On March 2, 2016, internationally recognized Indigenous and Honduran social movement leader Berta Caceres was murdered following an intense struggle against the Agua Zarca Dam in Honduras. Berta was the General Coordinator of the Indigenous Lenca organization COPINH and national Honduran social movement leader against the 2009 SOA-graduate led coup in Honduras and the resulting US-backed and financed repressive regimes. She received constant death threats, surveillance, and repression. Despite all the threats, Berta refused to be silent. Demand justice for her death today!
Please take a few moments to send an email to your representative, as well as representatives at the Honduran Embassy, encouraging them to sign onto Representative Ellison and Johnson's letter to Secretary of State Kerry and Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew. The letter calls for the U.S. to urge the Honduran government to sign an agreement with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to provide for an independent group of experts to investigate the murder, to cancel the Agua Zarca Dam concession, and to provide other human rights leaders with protection. The letter further calls for an end to US aid to the Honduran security forces and the review of U.S. support for loans to mega-projects.
To learn more about Berta Cáceres, you can read this article. She was a brave advocate for social and environmental justice, and was one of the 2015 winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize. We encourage all our supporters to sign on to the petition in her memory and to protect other activists working in the dangerous environment of Honduras. Thank you for your solidarity and support.