“We've been expecting this sentence for almost a year. This opens a very important stage in order to realise this guilty verdict against one of the killers of my mother, our comrade Berta Cáceres,” said Bertha Zúniga, the coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). The leader warned that the judicial decision could still…
On 5 July, the city of Tegucigalpa sentencing court’s first chamber unanimously found David Castillo, Honduran businessman and intelligence officer, guilty of co-perpetrating the murder of Berta Cáceres. His sentence will be announced on 3 August. The ruling confirmed, among the main pieces of evidence, the numerous phone communications, text messages and WhatsApp chats through which Castillo coordinated actions to…
Roberto David Castillo Mejía is a Honduran businessman, former government employee for the state energy agency, and later Executive Director of the company in charge of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project: Desarrollos Energéticos S.A (DESA). Berta Cáceres and the Lenca community from Rio Blanco opposed the installation of DESA’s project on the Gualcarque River. The project was granted a 20-year…
After an 18-month suspension of the preliminary hearings to decide whether to open trial against David Castillo, a Honduran court finally announced on 26 August that he will face an oral and public trial. A military intelligence officer trained at West Point, David Castillo is also a known businessman linked to the Atala Zablah family. The Atalah Zablah business group…
The ruling came 45 months after Berta’s murder. The seven men had been convicted as the direct perpetrators of her murder on November 29, 2018. “The Honduras Sentencing Court sentenced the seven men guilty of the murder of Berta Isabel Cáceres to 30 and 34 years in prison, and for four of them an additional 16 years and 4 months for attempted…
Ten years after the murder of environmental defender Berta Cáceres, we take a look at the report issued by the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI Honduras). This report, based on a human rights perspective as well as testimonial evidence, files, and telecommunications, confirms that the femicide of the Lenca defender was carried out by hitmen, planned by high-up corporate…
“The participation of young people in COPINH has been strengthened, and new leaderships have been emerging. Every day we want to help the youth, so that they do not replicate the same flaws as so many social organisations”, stated Bertha Zúniga Cáceres, General Coordinator for COPINH, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras. This is six years…
The trial against David Castillo in Tegucigalpa has been underway since 5 April, although it actually began on 26 April. Castillo is a former intelligence officer from Honduras, trained at West Point military academy, who became a state official in the energy sector and then manager of Desarrollos Energéticos SA (DESA) Company, in charge of carrying out the Agua Zarca…
“Berta lives on, she lives with the Lenca people fighting against those who are trying to loot their territories, with women standing up to defend their rights, in the peoples’ struggles for water and life. Berta lives on in the heart of all rebels!” Proclaimed the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). On 2 March 2016,…
March 2nd marks the third anniversary of the murder of Berta Cáceres, a political femicide that attempted to silence the struggles led by this Honduran defender together with the Lenca people and the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). With this crime, they tried to silence the struggle against the installation of extractivist projects such as Agua…
