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<div style="display: block;" id="reader-header" class="header"> <b><small><small><small><small><a
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Honduras-Indigenous-Leader-Berta-Caceres-Assassinated-in-Home-20160303-0010.html"
id="reader-domain" class="domain"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Honduras-Indigenous-Leader-Berta-Caceres-Assassinated-in-Home-20160303-0010.html">http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Honduras-Indigenous-Leader-Berta-Caceres-Assassinated-in-Home-20160303-0010.html</a></a></small></small></small></small></b>
<h1 id="reader-title">Honduras: Indigenous Leader Murdered
Despite Police Protection</h1>
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<p itemprop="description alternativeHeadline"
class="subtitle">March 3, 2016<br>
</p>
<p itemprop="description alternativeHeadline"
class="subtitle">Several unknown assailants broke into
Caceres' home early Thursday and killed her. She was a
prominent Indigenous and social movement leader.</p>
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<p>Berta Caceres, the coordinator and co-founder of the
Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras, or COPIHN,
was killed by unknown assailants early Thursday morning.
</p>
<p>teleSUR correspondent in Honduras, Gilda Silvestruci,
confirmed that Caceres was killed at 1:00 a.m. local
time inside her home in La Esperanza in the western
province of Intibuca. </p>
<p>Caceres was leader of the Lenca Indigenous
community and was a staunch human rights defender. She <a
target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Honduran-Indigenous-Activist-Wins-Goldman-Environmental-Prize-20150422-0005.html">won
the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize</a> in
2015. </p>
<p>“Berta Caceres is one of the leading indigenous
activists in Honduras. She spent her life fighting in
defense of indigenous rights, particularly to land and
natural resources,” said Karen Spring, Honduras-based
coordinator of the Honduras Solidarity Network, in a
statement. “Her death will have a profound impact on the
many Lenca communities that she worked with, COPINH, the
Honduran social movement, and all that knew her.” </p>
<p>The attackers waited until the victim went to
sleep before breaking into her house and assassinated
her. Her brother was injured during the attack,
according to local reports. </p>
<p>Caceres was a key leader in a Lenca struggle against
the Agua Zarca Dam, a controversial development project
in the community of Rio Blanco that was put in motion
without consent from local communities. She, along with
other residents, led a successful campaign to halt the
construction of the dam, but the community has continued
to face systematic harassment. </p>
<p>As Adrienne Pine, anthropologist professor at American
University, told teleSUR, Caceres was a "powerhouse"
and a key figure in fighting racist and exploitative
policies and projects that threatened Indigenous
rights in the name of corporate profit. </p>
<p>"She was a leader of the popular resistance movement
against the 2009 coup, and never stopped fighting,"
said Pine, who considered Caceres a dear friend. "Even
when she had to go underground to hide from the
illegitimate Honduran government’s attempts to
criminalize her activism, even when faced with multiple
— obviously credible — death threats." </p>
<p>Caceres’s fellow COPINH leader Tomas Garcia was shot
dead in a peaceful protest in 2013. Caceres also faced a
slew of repeated death threats and other harassment from
state security forces and the company behind the dam
project. There have also been past reports that hitmen
were hired to assassinate her. </p>
<p>Last month, COPINH issued an alert noting that
repression against the Rio Blanco community, including
Caceres, had spiked once again. They condemned the
harassment and threats community members received for
participating in protests and walking to the Gualcarque
River, where Agua Zarca planned to build the dam. </p>
<p>The alert also highlighted the fact that Caceres was
protected under precautionary measures from the
Inter-American commission for Human Rights. </p>
<p>"Neither precautionary measures from the IAHRC nor the
prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize were sufficient
to protect her from the violence of the U.S.-supported
militarized Honduran state, which along with the
corporations she fought is responsible for her murder,"
said Pine. </p>
<p>Honduran security minister Julian Pacheco said in a
press conference Thursday that the police
were responsible for protecting Caceres and had
coordinated measures with her. However, when
asked, Pacheco did not admit that security forces had
"failed" in their job to protect the activist. </p>
<p>Since the 2009 coup against democratically-elected
President Mel Zelaya, the human rights situation in
Honduras has deteriorated gravely as human rights
defenders and social movements have been systematically
criminalized. </p>
<p>According to Global Witness, <a target="_blank"
href="http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Honduras-The-Most-Dangerous-Place-for-Environmental-Activists-20150420-0007.html">Honduras
is one of the most dangerous</a> and deadly places in
the world for land and environmental rights defenders.
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<p><strong><br>
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