Fighting for Justice for Berta Caceres assassination, 10 years and counting
Every struggle counts, even as the U.S. and Israel rampage in Palestine, Iran and Lebanon (openly or silently supported by major Western European countries, Canada, Australia), creating death and destruction, and the U.S. (openly or silently supported by this same “Western bloc”) rampages in the Americas, carrying out regime change in Honduras again (November 2025), kidnapping the President of Venezuela and his wife Cilia Flores (January 3, 2026), trying to further strangle and starve Cuba, creating more death and destruction.
Since 1998, Rights Action has supported the amazing work and struggle of COPINH (Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras) and Berta Caceres, co-founder and coordinator until her assassination. Berta became a dear friend and companera of ours, including Karen Spring who worked with Rights Action and moved to Honduras in 2009 soon after the U.S. and Canadian-backed coup brought 13 years of military-backed, drug-trafficking, open-for-global-business governments to power (June 2009-January 2022), … forced migrancy, death and destruction.
Berta was easily one of the most articulate, powerful and empowering voices in opposition to the June 28, 2009 coup and then to 13 years of the U.S. and Canadian-backed regime. For this, the military-backed, drug-trafficking government and elite sectors led by the Atala Zablah family, planned and paid for her killing on March 2, 2016.
Below
A moving article by Karen Spring about the night and immediate aftermath of the assassination of Berta, the on-going struggle for justice led by COPINH and Berta family members, and the January 12, 2026 publication of an in-depth investigation by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI Honduras) into the coalition of national and international interests that planned and financed Berta’s assassination.
Gorilla Radio interview with Karen Spring
Recent communique from COPINH about attack campaigns against COPINH by the Atala Zablah family that is implicated in the assassination
These attacks against COPINH and Berta’s family will only increase now that the U.S. has put back in power essentially the same military-backed, drug-trafficking, open-for-global-business government that was in power from June 2009-January 2022.
While the advances in the struggle for justice in this case are fundament' fuitureally due to the courage of COPINH and Berta family members, they also got a boost during when Honduras was governed by the fundamentally decent government of President Xiomara Castro, 2022-2026.
Due primarily to the U.S. intervention in the recent elections, this experience of good governance in Honduras is abruptly over.
Global companies and investors, as we have already reported, are already cheering this move back to business-as-usual. It is the majority population of Honduras that will of course suffer the consequences.
Stay tuned. The struggle for the future of Honduras, and this courageous struggle of Berta’s family and COPINH are far from over.
Grahame Russell
grahame@rightsaction.org
The Morning of Berta’s Murder: Reflecting Ten Years Later
March 2, 2026, by Karen Spring (karen@hondurasnow.org)
https://www.hondurasnow.org/the-morning-of-bertas-murder-reflecting-ten-years-later/
It was around 1:20 am on March 3, 2016, when my phone vibrated at the side of my bed in Tegucigalpa. I was half awake when I heard it, but I was aware it was late.
Then it started vibrating again.
I turned and peered over the side of my bed. “Unknown Caller” appeared on the screen. Then it stopped and dinged. Someone had left a message.
I grabbed my phone and listened to the voicemail. I cannot recall the exact message: “Karen. Gustavo is in la Esperanza, and he is injured. Berta was killed in her home. He needs help.”
It was short, but shocking.
I immediately dialed Berta Cáceres’ phone number. A man’s voice answered.
“Gustavo?” I asked.
The conversation was brief. In a whispered whimper, Gustavo Castro, a long-time Mexican activist told me that Berta was dead. He was inside her home and was injured and bleeding. They had shot at him. He was scared that the people that had broken into Berta’s home and shot her, would return if they knew he was alive. He could not get a hold of anyone – no one was answering their phones. In a hushed voice he proceeded to ask, “What should I do? Should I call the police?”
I told him not to call the police. “Just wait, I will try to get a hold of COPINH people.”
I began calling all the numbers I had for COPINH, the Civic Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras, the organization that Berta worked with and co-founded.
By that time, a chain reaction was already unfolding, and several people close to Berta were in touch and responding to the crisis.
I called Gustavo back to see how he was doing, “Tomas [a former COPINH leader] called me. He’s on his way” he told me.
As I would later find out, in the early hours of the morning, Tomas hurried to Berta’s home outside of La Esperanza, Intibucá. Tomas would quickly stop by the police station to report the murder, and continue driving to Berta’s home to help Gustavo and verify what we all found so hard to believe.
Berta Cáceres had been murdered.
Berta’s home outside of La Esperanza, the morning of March 3, 2016. In the early hours of the morning, it had been turned into a crime scene. Credit: Karen Spring
I left my home on March 3, 2016, in Tegucigalpa around 3:30 am and drove the 3.5-hour trip to La Esperanza.
When I arrived, I found a small crowd of COPINH members around a pick-up truck parked on the side of the road in the center of La Esperanza outside the Public Prosecutor’s local office. In the truck bed, I saw a brown cloth blanket, which I believe but never asked at the time, covered Berta’s body. She was being taken to Tegucigalpa for an autopsy.
As the pick-up truck pulled away, COPINH began to protest in front of the Public Prosecutor’s small office. COPINH leaders were on the phone, responding to inquiries about what had happened, demanding an independent investigation. We all knew that no one could trust the Honduran government, particularly when it came to Berta and COPINH, especially in the context of the intense struggle that was unfolding in Rio Blanco against the construction of the Agua Zarca dam.
Moments later, a COPINH leader took me to see Gustavo, who was hiding inside the home of a local spiritual leader. When I got there, I found Gustavo sitting on a bed in a small room, speaking to one of Berta’s daughters.
He was still shaken. His voice still in a whisper, relating what had happened. He had a bandage around the top of his ear where a bullet had ripped a part of his left ear off and another on the top of his left hand.
The next 72 hours were a blur. After leaving Gustavo, I went to Mama Berta, Berta’s mom’s home to express my condolences, and then to Berta’s home that had been converted into a crime scene earlier that day. I tracked down one of the former COPINH members that had been arrested as a suspect. I gave several interviews to international press. Everything seemed chaotic. People were shocked and grieving, and it was hard to clarify all the moving pieces.
By the morning on March 3rd, the Honduran state and media were already trying to frame the murder as the result of an internal COPINH dispute. As prosecutors focused on interrogating Gustavo, and confiscating the footwear of COPINH members for ‘investigation,’ several people close to Berta and I worked to send a clear message:
This was no internal conflict. This was a murder connected directly to Berta, COPINH, and Rio Blanco’s opposition to the Agua Zarca dam. Powerful interests were behind it.
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Ten years later, the full truth continues to emerge. The bits and pieces of justice that have been achieved have been incredibly difficult, particularly for Berta’s family and COPINH who continue to lead the efforts.
The location of Berta’s siembra (planting or sowing) on the 10th anniversary. March 1, 2026. Credit: Member of P-PIP delegation.
The Current Moment: The Revealing GIEI Report & Pending Justice
This Monday, March 2nd is the tenth anniversary of Berta’s siembra (sowing or planting). National and international allies, Berta’s family, and COPINH will gather in Utopía, COPINH’s training center in La Esperanza to honor her life and discuss the next steps in achieving justice for her assassination and the attempted murder of Gustavo Castro.
The most recent and important revelation of the circumstances surrounding Berta’s murder was the January 12, 2026 publication of a report by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI Honduras), formed to respond to the need to overcome and address the fragmented criminal investigation, and to investigate the structural, corporate, financial and state dimensions of the crime (GIEI report, pg. 2).
The report is an incredible and clarifying publication. The Group and their team picked through legal and investigative documents, phone records, conducted extensive interviews, and pieced together elements and moments of the crime and circumstances surrounding the conflicts relating to Berta’s murder, the Agua Zarca dam, it’s international funding, and its principal investors, the powerful Atala group.
[Read a short summary here, executive summary here, full report (only in Spanish) here].
The report is the latest step in deepening our understanding of many aspects of the irregularities and crimes related to Berta’s murder.
Some of the most important contributions of the report is how it demonstrates that the Honduran government knew about plans to murder Berta and did nothing to prevent it.
In dozens of pages, the report outlines the negligence of the international financial institutions, particularly the Dutch development bank, the FMO Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, and private consultants, including Monkey Forest, a Canadian consultant group, that certified the disbursement of funds to the corporate and financial actors set up to launder and manage funding for the Agua Zarca project.
The report details the configuration of financial entities that tie the sentenced and presumed co-authors, David Castillo and members of the Atala family, to Agua Zarca project and Berta’s murder.
The report comes after slow, step-by-step efforts, each one representing an uphill battle, led by COPINH and Berta’s family to achieve the conviction and sentencing of the material authors and some of the intellectual authors of Berta Cáceres’ murder, and cases related to the approval and violence surrounding the Agua Zarca dam (see complete list below).
This includes Roberto David Castillo Mejía, the former President of DESA for both his involvement in Berta’s murder, and in corruption related to the approval of the concession and licensing of the Agua Zarca dam.
After years of insistence, COPINH, Berta’s family and their supporters have achieved an indictment against Daniel Atala Midence, the Chief Financial Officer of DESA, and another co-author of Berta’s murder. Atala Midence has still not been arrested and appears to be in hiding but bringing him to justice along with the powerful Jacobo, Pedro, and Eduardo Atala, all believed to have also been involved, are critical next steps.
Outside of Mama Berta & the Flores family home as social movements gather to mourn and celebrate Berta’s life, March 4, 2016. Credit: Karen Spring
Since Berta’s murder, a lot has changed in Honduras. COPINH, the Honduran social movement, the political situation, are all significantly different.
But even ten years later, there remains a huge gap, an empty seat, a deafening silence in the social movement that Berta filled with such authority, cleverness, strategic thinking, and political clarity. She is still deeply missed.
When I think of Berta now, 10 years after her murder, I picture her behind the steering wheel of a pick-up truck riding down a bumpy road. As the truck sways back and forth to the rhythm of the potholes and uneven terrain, she jerks the gear shift and talks about the struggle in Rio Blanco– part of her life’s work fighting against the capitalist, patriarchal and racist global economic order.
Ten years later, she continues to inspire many.
Berta’s image projected on La Gruta, a historical and spiritual site in La Esperanza, Intibuca. February 28, 2026. Credit: COPINH.
The Long Hard Road for Justice: The Many Legal Battles
Below is a list of cases and incredible achievements led by COPINH and Berta’s family in their struggle for justice in all cases related to Berta’s murder and the construction and violence surrounding the Agua Zarca dam:
1. Case related to Berta’s murder and attempted murder of Gustavo Castro:
A. The arrests (May 2016), convictions (November 2018), and sentencing (December 2019) , and sentence confirmations (November 2024 and February 2025) of the material authors and some of the intellectual authors of the murder, including Sergio Rodríguez Orellana, Desarrollo Energético’s (DESA, the company building the Agua Zarca dam) former environmental manager; Douglas Bustillo, former military and head of security for DESA; and Mariano Díaz, military major.
B. The arrest, conviction (July 2021), sentencing (June 2022) and sentencing confirmation (November 2024) of David Castillo, one of the co-authors of Berta’s murder and former President of DESA. [See here for daily summaries I wrote during Castillo’s trial]. Castillo was sentenced to 22 years in prison.
C. The indictment and arrest warrant for Daniel Atala Midence, DESA’s Chief Financial Officer for his involvement in Berta’s murder. Atala Midence, like the other Atala family members, have still not been arrested.
2. Cases related to the approval of the Agua Zarca dam
A. The arrests or indictments (March 2019), convictions (May 2024), and sentencing (November 2024) in the “Fraud on the Gualcarque” case involving David Castillo, ex-President of DESA; Carolina Lizeth Castillo, former employee of the National Electrical Energy Company (ENEE); and Raúl Pineda Pineda, former mayor of San Francisco Ojuera, Santa Barbara, among others for corruption and irregularities related to the concession and licenses granted to DESA to construct the Agua Zarca dam.
B. The arrests and trials against various municipal authorities in Intibucá, including ex-mayor Martiniano Domínguez for corruption-related charges for approving the licenses and permissions for the Agua Zarca dam without the free, prior and informed consent of the Rio Blanco communities. Domínguez was found not guilty in 2018.
3. Cases related to violence in Rio Blanco
A. The conviction (December 2015) of Kevin Saravia, the ex-sub-official of the Honduran military and the material author of COPINH member Tomas Garcia’s murder in Rio Blanco on July 15, 2013. Saravia was also tried (January 2023) and absolved of attempted murder for injuring Garcia’s son, Alan García in the same incident.
4. Cases related to evidence manipulation in Berta’s murder investigation
A. The arrest (November 2017) and trial (February 2026) of two police officers, Juan Carlos Cruz, an investigator for the Investigative Police Bureau (DPI), and Miguel Rosales, for presenting false evidence in the investigation of Berta’s murder, making it seem like it was connected to a robbery. Rosales was found guilty and Cruz was absolved.
Among many other actions.
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Gorilla Radio interview with Karen Spring
March 11, 2026
(Go to minute: 31:40)
https://gradio.substack.com/p/gorilla-radio-with-chris-cook-john-5e6
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Members of the Atala group are carrying out attacks against COPINH
COPINH Communique, February 26, 2026
https://copinh.org/2026/02/comunicado-2-26-miembros-del-grupo-atala-realizan-campanas-de-ataque-a-copinh/
COPINH reports that, just days before the 10th anniversary of Berta Cáceres’ murder, members of the Atala family attacked COPINH for demanding justice.
Following the issuance of an arrest warrant in December 2023 against Daniel Atala Midence, financial manager of the Agua Zarca project, for the murder of Berta Cáceres, a series of serious cyber attacks have been reported.
Following a technical analysis, Carolina Atala Midence, sister of fugitive Daniel Atala Midence, has been identified as the instigator and participant in this series of campaigns aimed at threatening, defaming, stigmatizing, and promoting discrimination and hatred against COPINH and the children of Berta Cáceres.
Furthermore, through her profile on X @gvtm34, this individual participates in the attack messages.
Carolina Atala and Daniel Atala are the children of José Eduardo Atala Zablah and the nephews of Jacobo Atala Zablah and Pedro Atala Zablah, the owners of the Agua Zarca project and the employers of David Castillo, Sergio Rodríguez, and Douglas Bustillo, who were convicted of the murder of Berta Cáceres.
The pattern of attacks includes creating websites under Berta Cáceres’s name, paying “bots” to generate posts on Facebook, X, and TikTok, using artificial intelligence, and creating images and videos containing hate speech and threats that feature bloody images referencing COPINH and Bertha Zúniga, Berta Cáceres’s daughter.
As part of these campaigns, confidential information regarding the security measures taken by COPINH and Berta Cáceres’s family was leaked.
The cyberattacks are closely tied to the manipulation of the Honduran media, which has been withholding information linking the Atala family to the crime. This was evident in the recent presentation of the report by the GIEI (Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts).
COPINH condemns these acts and holds Carolina Atala Midence and her family members responsible for any act that threatens the life and safety of Berta Cáceres’s family and our organization.
We call on the Honduran authorities to investigate these incidents and apprehend those responsible so that they may be held accountable.
We recall that in November 2025, a shooting occurred at COPINH’s Utopía Center in La Esperanza, and to date, there have been no clear results.
La Esperanza, Intibucá
February 26, 2026
“With the ancestral strength of Berta, Lempira, Mota, Iselaca, and Etempica, our voices rise up, filled with life, justice, freedom, dignity, and peace.”
More information
COPINH (Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras), www.copinh.org / https://bertavivecopinhsigue.copinh.org / copinhonduras.blogspot.com / http://copinhenglish.blogspot.com / @COPINHHONDURAS
Karen Spring, karen@hondurasnow.org, www.hondurasnow.org
Honoring Berta Caceres, 10 years later, in these times of extreme U.S.-led, Western violence and aggression
By Grahame Russell, March 2, 2026
https://mailchi.mp/rightsaction/honoring-berta-caceres-10-years-later
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