(EN ESPAÑOL)
On March 4th of 2016, just a few hours after the assassination of our Coordinator Berta Cáceres, COPINH and the daughters and son of our sister denounced that her assassination stemmed from the struggle that she lead against the DESA corporation because of the Río Blanco community’s opposition to the Agua Zarca project of death.
On March 4th of 2016, just a few hours after the assassination of our Coordinator Berta Cáceres, COPINH and the daughters and son of our sister denounced that her assassination stemmed from the struggle that she lead against the DESA corporation because of the Río Blanco community’s opposition to the Agua Zarca project of death.
Today, 20 months after her
assassination, the investigators from GAIPE have corroborated with the upmost
possible objectivity the unequivocal link between this killer corporation, its
owners, directors and employers in the persecution, criminalization, and
stigmatization that she suffered, as well as the planning, coordination and
execution of the killing.
The corroboration of the
actions leading to her assassination doesn’t come from witnesses or hypotheses.
It comes from the words of the actors themselves, from their phone
conversations, text messages and WhatsApp messages. They implicated themselves.
The key information comes from their own words.
The information analyzed
by GAIPE is the same that the Attorney General has had in its possession since
at least May 2nd, 2016, which means that for over a year and a half
the authorities had the proof and have not had even a minimal inclination to go
after the plotters. A mantle of impunity envelops the whole investigation, as we
have denounced since the beginning. All of the irregularities, the theft of
information, the lack of transparency, the illegalities, the setbacks and
suspensions of hearings have now been revealed to be the Honduran Attorney
General’s office trying to cover up those who plotted the crime, obviously
pressured by the executive and the business groups behind the assassination.
It shows once again that
the State has been taken over by a murderous mafia and that we, the Honduran
people, and especially the indigenous peoples, are its victims. It shows once
again that the economic elites who benefited from the 2009 coup d’état think
that they can do whatever they want without having to pay the consequences.
COPINH is not opposed to
development in Honduras, what we oppose is this “development” that means the
death of our communities, our identity and our territories. We oppose deceitful
people filling their pockets at the expense of our dead, at the expense of the
death of Berta Cáceres and all of those of us who struggle against this unjust
system where the majority is repressed for the benefit of a small economic
elite.
The production of
supposedly “renewable energy” or “clean energy” are just the cheap words of
businessmen who see energy production as a business and are willing to roll
over any and everything, including the law and the people, in order to maximize
their profits.
The assassination of Berta
Cáceres will not remain in impunity. COPINH, the Lenca people and all dignified
people in Honduras and the world will fight until the final consequences for
their to be justice, for the plotters to be punished and so that no more of
these deaths occur. So that as peoples we can continue to defend our
territories.
The corporation Desarrollos
Energéticos S.A. led by David Castillo, members of the Atala Zablah family, and
other directors, the builder of the Hydroelectric Project of death Agua Zarca, financed
by the CABEI, FMO and FinnFund banks, supported by USAID, SERNA (MiAmbiente),
Banco Ficohsa, Voyth Hydro-Siemens, the armed forces of Honduras, the National
Police and private security forces, the COHEP and the AHER, was the corporation
that assassinated Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores. We have said it since the
beginning and it has been confirmed by the recent investigation.
Because of this, COPINH demands:
1. The capture,
prosecution and punishment of all of those who ordered and plotted the
assassination of Berta Cáceres and the persecution of COPINH.
2. The cancellation of the
concession along the Gualcarque River to the criminal and murderous corporation
Desarrollos Energéticos S.A. DESA.
3. Assurances of a real
investigation into the crime against Berta Cáceres, by removing all of those
involved in the case and creating a new investigation team under the oversight
of international organizations.
4. The adoption of
effective and immediate measures of protection and security for the legal team,
COPINH and the family, all of whom are involved in the case seeking justice.
We call on Honduran
society not to allow this case to remain in impunity, justice for Berta means
justice for our people and for the many people assassinated at the hands of
corporate and State criminals.
We call on Honduran
organizations and grassroots social movements to continue forward in defense of
our territories and lives. To demonstrate that Berta didn’t die, she multiplied.
We call on international
solidarity to join us in these demands for justice.
Berta lives on,
COPINH is strong!
What do we
demand? Justice!
Punish the
plotters!
#DesaAsesina
#20MesesSinJusticia
#JusticiaParaBerta
#DondeEstanLosAutoresIntelectales
With the ancestral
strength of Berta, Iselaca, Lempira, Mota and Etempica we raise our voices full
of life, justice, dignity, freedom and peace!
La Esperanza, Intibucá,
November 3rd, 2017
