Berta Caceres: seven men convicted of murdering Honduran environmentalist
Source: The Guardian
Seven men have been found guilty of the murder of the Honduran indigenous environmentalist Berta Isabel Cáceres. An eighth defendant, Emerson Duarte Meza, was cleared and freed on Thursday.
Cáceres, a winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders, was shot dead late at night on 2 March 2016 two days before her 45th birthday after a long battle to stop construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque river, which the Lenca people consider sacred.
The court ruled the murder was ordered by executives of the Agua Zarca dam company Desa because of delays and financial losses linked to protests led by Cáceres. The murder was contracted to a group of hitmen who were paid to kill Cáceres.
The seven men convicted of orchestrating her murder by a court in Tegucigalpa: Sergio Ramón Rodríguez, communities and environment manager for Desa; Douglas Geovanny Bustillo, former Desa security chief and ex-US trained army lieutenant; Mariano Díaz Chávez, US-trained special forces major who served with Bustillo; Henry Javier Hernández, former special forces sergeant who served with Díaz; Edwin Rapalo; Edilson Duarte Meza; and Oscar Torres.
-snip-
Nina Lakhani in Tegucigalpa
Fri 30 Nov 2018 01.40 GMT
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/29/berta-caceres-seven-men-convicted-conspiracy-murder-honduras
sandensea
(21,528 posts)That said, those seven are probably little more than trigger men and therefore fall guys.
Still, it's better than nothing.
Judi Lynn
(160,217 posts)against their countrymen/women, isn't it?
Here's an article with photos of 4 of them. Numbers 1 and 4 are the two trained by the United States:
https://www.laprensa.hn/honduras/956387-410/fiscal%C3%ADa-ya-tiene-confesi%C3%B3n-del-asesino-de-berta-c%C3%A1ceres
There was another photo of Bustillo and a caption which says he was a military officer, and is considered the material author of the plot, and that he apparently terrorized Berta well before they killed her, and she had denounced him publicly earlier. Gee, U.S. taxdollars helped train these professional killers. Killed a woman who was trying to protect her loved ones.
Douglas Geovanny Bustillo
Chief of Security of the President of the Congress (2003-2005)
Berta Cáceres, rest in peace.
Raine
(30,540 posts)still are free to continue their lives and they get away with it.