{"id":2728,"date":"2018-12-14T16:44:42","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T16:44:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/?p=2728"},"modified":"2018-12-14T16:44:42","modified_gmt":"2018-12-14T16:44:42","slug":"berta-caceres-conviction-of-killers-brings-some-justice-but-questions-remain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/2018\/12\/14\/berta-caceres-conviction-of-killers-brings-some-justice-but-questions-remain\/","title":{"rendered":"Berta C\u00e1ceres: conviction of killers brings some justice, but questions remain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

B<\/strong>erta C\u00e1ceres spent the final hours of her life\u00a0being tailed by contract killers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 2 March 2016, at least four men were following the Honduran activist in the town of La Esperanza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They shadowed her as she went the training centre where her organization \u2013 the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of\u00a0Honduras\u00a0(Copinh) \u2013 was hosting an alternative energy workshop; they followed her to her mother\u2019s house, to her favourite restaurant \u2013 and finally to her home at around 9.30 that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C\u00e1ceres was scared, and asked Gustavo Castro, a Mexican environmentalist and old friend, to stay with her. They sat talking on the porch for a while, before heading inside to rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just after 11.30pm, at least two men broke into the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d shouted C\u00e1ceres, before Elvin Rapalo shot her three times with a .38 revolver. He stamped on her torso to stop her fighting back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A second gunman, Oscar Torres, shot at Castro, and blood gushed from his left ear. Castro played dead, and heard what sounded like a walkie talkie, probably in the hands of Henry Hernandez, a former special forces sergeant who led the team of killers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gunmen fled to a waiting getaway car driven by Edilson Duarte Meza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When they had gone, C\u00e1ceres called out to her friend, who cradled her in his arms as she lay dying. \u201cDon\u2019t go, Berta,\u201d he begged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was just before a quarter to midnight when the former Goldman Prize winner took her last breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, a court in Tegucigalpa\u00a0convicted the four men of murdering C\u00e1ceres, and the attempted murder of Castro, but many questions over her death remain unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trial was mired by allegations of negligence and cover-ups, but the verdict was clear: the killers were paid to shoot C\u00e1ceres, and the order came from executives at Desa, a company building an internationally backed hydroelectric project on a river considered sacred by the indigenous Lenca people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C\u00e1ceres had led opposition to the Agua Zarca dam and the protests were causing costly delays, so an elaborate plan was drawn up to kill her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surveillance, planning and logistics were handled by three men: Sergio Ram\u00f3n Rodr\u00edguez, Desa\u2019s communities and environment manager, who managed a network of paid informants; Douglas Bustillo, the company\u2019s former security chief and a US-trained ex-army lieutenant; and Mariano D\u00edaz, a decorated US trained special forces major who at the time of the murder was under investigation for drug trafficking and kidnap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though they were not there at C\u00e1ceres\u2019s death, they were found guilty of her murder. They were cleared of Castro\u2019s attempted murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An eighth man, Emerson Duarte Meza was found not guilty on all counts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The killing prompted outrage around the world, coming when Honduras was already the most dangerous place in the world to defend land and environmental rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That inglorious ranking was rooted in the 2009 coup that ushered in a pro-business government who sanctioned scores of renewable energy projects, mines, and biofuel plantations, in rural communities without consultation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least 49 mega-projects were destined for Lenca territories, and C\u00e1ceres led multiple campaigns to stop land-grabs. But it was opposition to Agua Zarca on the river Gualcarque which triggered the worst repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of 2013, the surrounding area was militarized, Berta and other Copinh leaders were offered money to support the dam, and a local leader was shot dead by a soldier. Work was suspended and protests died down \u2013 but then Desa launched a modified plan, work resumed in late 2015 \u2013 and so did the protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That was when the order to kill her was made. C\u00e1ceres was closely monitored, and the information shared on WhatsApp groups including company shareholders, managers and security personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Company president David Castillo,\u00a0a former intelligence officer, is accused of masterminding the murder and faces trial separately. He and Desa have denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phone messages extracted from C\u00e1ceres\u2019 phone by Desa\u2019s international legal team suggest she had developed a friendly relationship with Castillo during the construction lull. In those friendly chats, he obtained details of her personal plans he then shared with colleagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desa\u2019s international lawyer dismissed the verdict as a \u201cpolitically motivated farce\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And despite Thursday\u2019s guilty verdicts, many questions remain unanswered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The court was shown a WhatsApp message sent by Desa\u2019s financial manager Daniel Atala regarding criminal charges against C\u00e1ceres and two other COPINH leaders. \u201cI\u2019ve spent a lot of money and political capital to get those three arrest warrants,\u201d he wrote. Which politicians made that happen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The court also heard that after the murder, Atala messaged Rodr\u00edguez, saying: \u201cRelax\u2026 don\u2019t panic\u2026 Pedro [Atala, his uncle and shareholder] spoke the security minister who said it was a crime of passion\u2026 We just need to keep working as normal.\u201d Why did a minister give such reassurances? Neither Daniel nor Pedro Atela has commented publicly on the case, and both declined an interview request.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Why did the court deny a request by C\u00e1ceres family lawyers to call Atala, Desa shareholders, and senior police officers as witnesses?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022\u00a0In June 2016,\u00a0the Guardian revealed that C\u00e1ceres\u00a0was on a military hitlist, which included several activists who had already been murdered. Four of the men charged with the murder have military links, so why was any wider role played by the armed forces never been investigated?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 The court ruled that as a member of the armed forces, D\u00edaz had a legal obligation to stop the planned crime. Why was the .38 revolver found at his house not sent for ballistics tests?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday\u2019s verdict brought a measure of justice, but despite the international indignation over C\u00e1ceres\u2019s murder, the bloodshed has continued in Honduras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, Reynaldo Reyes Moreno, a community leader battling against an internationally financed solar project in southern Honduras\u00a0was killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ending such murders, means ending impunity for those behind the crimes, said Laura Z\u00fa\u00f1iga, C\u00e1ceres\u2019 youngest daughter. \u201cOur battle for dignity, truth, and justice does not end here. We will keep fighting \u2013 just like\u00a0Berta C\u00e1ceresdid.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 This article was amended on 3 December 2018 because an earlier version referred to a 38mm revolver, when a .38 revolver was meant. This has been corrected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Berta C\u00e1ceres spent the final hours of her life\u00a0being tailed by contract killers. On 2 March 2016, at least four men were following the Honduran activist in the town of La Esperanza. They shadowed her as she went the training centre where her organization \u2013 the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of\u00a0Honduras\u00a0(Copinh) \u2013 was hosting an alternative energy workshop;… 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-2728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728","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=2728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2729,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2728\/revisions\/2729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/theamericasblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}