Honduras: Who Should Really Be On Trial For the Rio Blanco Dam?
Honduras: Who Should Really Be On Trial For the Rio Blanco Dam?
Written by Brigitte Gynther
Wednesday, 19 March 2014 12:20
María Santos was walking home on March 5th, 2014, when seven people suddenly jumped out of hiding, surrounded her, and then attacked her with machetes, striking her head and chest. María has been a vocal leader in the struggle against the Agua Zarca Hydroelectric Dam, defending the Lenca territory of Rio Blanco and the Gualcarque River for her children and grandchildren to come. She is an active member of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH, Consejo Civico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras), and a tireless fighter in the struggle of the Lenca people of Rio Blanco to prevent DESA, a private dam company, from privatizing and building a dam on their river.
Image: María with her nephews.
When María's husband heard that she was surrounded, he and her 12-year-old son ran and found her. Her husband pleaded with the attackers not to kill her and her young son ran to his bleeding mother's side. One of the attackers swung his machete down on the young boy, splitting his ear and part of his face. Her husband was also attacked. All three are seriously injured and had to be hospitalized. Doctors found that María’s son’s cranium was fractured.
María's husband, Roque, had previously been attacked by several men as he was leaving the site where the community has physically blocked the dam company from accessing the river, and has been effectively preventing the construction of the dam for over a year. Even though the identities of the men who attacked him are known, that crime has been left in complete impunity. The collusion between powerful interests and the Honduran justice system means that the justice system routinely serves those interests and that attacks against those who stand for their rights are rarely brought to justice. Before the most recent attack on her life, María had received numerous death threats for her vocal opposition to the dam, including threats from this same group of people who have now put her in the hospital. One Sunday evening, when María was walking to her house from the roadblock, a man came up her, took out a pistol, and threatened María, asking, “Do you want to be shot?” None of these death threats have been investigated.
In Honduras today, the men who hacked María's head and chest with machetes are unlikely to be investigated or tried in court. Instead, it is the COPINH leaders who support the Rio Blanco community who have been criminalized. In September 2013, Berta Cáceres, the Coordinator of the Indigenous Lenca organization COPINH, to which the Rio Blanco people belong, was sentenced to a prison term in one of two bogus cases against her. After months of national and international outcry, on February 10, one set of outrageous charges - in which Berta was accused of the illegal possession of a weapon intended to be used against the internal security of Honduras - were finally dropped. These charges were part of a campaign of political and judicial persecution against Berta for her support of the Lenca people of Rio Blanco. In fact, it was when she was driving to Rio Blanco in May, 2013, that she was stopped by 15-20 soldiers who were waiting for her on an isolated road. They then carted her off to jail on fabricated charges of being armed. The campaign to quash dissent in Rio Blanco has come from the highest levels of the Honduran government, involving even the President of Honduras, the Honduran military, police, judicial system, and numerous government agencies - all acting to serve the interests of the dam corporation.
More:
http://upsidedownworld.org/main/honduras-archives-46/4748-honduras-who-should-really-be-on-trial-for-the-rio-blanco-dam
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