Honduran Power Company President Who Orchestrated Environmentalist's Assassination Sentenced to 22 Y
E360 DIGEST
JUNE 24, 2022
Honduran Power Company President Who Orchestrated Environmentalist’s Assassination Sentenced to 22 Years
A Honduran court has sentenced former power company president Roberto David Castillo to 22 years and six months in prison for his role in the 2016 assassination of environmental activist Berta Cáceres.
Castillo’s firm, Desarrollos Energéticos, was behind the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam project, which Cáceres campaigned against, and opposition to the project led to significant delays and financial losses for the company. A former U.S.-trained Honduran intelligence officer, Castillo was convicted of deploying paid informants and military contacts to keep watch on Cáceres and orchestrating her killing.
Last year, a court found Castillo guilty of coordinating her murder and sending a team of hired hitmen to kill Cáceres in her home on March 2, 2016. In addition to seeing out a lengthy prison term, Castillo must also perform public works and will remain responsible for any civil claims brought against him, The Guardian reported. He is the eighth person to be sentenced for Cáceres’s assassination.
Cáceres, born to a prominent family of Indigenous Lenca, co-founded the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras in 1993. She helped revive Lenca cultural traditions and opposed the planned Agua Zarca dam on the Gualcarque River, a sacred site for the Lenca people.
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https://e360.yale.edu/digest/honduran-power-company-president-who-orchestrated-environmentalists-assassination-sentenced-to-22-years