Credit: AP
44 years old Human right activist Berta Cáceres, pictured in January 2015, was killed in Honduras this week.
On Thursday, Cáceres was slain in her home in La Esperanza, western Honduras. She was shot and killed by gunmen who entered the property around 1 a.m.
Despite threats on her life, award-winning Honduran activist Berta Cáceres defended indigenous and environmental rights with indomitable courage and grit.
“They follow me and threaten to kidnap and kill me,” Cáceres said last year after accepting the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her decade-long fight against a high-profile dam project. “They threaten my family. This is what we have to face.”
Reports differ as to how many gunmen were involved in the attack. Some said there were two killers while others pointed to almost a dozen. Karen Spring, a friend of Cáceres’, told The Guardian that the 44-year-old activist was struck by at least four bullets.
Police commissioner Sergio Paz Bueso told local media that Cáceres may have been killed during an attempted robbery; her family has firmly dismissed the suggestion.
“I have no doubt that she has been killed because of her struggle and that soldiers and people from the dam are responsible, I am sure of that. I hold the government responsible,” Cáceres’ mother told radio show Globo at 6.
For years, Cáceres, a member of the Lenca indigenous group, led a campaign against the building of the Agua Zarca Dam along the Gualcarque River. As The New York Times explained, the river is sacred to the Lenca people and central to their livelihood.
“They follow me and threaten to kidnap and kill me,” Cáceres said last year after accepting the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her decade-long fight against a high-profile dam project. “They threaten my family. This is what we have to face.”
Reports differ as to how many gunmen were involved in the attack. Some said there were two killers while others pointed to almost a dozen. Karen Spring, a friend of Cáceres’, told The Guardian that the 44-year-old activist was struck by at least four bullets.
Police commissioner Sergio Paz Bueso told local media that Cáceres may have been killed during an attempted robbery; her family has firmly dismissed the suggestion.
“I have no doubt that she has been killed because of her struggle and that soldiers and people from the dam are responsible, I am sure of that. I hold the government responsible,” Cáceres’ mother told radio show Globo at 6.
For years, Cáceres, a member of the Lenca indigenous group, led a campaign against the building of the Agua Zarca Dam along the Gualcarque River. As The New York Times explained, the river is sacred to the Lenca people and central to their livelihood.
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