[News] Berta Cáceres court papers show murder suspects' links to US-trained elite troops
Anti-Imperialist News
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Wed Mar 1 10:57:16 EST 2017
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/feb/28/berta-caceres-honduras-military-intelligence-us-trained-special-forces?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Berta Cáceres court papers show murder suspects' links to US-trained
elite troops
Nina Lakhani - 28 February 2017
Leaked court documents raise concerns that the murder of the Honduran
environmentalist Berta Cáceres
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/berta-caceres> was an extrajudicial
killing planned by military intelligence specialists linked to the
country’s US–trained special forces, a Guardian investigation can reveal.
Cáceres was shot dead a year ago
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/03/honduras-berta-caceres-murder-enivronment-activist-human-rights>
while supposedly under state protection after receiving death threats
over her opposition to a hydroelectric dam.
Berta Cáceres, the environmental advocate shot dead in her home in
March, told friends of a hitman boasting about his plans as she ‘worked
frantically’
The murder of Cáceres, winner of the prestigious Goldman environmental
prize in 2015, prompted international outcry and calls for the US to
revoke military aid to Honduras
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/honduras>, a key ally in its war on
drugs.
Eight men have been arrested in connection with the murder, including
one serving and two retired military officers.
Officials have denied state involvement in the activist’s murder, and
downplayed the arrest of the serving officer Maj Mariano Díaz, who was
hurriedly discharged from the army.
But the detainees’ military records and court documents seen by the
Guardian reveal that:
* Díaz, a decorated special forces veteran, was appointed chief of
army intelligence in 2015, and at the time of the murder was on
track for promotion to lieutenant colonel.
* Another suspect, Lt Douglas Giovanny Bustillo joined the military on
the same day as Díaz; they served together and prosecutors say they
remained in contact after Bustillo retired in 2008.
* Díaz and Bustillo both received military training in the US.
* A third suspect, Sgt Henry Javier Hernández, was a former special
forces sniper, who had worked under the direct command of Díaz.
Prosecutors believe he may also have worked as an informant for
military intelligence after leaving the army in 2013.
Court documents also include the records of mobile phone messages which
prosecutors believe contain coded references to the murder.
Bustillo and Hernández visited the town of La Esperanza, where Cáceres
lived, several times in the weeks before her death, according to phone
records and Hernández’s testimony.
A legal source close to the investigation told the Guardian: “The murder
of Berta Cáceres has all the characteristics of a well-planned operation
designed by military intelligence, where it is absolutely normal to
contract civilians as assassins.
“It’s inconceivable that someone with her high profile, whose campaign
had made her a problem for the state, could be murdered without at least
implicit authorisation of military high command.”
The Honduran defence ministry ignored repeated requests from the
Guardian for comment, but the head of the armed forces recently denied
that military deaths squads were operating in the country
<http://confidencialhn.com/2017/02/19/jefe-de-ffaa-de-honduras-niega-existencia-de-bandas-paramilitares/>.
After the murder of at least 123 activists since 2009 military coup, the
Global Witness group points to involvement of politicians and business
moguls
Five civilians with no known military record have also been arrested.
They include Sergio Rodríguez, a manager for the internationally funded
Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam which Cáceres had opposed.
The project is being led by Desarrollos Energéticos SA, (Desa), which
has extensive military and government links. The company’s president,
Roberto David Castillo Mejía, is a former military intelligence officer
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/31/honduras-environmental-activists-global-witness-violence-berta-caceres>,
and its secretary, Roberto Pacheco Reyes, is a former justice minister.
Desa employed former lieutenant Bustillo as head of security between
2013 and 2015.
Cáceres had reported 33 death threats linked to her campaign against the
dam, including several from Desa employees. Desa denies any involvement
in the murder.
Cáceres was killed at about 11.30pm on 2 March
<https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/apr/25/berta-caceres-murder-honduras-death-threats-hitman-agua-zarca-dam>,
when at least four assassins entered the gated community to which she
had recently moved on the outskirts of La Esperanza.
<about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2017%2Ffeb%2F28%2Fberta-caceres-honduras-military-intelligence-us-trained-special-forces%3FCMP%3DShare_iOSApp_Other#img-2>
A checkpoint at the entrance to the town – normally manned by police
officers or soldiers – was left unattended on the night she was killed,
witnesses have told the Guardian.
Initially, investigators suggested the murderer was a former lover or
disgruntled co-worker
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/28/berta-caceres-murder-witness-honduras-appeals-to-mexico>.
But amid mounting international condemnation, Díaz, Bustillo and two
others were arrested in May 2016
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/02/berta-caceres-murder-four-men-arrested-honduras>.
Hernández, who was eventually arrested in Mexico
<http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Ex-Honduran-Soldier-Linked-to-Berta-Caceres-Murder-Arrested-20170113-0006.html>,
is the only suspect to have given detailed testimony in court. He has
admitted his involvement, but says he acted under duress.
All eight have been charged with murder and attempted murder. The other
seven suspects have either denied involvement or not given testimony in
court.
Prosecutors say that phone records submitted to court show extensive
communication between the three military men, including a text message
which was a coded discussion of payment for a contract killing.
American experts have been involved in the investigation from the start,
according to the US embassy in Tegucigalpa.
Senator Ben Cardin, ranking member of the Senate foreign relations
committee, said US support should not be unconditional: “It is essential
that we not only strengthen our commitment to improving the rule of law
in Honduras, but we must also demand greater accountability for human
rights violations and attacks against civil society.”
Last year, the Guardian reported that a former Honduran soldier said he
had seen Cáceres’s name on a hitlist that was passed to US-trained units
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/21/berta-caceres-name-honduran-military-hitlist-former-soldier>.
A unit trained by US special forces was ordered to kill the
environmental activist who was slain in March, according to an ex-member
who now fears for his life
1Sgt Rodrigo Cruz said that two elite units were given lists featuring
the names and photographs of activists – and ordered to eliminate each
target.
Cruz’s unit commander deserted rather than comply with the order. The
rest of the unit were then sent on leave.
In a follow-up interview with the Guardian, Cruz said the hitlist was
given by the Honduran military joint chiefs of staff to the commander of
the Xatruch multi-agency taskforce, to which his unit belonged.
Cruz – who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym for fear of
retribution – deserted after Cáceres’s murder and remains in hiding. The
whereabouts of his former colleagues is unknown.
Following the Guardian’s report, James Nealon, the US ambassador to
Honduras, pledged to investigate the allegations
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/08/honduras-military-hitlist-activists-us-investigation>,
and in an interview last week, said that no stone had been left unturned.
“I’ve spoken to everyone I can think of to speak to, as have members of
my team, and no one can produce such a hitlist,” said Nealon.
But the embassy did not speak to the Xatruch commander, Nealon said.
Activists, including those with information about the alleged hitlist,
have told the Guardian they have not been interviewed by US or Honduran
officials.
Lauren Carasik, clinical professor of law at Western New England
University, said America’s unwavering support for Honduras suggests it
tolerates impunity for intellectual authors of high-profile targeted
killings.
“Washington cannot, in good conscience, continue to ignore mounting
evidence that the Honduran military was complicit in the extrajudicial
assassination of Cáceres.”
Extrajudicial killings by the security forces and widespread impunity
are among the most serious human rights violations in Honduras,
according to the US state department
<https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/253235.pdf>.
Nevertheless, the US is the main provider of military and police support
to Honduras, and last year approved $18m of aid
<http://securityassistance.org/data/program/military/Honduras/2011/2018/is_all/>.
<about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2017%2Ffeb%2F28%2Fberta-caceres-honduras-military-intelligence-us-trained-special-forces%3FCMP%3DShare_iOSApp_Other#img-3>
In recent years, US support has focused on Honduras’s special forces
units, originally created as a counterinsurgency force
<http://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/apertura/327874-98/comando-de-%C3%A9lite-protege-a-honduras-por-cielo-tierra-y-mar>
during the 1980s “dirty war”.
The elite units ostensibly target terrorism, organised crime and gangs,
but campaigners say the Honduran intelligence apparatus is used to
target troublesome community leaders.
Violence against social activists has surged since a military backed
coup d’état ousted populist president Manuel Zelaya in 2009. Since then
at least 124 land and environmental campaigners have been killed.
A recent investigation by corruption watchdog Global Witness described
extensive involvement of political, business and military elites in
environmentally destructive mega projects
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/31/honduras-environmental-activists-global-witness-violence-berta-caceres>
which have flourished since the coup.
The palm oil magnates are growing ever more trees for use in biofuels
and carbon trading. But what happens to the subsistence farmers who live
on the lucrative land?
One of the most troubled parts of the country has been northern Bajo
Aguán region, where a land conflict between palm oil companies and
peasant farmers has claimed more than 130 lives over the past six years.
The Bajo Aguán is also home to the 15th battalion – one of two special
forces units in the Honduran army – and the special forces training centre.
Two of the suspects, Díaz and Hernández, served in the 15th battalion
together; Cruz’s elite unit was also stationed in the Bajo Aguán.
Ambassador Nealon said that there was no record of Díaz, Hernández or
Bustillo attending any US training courses in Honduras.
“Our training programmes for police or for military are not designed to
instruct people in how to commit human rights violations or to create an
atmosphere in which they believe that they are empowered to commit human
rights violations, in fact, just the opposite,” said Nealon.
Honduran military records show that Díaz attended several
counterinsurgency courses at special forces bases in Tegucigalpa and in
the Bajo Aguán.
He also attended cadet leadership courses at Fort Benning, Georgia, in
1997, and a counter-terrorism course at the Inter American air force
academy
<http://www.37trw.af.mil/Units/Inter-AmericanAirForcesAcademy.aspx> in
2005.
The court documents also reveal that at the time of his arrest, Díaz,
44, was under investigation for drug trafficking and kidnapping, while
also studying for promotion.
Military records show that in 1997, Bustillo attended logistics and
artillery courses at the School of the Americas
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/americas>, at Fort Benning, Georgia,
which trained hundreds of Latin American officers who later committed
human rights abuses.
--
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