Honduran anti-dam activist assassinated at her home last week

KUCHING, March 9, 2016. An anti-dam activist of Honduras, who attended a World Indigenous Summit on Environment and Rivers in Miri last year, has been assassinated in her home country last week.

Berta Caceres was assassinated while she was at her home in La Esperanza, Hondoras, anti-dam grassroots network SAVE Rivers chairman Peter Kallang said in a statement today.

Berta Cáceres talking about her stuggle against the Agua Zarca Dam at an indigenous anti-dam conference (WISER) in Miri, Sarawak., last year.

“In her life Berta's passion for the indigenous Lenca and her leadership in pressuring the dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam was an inspiration.

"Now in death her spirit lives in many who fight for human rights and the rivers all over the world,” he said.

Meanwhile, Bruno Manser Fund said indigenous leaders fighting against dams worldwide join the call for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding Berta's assassination.

In a joint statement, anti-dam activists from around the world have expressed their grief and anger about the murder of Honduran indigenous leader Berta and call on the Honduran government to facilitate a thorough, independent investigation.

Her death comes at a time when Lenca communities are being violently forced from their land and the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, defeated in 2013, has resurfaced.

In October 2015, Berta joined indigenous leaders opposing dams from around the world in Sarawak, Malaysia, for the World Indigenous Summit on Environment and Rivers (WISER).

 Bera Cáceres (second from left) and Peter Kallang, chairman of SAVE Rivers and host of WISER in Malaysia (centre), at a press conference in Miri, October 2015. 

 

During the WISER Conference, Berta spoke about the threats she and her community members faced from the military, paramilitaries, police, and hitmen: “Ten members of our organization have been murdered; four of them for defending the Gualcarque River”.

During the week-long WISER summit, the exchange between participants revealed the same threats and enemies to indigenous territories around the world.

Traditional practices and territories are threatened by dams, extractive mining, logging concessions, monocultural expansion, and faulty carbon credit projects that result in so-called “development” for the already wealthy elite.

Hearing of the murder of their companion, the WISER representatives and organizers from the US, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Philippines, and Brazil have issued a joint letter to Honduran embassies worldwide.

They ask the Honduran government to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation into Berta’s assassination, stop the Agua Zarca dam, and provide human rights defenders with the necessary protection.

The indigenous anti-dam activists were inspired by Berta’s passion to struggle: “We deeply admire Berta for her great courage and strength.

She knew that her life was in danger, and continued to fight for the rights of indigenous people and to protect the land and rivers.

" We stand in solidarity with the people of Honduras who bravely continue the fight to which she devoted her life," they said.