Honduras, which is still reeling from last week’s assassination of Berta Cáceres, one of the country’s most well-known indigenous environmental leaders. She was gunned down in her home early Thursday, less than a year after she won the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. She is at least the 110th environmental or land defender to be killed in Honduras since 2010 in the wake of a U.S.-supported coup. Her death has sparked protests across the Americas. A demonstration is scheduled today outside the United Nations.
At the time of her assassination, Berta was with another well-known environmental campaigner, Gustavo Castro Soto, coordinator of Friends of the Earth Mexico. He was shot twice in the attack. Over the weekend, Castro attempted to leave Honduras, but authorities blocked his exit, even though he was accompanied by the Mexican ambassador. Castro was eventually ordered to return to the town of La Esperanza, where Berta Cáceres had been gunned down. Castro has been held there ever since for additional questioning, the Honduran government says.
Beverly Bell talking:
the first thing to point out is that Gustavo is not only the sole witness, he also was a target for assassination. He was, as you mentioned, Amy, shot twice. And in the one letter that he has been able to get out to a few of us, he said, “They tried to assassinate me, and they are still trying to assassinate me.” Gustavo feigned death after having been shot twice. The death squads, who were sent, we are certain, by the Honduran government, thought that he was dead. They left. Berta died in Gustavo’s arms. He was then immediately picked up for questioning. He is now in his fifth day of questioning. It reads like the worst horror movie you could ever imagine. It’s just been crazy, where Gustavo was locked up in horrible conditions, horrible, denied food and drink and other things, which I have been asked not to report until he leaves the country, for his security.
He then, as you mentioned, was taken by the Mexican ambassador, was given safe haven in the Embassy of Mexico, because he’s a Mexican citizen, for one day. He was being escorted by the ambassador to the airport. He was on his way to pass customs. He had just hugged the ambassador goodbye, when suddenly this gang of Honduran authority thugs showed up and took him back. It was crazy. There has been this supposed diplomatic tug-of-war between Mexico and Honduras. I should say the Mexican government had absolutely no right to return him to the Honduran authorities.
He is now back in the little town where Berta lived, which was the headquarters of her organization, which is an indigenous grassroots organization. And he is now held again for questioning. We are certain that they want to keep Gustavo out of the way. He said that my life—quote, “My life is in extreme danger right now.”
We are calling for his safe passage out of Honduras back to Mexico. We are also calling for an independent investigation of the assassination of Berta Cáceres, because so far it’s been grossly manipulated by the Honduran government, which is seeking to target and blame other members of Berta’s group, who themselves had been detained and are now being investigated and interrogated without lawyers being present. And we are also calling for the decriminalization of the indigenous and popular group, COPINH, that Berta led.
I want to say that this is not just a horrible human rights crisis happening in Honduras right now. It is also a battle for the future of Central America, which is the epicenter of extractive industries. So, on the one hand, you have multinational corporations that are in Honduras to take over forests, mines, waters, indigenous lands and intellectual property rights, which others call indigenous knowledge, and on the other hand, you have social movements, which in Central America have been led by Gustavo Castro and by Berta Cáceres for the protection of these indigenous lands, for rights and for participatory democracy.
________________
Beverly Bell
colleague of Gustavo Castro Soto and Berta Cáceres. Bell is coordinator of Other Worlds, a social and economic justice organization, and an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies.
— source http://www.democracynow.org/2016/3/8/honduran_activist_berta_caceres_died_in