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Across Latin America, the fight for defenders’ justice intensifies

By:   []

Date: 2021-12

The past few months have been vital in the fight against those violently targeting human rights defenders in Latin America. In Honduras, David Castillo, the president of a hydroelectric dam company and a former Honduran army intelligence officer, was found guilty of being a co-collaborator in ordering the murder of Indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres more than five years ago.

But, in Brazil, there were new setbacks in the investigation into the killing of Black Rio de Janeiro councilwoman Marielle Franco. Recent changes in leadership of the case show that it remains stuck, three and a half years after the assassination of Franco and her driver, Anderson Gomes.

Both cases are stark reminders of the threat faced by rights defenders in the region, and of the fragile protection mechanisms available to them. Activists continue to be targeted – a recent Global Witness report said Latin America accounted for three-quarters of the killings of environmental defenders in 2020 – and justice and accountability lag far behind.

That said, Castillo’s conviction in Honduras was an unprecedented victory. It showed that it is possible to punish those who intimidate environmental and human rights defenders in Honduras. On 3 August, the prosecution asked for a maximum sentence for Castillo of 25 years.

But it has been a long road to reach his conviction. In December 2019, seven men were sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison for murdering Cáceres. It was not until July 2020 that Castillo was identified as one of those who had coordinated and planned her assassination.

Castillo had been the president of Desarrollos Energeticos (DESA), the company responsible for the construction of the proposed Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River in western Honduras, which encompasses Lenca Indigenous territory. The community was not consulted about the construction. Cáceres, a Lenca leader and a co-founder of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), led the campaign to stop the dam’s construction.

Cáceres was threatened, harassed and made the target of smear campaigns. She was given protection by the state. And yet she died of multiple gunshot wounds while asleep at home in the southwestern city of La Esperanza on 2 March 2016. The subsequent investigation into her death revealed the involvement of members of both retired and active members of the security forces. Shortly after Cáceres’ death, Honduran authorities were quick to insinuate that it might have been a crime of passion. But her family and her community fought for the truth and for accountability.

Berta Cáceres | Mark Kerrison/Alamy Stock Photo

After calls for an independent international investigation were ignored by the government, Cáceres’s family and COPINH asked legal experts from the US, Guatemala and Colombia to launch an inquiry. The International Advisory Group of Experts (GAIPE, by its Spanish initials) found evidence of a conspiracy involving DESA’s senior management.

Additionally, in 2019, data extracted by Honduras Public Prosecutor’s Office from the convicted men’s phones revealed a chain of WhatsApp, SMS and call logs involving DESA’s high-level leaders, including members of the Atala Zablah family. The Atala Zablahs control DESA and are one of the country’s wealthiest families. In one of the chat groups, executives and board members of the company expressed concerns about activists’ activities and hate against the Lenca Indigenous people. They also coordinated to activate their network in the media, security forces and political sphere to protect DESA’s interests.

COPINH and Cáceres’ family claim that members of the Atala Zablah family should also be held accountable. During Castillo’s trial, Daniel Atala Midence, who is part of the clan and DESA’s chief financial officer, was excused of having to testify as he was under investigation in connection with Cáceres’s murder. Atala Midence has never been detained, and no member of the clan has ever been charged. DESA and the Atala Zablahs have always denied any involvement in Cáceres’ murder.

The ‘Berta Cáceres Cause’, which is fighting 13 separate legal cases surrounding Cáceres’s murder, continues the fight for justice. One of the cases investigates corruption involving the contracts of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project. COPINH and the Indigenous community of Río Blanco recently won the right to be recognized as the victims of corruption cases and to participate in the legal processes that affect them.

The Berta Cáceres Cause also seeks the revocation of permission for the hydroelectric project. It wants the state to be held accountable for failing to protect Cáceres and to investigate the investment in initiatives premised on such massive human rights violations.

Cáceres family’s fight inspires that of Franco’s

Meanwhile, more than 6,000 kilometres away from the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, another fight for justice grinds on. In Rio de Janeiro, the investigation into the murder of Marielle Franco and Anderson Gomes is underway, in secret. The authorities argue that this is necessary to protect the investigation but it does raise questions about transparency. On 10 July, prosecutors Simone Sibilio and Letícia Emile announced their withdrawal from the investigation. They cited external interference but did not offer specifics. The lead on the Franco-Gomes investigation has already been replaced four times.

According to reports, Sibilio and Emile discovered that sensitive information had been leaked, and disagreed with the plea bargain negotiations in the case.

During the past three-and-a-half years since the murders, many of Rio de Janeiro’s politicians have been accused of ordering the hit. Yet, still, the question remains: who ordered the killing of Marielle Franco?
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