[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2733-2734]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING BERTA CACERES

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, last night Honduras lost one of its most 
courageous, charismatic indigenous leaders, Berta Caceres. Ms. Caceres 
was the general coordinator of the National Council of Popular and 
Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, and she was assassinated in her 
hometown of La Esperanza, Intibuca.
  According to initial reports, at least two people broke down the door 
of the house where she was staying for the evening and shot and killed 
her.
  Berta Caceres spent her life fighting in defense of indigenous 
rights, particularly to land and natural resources. In 2015, she won 
the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for her outstanding 
activism and leadership.
  This horrific crime demonstrates that no one, not even an 
internationally known social activist, is safe in Honduras if they 
speak out against corruption or abuse of authority. Her death will have 
a profound impact on the many communities she worked with, her 
organization, Honduran civil society, and all who knew her.
  Berta Caceres and COPINH have been supporting land struggles 
throughout western Honduras. In the last few weeks, threats and 
violence towards Berta and the communities she and her organization 
support had escalated.
  In Rio Blanco on February 20, Berta, her organization, and the 
community of Rio Blanco were threatened as they engaged in a peaceful 
protest to protect the river and their way of life from the 
construction of a large hydroelectric dam by an internationally 
financed Honduran company.
  As a result of supporting the Rio Blanco struggle, Berta had received 
many threats against her life and was granted, like dozens of other 
endangered Honduran social activists, precautionary measures by the 
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
  Berta Caceres was an inspiration to people around the world, and her 
death

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is a great loss for all the people of Honduras. The immediate question 
is what President Hernandez and his government, which has too often 
ignored or passively condoned attacks against Honduran social 
activists, will do to support an independent investigation, 
prosecution, and punishment of those responsible for this despicable 
crime and, beyond that, what steps will the government take to protect 
the many others, including members of COPINH, who are in need of 
protection, and to stand up for the rights of people like Berta who 
risk their lives peacefully defending the environment and their 
livelihoods.
  The answers to those questions will weigh heavily on the Congress's 
support for future assistance for that government.

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