[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 163 (2017), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3353-3354]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING BERTA CACERES

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I want to call the Senate's attention to 
the fact that it has now been 1 year since the assassination of Berta 
Caceres, a renowned indigenous Honduran environmental activist who 
devoted her life--and ultimately lost her life--defending the land, 
water, and other natural resources of the Lenca people.
  After an initial attempt by the Honduran police and even some high-
ranking officials to falsely portray the murder as a crime of passion, 
which is a not uncommon ploy to cover up official complicity in such 
cases, eight men have been arrested, including one active-duty and two 
retired military officers.
  Although Honduran officials have denied any government involvement in 
Ms. Caceres's murder and downplayed the arrest of Major Mariano Diaz 
who was promptly discharged from the army, there are reasons to be 
skeptical.
  Diaz, a decorated special forces veteran, was appointed chief of army 
intelligence in 2015, and at the time of the murder he was reportedly 
on track for promotion to lieutenant colonel. Another suspect, 
Lieutenant Douglas Giovanny Bustillo, reportedly joined the military on 
the same day as Diaz. They served together and apparently remained in 
contact after Bustillo retired in 2008.
  It is particularly noteworthy and troubling that, according to press 
reports, both Diaz and Bustillo may have received military training 
from the United States.
  A third suspect, Sergeant Henry Javier Hernandez, was a former 
special forces sniper who had worked under the command of Diaz. He may 
also have worked as an informant for military intelligence after 
leaving the army in 2013.
  According to press reports, First Sergeant Rodrigo Cruz, a former 
army officer who deserted after Caceres's death and remains in hiding, 
said the Honduran military high command gave a hit list with the names 
and photographs of activists to eliminate to the commander of the 
Xatruch multiagency taskforce, to which Cruz's unit

[[Page 3354]]

belonged, and that Caceres's name was on the list. It sounds a lot like 
the death squads in El Salvador in the 1980s.
  Five civilians with no known military record have also been arrested. 
They include Sergio Rodriguez, a manager for the Agua Zarca 
hydroelectric dam that Berta Caceres had long opposed.
  That project is being led by Desarrollos Energeticos SA, Desa, with 
international financing and the strong backing of the Honduran 
Government. According to press reports, the company's president, 
Roberto David Castillo Mejia, is a former military intelligence 
officer, and its secretary, Roberto Pacheco Reyes, is a former justice 
minister. Desa employed former Lieutenant Bustillo as head of security 
between 2013 and 2015.
  Ms. Caceres had reported multiple death threats linked to her 
campaign against the dam, including several from Desa employees. The 
Honduran Government largely ignored her requests for protection, and 
Desa continues to deny any involvement in the murder.
  It is inconceivable to anyone who knows Honduras that this outrageous 
crime was carried out by these individuals without orders from above. 
The question is whether the investigation will identify the 
intellectual authors, which almost never happens in Honduras. In fact, 
as Global Witness, the U.S. Department of State, and others have 
documented, there have been scores of killings of environmental 
activists in Honduras that have never been credibly investigated and 
for which no one has been punished.
  I have no doubt that one of the reasons this case has progressed at 
all is because U.S. law enforcement experts, supported by the U.S. 
Embassy, have assisted in the investigation, and because of the efforts 
of Honduran Attorney General Oscar Fernando Chincilla.
  However, as I have said before, in Honduras where impunity is the 
norm, a case of such domestic and international importance should also 
be the subject of a parallel independent investigation. The obvious 
entities to convene such an inquiry are the Inter-American Commission 
on Human Rights and the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption 
and Impunity in Honduras, MACCIH; yet the Honduran Government continues 
to reject such an inquiry.
  The United States and Honduras have a troubled history; yet we and 
the Honduran people share many interests. We want to continue to help 
Honduras address the deeply rooted poverty, inequality, violence, and 
impunity that have caused so much suffering and hardship and 
contributed to the migration of tens of thousands of Hondurans, 
including children, to the United States.
  But for this Senator, that requires solving the Berta Caceres case 
and undertaking credible investigations and prosecutions of the 
shocking number of assassinations of other social activists, 
journalists, and human rights defenders in recent years. It means 
Honduran officials publicly affirming and defending the legitimate role 
of such activists, who in the past have been ignored, threatened, and 
treated as legitimate targets. Only then will it be clear that the 
Honduran Government is committed to justice and that our assistance 
will achieve lasting results.
  The Department of State needs to thoroughly and transparently 
investigate whether Major Diaz and Lieutenant Bustillo were in fact 
trained by the United States. If so, the Congress and the Honduran 
people deserve to know how they were selected, what training they 
received, and any steps taken to improve the process of screening 
potential trainees and to monitor the conduct of those who have 
received U.S. training.
  Finally, as I have said before, as long as the Agua Zarca project and 
others like it continue over the objections of indigenous people whose 
livelihoods and cultures are intrinsically linked to the rivers that 
are impacted, the confrontations and violence will continue. The 
Honduran Government, like other governments in that region, needs to 
change its way of doing business in areas where the rights and 
interests of indigenous people have long been violated and ignored.
  Given the shameful history of the Agua Zarca project it should be 
cancelled. Other hydroelectric and extractive projects in indigenous 
territories should be reconsidered by the Honduran Government and 
allowed to proceed only after a transparent process based on the free, 
prior, informed consent of affected communities.

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