C\u00e1ceres, a winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders,\u00a0was shot dad\u00a0late at night on 2 March 2016 \u2013 two days before her 45th birthday \u2013 after a long battle to stop construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque river, which the Lenca people consider sacred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The court ruled the murder was ordered by executives of the Agua Zarca dam company Desa because of delays and financial losses linked to protests led by C\u00e1ceres. The murder was contracted to a group of hitmen who were paid to kill C\u00e1ceres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seven men have been found guilty of the murder of the Honduran indigenous environmentalist Berta Isabel C\u00e1ceres. An eighth defendant, Emerson Duarte Meza, was cleared and freed on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The seven men convicted of orchestrating her murder by a court in Tegucigalpa were Sergio Ram\u00f3n Rodr\u00edguez, communities and environment manager for Desa; Douglas Geovanny Bustillo, former Desa security chief and ex-US trained army lieutenant; Mariano D\u00edaz Ch\u00e1vez, US-trained special forces major who served with Bustillo; Henry Javier Hern\u00e1ndez, former special forces sergeant who served with D\u00edaz; Edwin Rapalo; Edilson Duarte Meza; and Oscar Torres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gustavo Castro, a Mexican environmentalist, was shot in the same attack but survived by playing dead. Hern\u00e1ndez, Rapalo, Edilson Duarte and Torres were found guilty of the attempted murder of Castro. The other three defendants were found not guilty of that crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thursday\u2019s verdict was welcomed by C\u00e1ceres\u2019s family and colleagues, but they reiterated demands that justice be delivered against the masterminds and financiers of the plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday there\u2019s no satisfaction, or happiness, but we are glad to see jailed the killers who murdered my mother simply for defending natural resources at a moment when she was defenceless. We don\u2019t want revenge because we are not killers like them, but we demand that the masterminds behind the murder be brought to justice,\u201d said Olivia Zuniga, C\u00e1ceres\u2019s eldest daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
C\u00e1ceres, the coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras<\/a> (Copinh) was best known for defending indigenous territory and natural resources, but was also a respected political analyst, women\u2019s rights defender and anti-capitalist campaigner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her murder became a litmus test for a country where corruption and impunity reign \u2013 and for a justice system which has received millions of US and European dollars in international aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the case has been plagued by allegations of negligence, secrecy and bias. Lawyers representing the family and Castro were\u00a0expelled from proceedings shortly before the trial\u00a0after calling for the judges to be recused for bias and abuse of authority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The verdict confirmed that a Desa executive coordinated with Bustillo before and after the murder. During the trial the executive was identified as company president David Castillo, a US-trained former military intelligence officer. Castillo faces trial separately, accused of masterminding the murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bustillo coordinated with Diaz, who provided a gun, logistics, and participated in a reconnaissance mission. Diaz linked Bustillo to Hernandez, the point man on the night of the murder who organised the group of killers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These four military men, ruled the court, were involved in an aborted attempt to kill C\u00e1ceres on 5 February 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rodriguez\u2019s family declined to comment but his lawyers said they would appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wendy Amador, the wife of Diaz, said: \u201cThey\u2019ve condemned innocent men to protect those higher up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mood outside the court was a mix of relief, anger and sadness about the loss of one of the region\u2019s most celebrated defenders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Victor Fernandez, the family\u2019s lawyer, said: \u201cThe state must immediately revoke the dam licence so that Desa stops being a threat to the Lenca people, the Rio Blanco community and Copinh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Zuniga added: \u201cWe demand justice for\u00a0Berta C\u00e1ceres\u00a0in country with so much impunity, not just for our family but for the Lenca people, for Honduras, and all the environmentalists who\u2019ve lost their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The group will be sentenced on 10 January 2019.$<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" C\u00e1ceres, a winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders,\u00a0was shot dad\u00a0late at night on 2 March 2016 \u2013 two days before her 45th birthday \u2013 after a long battle to stop construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque river, which the Lenca people consider sacred. The court ruled the murder was ordered by executives of the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2722"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2723,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2722\/revisions\/2723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}