Protesters in DC confront Honduran president over Berta Cceres murder

[Judi Lynn]

Supporters and family demand independent investigation into activist’s killing after current and former military officers arrested

Lauren Gambino in Washington
@LGamGam
Tuesday 21 March 2017 16.27 EDT


Supporters and family members of Berta Cáceres, the Honduran environmental and indigenous rights activist who was assassinated last year, have confronted the country’s president in Washington to demand an independent investigation of her murder.

President Juan Orlando Hernández traveled to Washington to meet with lawmakers on Tuesday and was greeted by protesters carrying signs with photographs of murdered activists and chants of “asesino” – Spanish for murderer.

Cáceres was one of more than 120 land and environmental campaigners murdered since a military-backed coup d’état ousted the democratically elected president Manuel Zelaya in 2009, according to the anti-corruption NGO Global Witness. Eight men have been arrested in connection with her murder, including one serving and two retired military officers.

. . .

The Honduran government has denied any role in Cáceres’s killing, but records obtained by the Guardian show that one of the suspects had been appointed chief of intelligence for elite special forces and that he and another suspect received military training in the US.

During the meeting, Mark Pocan, a Democratic congressman from Wisconsin, raised concerns that some of the suspects in the murder had received US training, according to an aide in the congressman’s office. The congressman asked the president how to ensure that US aid money was not being used to abet human rights violations.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/21/berta-caceres-murder-honduras-juan-orlando-hernandez-dc