Remembering Berta Caceres: 5 year anniversary of her assassination →

By Brigitte Gynther, SOA Watch

“Berta was someone who refused to be silent, who refused to cede or go into exile despite the violence she was up against. She was extremely clear about the causes of the injustices of the world and did not hesitate to name those responsible. Her ability to explain and relate complex global phenomena to everyday realities made her an exceptional leader, and the dignity with which she treated every person she met made her a phenomenal organizer.

“She was a compelling and strategic speaker who made the connections between struggles seem obvious and imparted wisdom as she energized those who listened.

“And while she has become a global icon, Berta was also a friend, a mother, a human. I miss her joy in the midst of struggle, her laugh, the late night talks and the stories as we tried to stay awake driving the dark, foggy road to La Esperanza after an exhausting day.”

Remembering Berta Caceres: 5 year anniversary of her assassination
By Brigitte Gynther, SOA Watch, March 2, 2021
https://soaw.org/remembering-berta-caceres-5-year-anniversary-of-her-assassination/

5 years ago, I froze when I awoke to a message that Berta Cáceres had been murdered. I immediately called her close COPINH colleague, hoping it wouldn't be true. But it was. Just the evening before, Berta had messaged asking when I was coming; I couldn't believe she was no longer alive. I dropped everything and headed to La Esperanza, Honduras.

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The situation had been intensifying for Berta and COPINH since the fall, when DESA began its second attempt at constructing the Agua Zarca Hydroelectric Project and COPINH, with Berta's leadership, again organized to stop the project and defend the sacred Gualcarque River.

Today, as we mark 5 years since Berta's assassination, we honor and remember her and her extraordinary life and legacy.

Berta was someone who refused to be silent, who refused to cede or go into exile despite the violence she was up against. She was extremely clear about the causes of the injustices of the world and did not hesitate to name those responsible. Her ability to explain and relate complex global phenomena to everyday realities made her an exceptional leader, and the dignity with which she treated every person she met made her a phenomenal organizer.

She was a compelling and strategic speaker who made the connections between struggles seem obvious and imparted wisdom as she energized those who listened.

And while she has become a global icon, Berta was also a friend, a mother, a human. I miss her joy in the midst of struggle, her laugh, the late night talks and the stories as we tried to stay awake driving the dark, foggy road to La Esperanza after an exhausting day.

She taught me so much, including about the importance of joy even in the most difficult of situations, about the power of joy and laughter when confronting death and destruction. I will forever be grateful to her for that, for her friendship, and for her grit and determination to continue forward no matter how hard the road towards justice seemed.

As we commemorate Berta Cáceres today, her organization COPINH invites us to join a Twitterstorm demanding justice for Berta with the hashtags #JusticeForBerta / #JusticiaParaBerta and #5YearsWithBerta /#5AñosJuntoABerta.

Tag @COPINHHONDURAS and @SOAWATCH too! You can also tag your Senator and ask them to co-sponsor the “Honduras Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Act” (http://org.salsalabs.com/o/727/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=23977).

COPINH also invites everyone to a virtual concert this evening in Berta's honor starting at 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern with over a dozen musicians from all over Latin America and more, including Karla Lara and Rebeca Lane. The concert will be streamed on COPINH's Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/copinh.intibuca/).

Last, but not least, a Honduran court announced yesterday that the trial against Roberto David Castillo, a former Honduran military intelligence officer and the CEO of the DESA company, for Berta's murder will take place April 6-30th. Castillo is the only intellectual author charged to date; we continue demanding that all those responsible are brought to justice.

Berta Cáceres, Presente!

Thank you
Brigitte Gynther
SOA Watch
Brigitte@soaw.org
www.soaw.org

To support efforts for justice, and what Berta was working for:
COPINH (Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras)
www.copinh.org, https://bertavivecopinhsigue.copinh.org, copinhonduras.blogspot.com, http://copinhenglish.blogspot.com/
FB: Copinh Intibucá
Tw: @COPINHHONDURAS

In the US:

More info

Archives – COPINH & Berta Caceres
Over 20 years of Rights Action archives related to work in support of COPINH, divided in 2 sections: 1999 - February 2016; March 2, 2016 - present day: https://rightsaction.org/archcopinh

Book: Who killed Berta Cáceres? Behind the brutal murder of an environment crusader
By Nina Lakhani, 2 Jun 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/02/who-killed-berta-caceres-behind-the-brutal-of-an-environment-crusader

Inside The Plot To Murder Honduran Activist Berta Cáceres
Text and WhatsApp messages show that the conspiracy against Berta Cáceres reached the highest ranks of the company whose dam she had been protesting.
By Danielle Mackey, Chiara Eisner, December 21 2019, The Intercept
https://theintercept.com/2019/12/21/berta-caceres-murder-plot-honduras/

Films & videos: Berta Caceres

The Life and Death of Berta Cáceres (2020)
In 2016, environmental activist Berta Cáceres was shot dead in her home in Honduras. This film by Trocaire features interviews with Bérta's daughter, sister and mother.
https://vimeo.com/390771524

Berta Cáceres: In Her Own Words / En sus proprias palabras
Based on a 2012 interview we did with the Honduran environmental activist and co-founder of the Council of Indigenous People’s Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).
https://skylight.is/2016/03/berta-caceres-in-her-own-words
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjM81tYBew4

Berta Cáceres, Goldman Environmental Prize (April 19, 2015)
In a country with growing socioeconomic inequality and human rights violations, Berta Cáceres rallied the indigenous Lenca people of Honduras and waged a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the world’s largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam. She is the South & Central America winner of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize, the world's largest award for grassroots environmental activists.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh9Sn9oJR94&feature=youtu.be

Berta Caceres acceptance speech, 2015 Goldman Prize ceremony (2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR1kwx8b0ms&feature=youtu.be%C2%A0

Berta's Daughters Speak (2019)
Berta Cáceres was killed for defending the river on which Indigenous communities depend. Her daughters continue that struggle, despite the risks – as witnessed in this Amnesty International interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMdXkXR7U6k&feature=youtu.be

Austra Berta Flores, mother of Berta Caceres, speaks
Calling on international community to demand the full truth, so that those who paid and ordered the murder of her daughter be prosecuted.
https://oxfam.app.box.com/s/ygf6fvlpl9fg08znt7irav78jjp44lz1

Assassination of Berta Caceres: repression, impunity, corruption & profitable businesses in Honduras (April 4, 2017)
Wide Angle interview with Grahame Russell about assassination of Berta Caceres; the U.S. and Canadian backed 2009 military coup; U.S. and Canadian business interests with the post-military coup regimes; why so many Hondurans flee to the U.S., year after year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVMsJyMIlRw&t=83s&list=PLztbi9KA9roUoj_SKm_cehOB_LWo9uTFW&index=25

Dos años después de su asesinato, Berta Cáceres no se murió, se multiplicó (Febrero 2018)
https://www.franceameriquelatine.org/6370-2/

Honduras: Blood and the Water (September 2016)
AlJazeera Faultlines 25 minute report on assassination of Indigenous, anti-imperialist, feminist, environmental activist Berta Caceres.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/faultlines/2016/09/honduras-blood-water-160920064355648.html

Berta Vive (2016)
On March 2016, the assasination of Berta Cáceres shook the world. Gustavo Castro, Mexican environmental activist witnessed the crime and survived the horror of that night but was then trapped in Honduras. The defense against the construction of a dam at the Gualcarque River is the preface to this story. We follow Miriam Miranda, leader of the Garífuna people as well as a friend and comrade of Berta. Both women share the struggle for decolonization in a country that is being sold to transnational capital and where death is delivered in so many different ways.
https://vimeo.com/229310580

4 Years Seeking Justice (January 17, 2020)
Democracy Now interview with a daughter of assassinated Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres
https://www.democracynow.org/2020/1/17/berta_caceres_laura_caceres_interview