Investigators from Atic, the high-impact crime force, the police investigation unit and, most oddly, the inspector general’s office, were on their way. By daybreak, the crime scene was packed. Tomás drove Gustavo to a safe house, where Atic agents arrived with a forensic sketch artist. Gustavo described the gunman: he was tall, dark-skinned, with short hair, big eyes, wearing a black top and white scarf. Yet when the sketch was finished, it looked nothing like the assailant. Gustavo protested, the illustrator made a few alterations, it still wasn’t right – but Gustavo was worn out and conceded.

More:
https://inews.co.uk/news/who-killed-berta-caceres-murder-leading-activist-corruption-honduras-2871420