Berta Cceres assassination: ex-head of dam company found guilty
Roberto David Castillo, former Honduran army intelligence officer, found to be co-collaborator in ordering murder
Nina Lakhani
Mon 5 Jul 2021 13.47 EDT
A US-trained former Honduran army intelligence officer who was the president of an internationally-financed hydroelectric company has been found guilty over the assassination of the indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres.
Caceres, winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders, was shot dead two days before her 45th birthday by hired hitmen on 2 March 2016 after years of threats linked to her opposition of the $50m Agua Zarca dam.
On Monday, Roberto David Castillo – the former head of the dam company Desarrollos Energeticos, or Desa – was found guilty of being co-collaborator in ordering the murder.
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In the wake of the 2009 coup, which established a new level of institutionalised corruption and the obliteration of the rule of law, Caceres repeatedly denounced the killing and criminalization of community leaders which she said amounted to a policy of social cleansing.
Lawyers representing Caceres’ four children and mother, who prosecuted the case alongside the state, argued that the murder was the grand finale in a campaign of terror carried out by a wider criminal structure including company executives and state officials against Caceres and her grassroots organization Copinh (the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras).
The dam executives were all part of WhatsApp groups where information about Caceres’ whereabouts was shared, as were plans to request assistance from state institutions including public security agencies to repress peaceful protests by the Lenca people.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/05/berta-caceres-assassination-roberto-david-castillo-found-guilty
Roberto David Castillo
Bertha Zúniga, daughter of Berta Cáceres.
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