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2 March 2017 | | | | | |

Interview with Tomás Gómez, COPINH coordinator: global action #JusticeForBerta a year after her murder

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From February 27th to March 4th, 2017, to mark the one-year anniversary of Berta Cáceres´ murder, her organization, COPINH, together with hundreds of organizations around the world, will mobilize and carry out actions to denounce the ongoing impunity, to shed light on the risks faced by nature and territory defenders, especially in Honduras, and to continue demanding clarification of the circumstances surrounding Berta´s murder.

Tomás Gómez, coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, COPINH, said in an interview with Real World Radio that a year after her murder "the case is being manipulated by high sectors and everything that surrounds the investigation points to impunity".

So far, former military officers who acted as intermediaries and hitmen in the case have been imprisoned, although there haven´t been advances in terms of the conceptual authors of the crime.

This March 27th marks the 24th anniversary of COPINH, which is planning a meeting by the Gualcarque River, the main area of struggle of Berta and the Council, supporting Lenca indigenous people who reject hydroelectric projects such as Agua Zarca.

Despite the absence left by their inspiring coordinator, COPINH´s actions have moved forward, said Tomás. "Berta would be asking us to mobilize more and more each day", said Tomás. Also, Berta would turn 46 years old this March 4th, and the actions, meetings and mobilizations around her life and example will continue, he added.

"A year after her murder, which tried to rob us from her clarity and leadership, the peoples of the world who recognize her legacy are here, present, walking behind her footsteps, facing the capitalist, patriarchal, colonial and racist system imposed over our peoples", he added.

The coordinator of COPINH also said that while there are eight people prosecuted for the crime, other elements to find the masterminds of the homicide, including high sectors of the Honduran government, responsible for authorizing the Agua Zarca project, have not been taken into account.

The organizations inspired in Berta are seeking to transform the " international solidarity of activism" (in Tomás´ words) into an active strength to stop hydroelectric, mining and free trade concessions in Honduran territory.

The global action can be followed here:

* Interview by journalist Andrés Molina, Movimiento Madre Tierra - Friends of the Earth Honduras for Real World Radio.

(CC) 2017 Real World Radio

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