‘Defending human rights in Honduras is a crime’
‘Defending human rights in Honduras is a crime’
22 November 2013
There’s hardly a moment when Honduran human rights defender Bertha Cáceres is not worrying about what may happen to her for defending the rights of her community, the Lenca Indigenous People. The risk is so high that she's been forced into hiding.
“They want to terrorize us,” she told Amnesty International.
“I cannot live my life like before. I cannot go to the office, take part in our campaign, or leave the country to denounce our situation in international forums. I can’t even go swimming in the Río Blanco, which is very important to me because it is sacred to our people,” she said.
Bertha is being intimated and threatened because of her work as general coordinator of the Civic Council of the Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). The organization has been fighting for over 20 years for better standards of living of her community in Río Blanco, north-western Honduras. Since 2011, COPINH has been campaigning for their right to free, prior and informed consent in relation to a proposal for a hydroelectric plant that might force them out of their ancestral lands.
A campaign of terror
As if the never ending abusive, anonymous phone calls and “wanted” posters depicting her face were not enough, spurious and what appear to be fabricated charges have been filed against her.
More:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/honduras-human-rights-defenders-under-threat-2013-11-22