On Thursday, Judge Victorina Flores Orellana, at the request of the General Attorney´s Office, decided to “lift” the precautionary measure imposed on Castro, since all necessary proceedings with the activist had already been carried out. Castro was the sole witness to the murder of indigenous leader and coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), Berta Cáceres, on March 3rd, in La Esperanza, Intibucá.

Yesterday, Castro´s family and the team of lawyers organized a press conference at Centro Loyola, in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. There, lawyer Ivania Galeano said that “as of today, two and a half weeks have passed since Gustavo Castro was required for a judicial proceeding”. “(…) This shows that they had no grounds to keep him here and that the General Attorney´s Office could no longer sustain an illegal, arbitrary and especially unsubstantiated measure”, she highlighted.

Galeano believes that in the entire process there were “systematic violations to his fundamental rights, especially his personal freedom, his right to free movement, his physical and psychological integrity and different guarantees and the due process established by law”. “The request by the General Attorney´s Office is based on the recognition that this was an arbitrary violation of rights and especially a recognition of the fact that the measure was illegal and that it did not correspond to a person with a protected witness status in our country”, she concluded.

Meanwhile, Oscar Castro, brother of the Mexican activist, thanked the legal team and recognized the work by the Mexican Ambassador and Consul in Honduras, Dolores Jiménez and Pedro Barragán respectively. Gustavo was most of his time in Honduras at the Mexican Embassy in Tegucigalpa. His brother also highlighted that “we continue to express our solidarity with Berta Cáceres´ family and with COPINH” to clear up the murder of the Lenca leader and the attack against Gustavo.

“We as a family stand together (…) We are Berta´s family, we are Gustavo´s family and we also stand with organizations such as Otros Mundos Chiapas and COPINH. So, you have our solidarity and be sure that we will continue supporting you”, said Gustavo´s brother, who has been by the activist´s side since the terrible March 3rd,