The Council of
Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) demands an
investigation by independent and impartial experts to identify those physically
responsible for the political assassination of Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores,
General Coordinator of COPINH, as well as the intellectual authors of this
crime. Specifically, we demand that the Honduran state sign an agreement with
the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) f to send independent
experts to conduct a clean, impartial, and transparent investigation.
COPINH emphatically
denounces the Honduran state’s manipulation of the investigation into the
murder of our compañera Berta Cáceres Flores with the aim of criminalizing
COPINH and repairing its own image, nationally and internationally. We denounce
the state’s intention to obfuscate the political assassination of Berta Cáceres
Flores by saying that it was a personal crime or a “crime of passion.” We
denounce that the Honduran state is focusing its investigation on blaming members
of COPINH.
We denounce the
clumsy handling of the investigation, including rejecting the family’s request
to the Public Ministry to have Berta’s autopsy performed in the presence of
independent forensic experts. Investigators’ also seized the vehicle and shoes
of Tomas Gómez, Coordinator of the organization, without any justification.
We denounce the
Honduran state’s detention for 48 hours of Aureliano Molina Villanueva, a
member of COPINH, despite the fact that witnesses state Aureliano was in San Francisco
de Lempira, two hours from La Esperanza, at the time of the murder.
It is clear that the
Honduran state—the very state that sought to criminalize Berta Cáceres, the
very state that gave an order for her arrest, and the very state that
persecuted and threatened her—holds responsibility for her assassination and
cannot be in charge of investigating itself. The state that persecuted Berta
Cáceres for confronting the country’s economic and political elites clearly
intends to manipulate the investigation in order to continue criminalizing and
maligning her.
We know with
certainty that the murder of Berta Cáceres was a political assassination meant
to silence a national leader in the struggle against the neoliberal development
model, based on destruction and death, imposed by the Honduran state. We hold
the Honduran state and the political and economic elites responsible for
seeking to silence Berta Cáceres’ struggle in defense of the environment, the
indigenous Lenca people, and especially the Gualcarque River where the DESA
company is trying for a second time to build an illegal and illegitimate
mega-hydroelectric dam.
We denounce that
early in the morning on March 2, the day of Berta Cáceres’ murder, witnesses
saw hit men (sicarios) from DESA in a blue Ford 150 vehicle, in
Siguatepeque near the turn for La Esperanza, and heard them speaking ill of
Berta Cáceres. We denounce that on February 20, 2016, during COPINH’s protest
against the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam, the Vice-Mayor of San Francisco de Ojuera
(who is collaborating with DESA to promote the dam project) sentenced Berta
Cáceres to death. On February 16, 2016, armed men followed Berta Cáceres and
other COPINH members as they left Río Blanco, following them in a vehicle from
Plan de Encima to Zacapa. And on February 25, during the forced eviction of
COPINH Lenca families in Jarcia, Guinse, Intibuca, by the police and military,
a member of the National Direction of Criminal Investigation (DGIC in Spanish)
police unit harassed Berta Cáceres and told her that they wouldn’t be
responsible if anything happened to her.
Berta received
constant death threats for her work in defense of the Lenca people, including
in the days leading up to her murder. We reiterate the denunciation made by
COPINH on February 20, that DESA has contracted known criminals to work as
paramilitary guards. One of them was involved in the murder of Bernardo Pérez
and, in late December 2015, was detained for illegal possession of firearms but
later set free after being openly supported with funds from DESA’s Chief of
Security for Agua Zarca, Jorge Ávila. We reiterate our denunciation of the
collaboration between DESA and the Honduran state to threaten the Lenca people,
and we denounce the collaboration among private guards, police, military, and
TIGRES (special forces) deployed in the area where the Agua Zarca dam is
planned.
If the Public
Prosecutor’s office really wants to investigate the murder of Berta Cáceres,
they should confiscate and investigate DESA’s vehicles, specifically the blue
Ford 150 that was seen carrying DESA hit men on the day of Berta’s
assassination.
The Honduran state
has prohibited Gustavo Castro Soto—who was a witness to the murder and also
received a gunshot injury during the attack—from leaving the country. Gustavo
is the Coordinator of Other Worlds/Friends of the Earth Mexico. He has already
given his testimony to investigators. This morning he was stopped from boarding
a plan to return to Mexico and we denounce the threats to his safety. We
denounce that he is being brought back to La Esperanza, where his safety is in
danger.
We demand an
investigation of the economic and political elites behind the assassination of
Berta Cáceres Flores, which will require independent and impartial experts.
We demand justice for
Berta Cáceres Flores! We demand that her real killers be found! We demand that
the state of Honduras stop manipulating the investigation and sign an agreement
with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights immediately, so that they may
start their impartial and transparent investigation.
We demand the
withdrawal of DESA from the Gualcarque River and financial institutions such as
FMO and Finnfund should also withdraw their funding and support from the Agua
Zarca project.
We demand an end to
the criminalization of COPINH and respect for the physical security of Tomas
Gómez, Coordinator of COPINH, the
rest of the members of the General Coordination team of COPINH, and all the
members of COPINH in Río Blanco and in other communities.
We demand an end to the murder, persecution, militarization, and criminalization of all defenders of the Honduran people.
We reaffirm our
struggle in defense of the environment and the Lenca people.
We reaffirm our
defense of the Gualcarque River.
WITH THE ANCESTRAL
FORCE OF LEMPIRA, MOTA, AND ENTEMPICA, WE RAISE OUR VOICES FILLED WITH LIFE,
JUSTICE, DIGNITY, AND PEACE.
BERTA CÁCERES LIVES!
COPINH
