Laureates petition against impunity following the murder of activist Berta Caceres

Letter signed by recipients of the Alternative Nobel Prize (Right Livelihood Award) 9 March 2016

 

To the President of Honduras Juan Orlando Hernández

To the President of the Parliament of Honduras Mauricio Oliva

To the Supreme Court of Justice of Honduras

Cc: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Organization of American States, OAS)

The social and environmentalist leader Berta Cáceres of the people of Lenca from Honduras was assassinated by armed men in her house on 3 March.

Her assassination took place in La Esperanza in the Department of Intibucá. As a member of COPINH, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, Berta and other members of COPINH were often threatened.

During the violent attack against Berta, another social and environmental leader, Gustavo Castro Soto from Mexico, was injured by the same armed men. Castro Soto is a member of the “Organización Otros Mundos Chiapas/Amigos de La Tierra México”, the “Red Mexicana de Afectados por la Minería” (REMA) and the “Movimiento Mesoamericano contra el Modelo Extractivo Minero, M4”. Being a witness of the murder, his life is now in danger.

Berta worked actively in defending the Gualcarque sacred river, which has been threatened by a dam building project by the Chinese company Sinohydro, the Agua Zarca project financed by the World Bank.

The Government of Honduras and international corporations have been involved in this spiral of violence several times. Now, the government of Honduras is in the headlines of media all over the world after the assassination of Berta Caceres and the attack against Gustavo Castro Soto, injured by the very same murderers that killed her.

The Government of Honduras cannot stay in silence.

We ask the President of Honduras and the Justice of Honduras to investigate the assassination of Berta Caceres; to protect the life of all members of her organization, COPINH; to safeguard the life of Gustavo Castro Soto, survivor of the attack against Berta, and to not impede his return trip to Mexico.

Peoples, organizations and governments from all over the world are observing Honduras, just as the Brazilian government was observed when our friend Chico Mendes was killed in Xapuri, in 1988.

Nothing will be the same again after the assassination of Berta Caceres. Today, we all are Berta Cáceres. Today, all of us have been murdered.

 

Signatories

Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish, Egipto/Egypt (RLA 2003) Swami Agnivesh, India (RLA 2004)
Dr. Martin Almada, Paraguay (RLA 2002)
Marcos Arana, IBFAN, Mexico (RLA 1998)

Dr. Maude Barlow, Canada (RLA 2005)
Dipal Barua, Bangladesh (RLA 2007)
Nnimmo Bassey, Nigeria (RLA 2010)
Walden Bello, Filipinas/Philippines (RLA 2003) Dr. Tony Clarke, Canada (RLA 2005)

Stephen Corry, Survival International, Reino Unido/UK (RLA 1989) Tony De Brum, Islas Marshall/Marshall Islands (RLA 2015)
Dr. Fernando Funes-Aguilar, Cuba (RLA 1999)
Prof. Dr. Anwar Fazal, Director, Malasia/Malaysia (RLA 1982)

Prof. Dr. Johan Galtung, Noruega/Norway (RLA 1987)
Dr. Juan E. Garcés, España/Spain (RLA 1999)
Dr. Inge Genefke, Dinamarca/Denmark (RLA 1988)
Ing. Agr./Agr. Eng. Henk Hobbelink, GRAIN, Internacional/International (RLA 2011) Dr. Hans Herren, Suiza/Switzerland (RLA 2013)

Bishop Erwin Kräutler, Brasil/Brazil (RLA 2010)
Ida Kuklina, Rusia/Russia (RLA 1996)
Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Suecia/Sweden (RLA 2002) Bishop Enemésio Lazzaris, CPT, Brasil/Brazil (RLA 1991) Birsel Lemke, Turquía/Turkey (RLA 2000)
Hunter Lovins, USA (RLA 1983)
Helen Mack Chang, Guatemala (RLA 1992)
Dr. Ruchama Marton, Israel (RLA 2010)
Prof Dr. h.c. Manfred Max-Neef, Chile (RLA 1983)
Bill McKibben, USA (RLA 2014)
Prof. Dr. Raúl A. Montenegro, Argentina (RLA 2004)
Pat Mooney, Canada (RLA 1985)
Frances Moore Lappé, USA (RLA 1987)
Suciwati Munir, widow of Munir, Indonesia (RLA 2000) Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, Uganda (RLA 2015)
Helena Norberg-Hodge, Reino Unido/UK (RLA 1986) Juan Pablo Orrego, Chile (RLA 1998)
Jamila Raqib, Albert Einstein Institution, USA (RLA 2012)

Dr. Sima Samar, Afganistán/Afghanistan (RLA 2012) Camille Selleger, IBFAN, Malasia/Malaysia (RLA 1998) Dr. Vandana Shiva, India (RLA 1993)
Joao Pedro Stedile, MST, Brasil/Brazil (RLA 1991)

Dr. Gino Strada, Italia/Italy (RLA 2015)
Prof. Michael Succow, Alemania/Germany (RLA 1997)
Dr. Hanumappa Sudarshan, India (RLA 1994)
Prof. Dr. Theo van Boven, Holanda/The Netherlands (RLA 1985) Janos Vargha, Hungría/Hungary (RLA 1985)
Farm./Pharm. Carlos Vicente, GRAIN, Argentina (RLA, 2011) Dr. Paul F. Walker, USA (RLA 2013)
Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Canada (RLA 2015)
Chico Whitaker Ferreira, Brasil/Brazil (RLA 2006)
Alla Yaroshinskaya, Rusia/Russia (RLA 1992)
Angie Zelter, Trident Ploughshares, Reino Unido/UK (RLA 2001)

Press release available in Spanish/English.

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