March 2 marked the anniversary of Honduran activist Berta Cáceres’ assassination. The suspects appear to be linked to the country's corrupt and violent military, which is trained and funded by the U.S. government. Meanwhile, the U.S. media and political class raise alarms about Hondurans fleeing to the United States to escape the violence. “Why don’t these people stay and fix their own country?” the politicians and pundits ask. A better question would be: “Why are we enabling the forces behind the violence?”—TPOI editor
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| Assassinated Honduran activist Berta Cáceres |
Berta Cáceres court papers show murder suspects' links to US-trained elite troops
The Honduran environmental activist’s killing a year ago bears the hallmarks of a ‘well-planned operation designed by military intelligence’ says legal source
By Nina Lakhani, The Guardian
February 28, 2017Leaked court documents raise concerns that the murder of the Honduran environmentalist Berta Cáceres was an extrajudicial killing planned by military intelligence specialists linked to the country’s US–trained special forces, a Guardian investigation can reveal.
Cáceres was shot dead a year ago while supposedly under state protection after receiving death threats over her opposition to a hydroelectric dam.
The murder of Cáceres, winner of the prestigious Goldman environmental prize in 2015, prompted international outcry and calls for the US to revoke military aid to Honduras, a key ally in its war on drugs.[…]
Read the full article:
An Idealist’s Martyrdom Fails to Move Honduras
But our taxpayer dollars continue to flow to Honduras to support the government of Juan Orlando Hernández, thus enabling the climate of terror that is fed by his party’s corruption.
By Silvio Carrillo, New York Times
March 2, 2017
LA ESPERANZA, Honduras — Precisely a year ago, I awoke to a garbled text message from my mother. She was too distraught to write clearly, but I understood her immediately, and my heart dropped. Murderers had finally gotten to my aunt Berta Cáceres, who, as a child, had been young enough to be my playmate Bertita, and later, as a woman, was courageous enough to stand up to evil in Honduras.
As we mark this sad anniversary in the town where Berta died, there is no solace for my family. Neither Honduras nor the United States seems to have learned anything from this loss.[...]
Read the full article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/02/opinion/an-idealists-martyrdom-fails-to-move-honduras.html
