Media Release, Saturday 5 March 2016

The EELV Party (Europe Écologie-Les Verts) sends its condolences to the people of Honduras, struck hard but the murder on March 3 of Berta Cáceres, the young woman who led the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).

Last year she was awarded the Goldman Prize which annually honours the most fervent defenders of ecology worldwide. Berta Cáceres made herself famous by her struggle against the environmentally destructive mega-projects that have multiplied in Honduras since 2009, and particularly for her struggle – prompted by the Lenca Indians from whom she descended – against the Agua Zarca Dam, on the sacred river of Gaalcarque. This project had been carried out since 2006 in violation of the Convention 169 (1991) of the ILO (International Labour Organisation) which stipulates that indigenous peoples must be the first to their free and informed consent to projects that destroy their environment, their culture, their territory and their resources. This consultation never took place.

Berta Cáceres regularly received death threats, and was subject to arbitrary lawsuits in the context of policies which criminalised people’s movements, policies pursued by the nation’s conservative government. Huge economic interests meant that her life hung by a thread. Her tragic early death reminds us of how much ecological commitment requires willpower and courage in far too many countries. EELV salutes the memory of Berta Cáceres, and will stand alongside the people of Honduras so that their struggle comes to fulfilment.

Julien Bayou et Sandrine Rousseau, national spokespeople.