Statement and call to action from La Via Campesina
In response to the assassination of our sister in in struggle: Bertha Cáceres
The
international peasant movement La Via Campesina denounces to the
national and international public that on this day, 3 March 2016 in the
early hours of dawn, our dear sister in struggle, BERTHA CÁCERES,
General Coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous
Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) was assassinated.
The
assassination of BERTHA CÁCERES took place in her home, while she was
resting, which drastically increases the risk to women and men
defenders, to the indigenous peoples who resist in communities, and to
members of popular and social movement organizations who have taken up
our legitimate struggle.
On numerous occasions, BERTHA CÁCERES
had publicly denounced ill-intentioned actions and threats both by the
current government regarding concessions of natural resources, and by
the foreign transnational corporations involved in the construction of
dams and the capture of resources that belong to indigenous peoples.
BERTHA CÁCERES was assigned precautionary measures demanding that the State of Honduras protect her physical integrity.
That same State of Honduras took measures to persecute BERTHA CÁCERES
for her struggle against foreign companies that destroy natural
resources.
The whole world recognized the courage and
contribution of BERTHA CÁCERES in her struggle for human rights, when
she was honored with the prestigious international Goldman Prize for the
defense of natural resources in the country.
We recognize the
historic struggle of BERTHA CÁCERES, side by side with our peoples, to
claim the right to land, her struggle for the defense of our
sovereignty, for comprehensive agrarian reform, for the food security of
our peoples.
It is fitting to highlight that on 9 April 2014,
parliament member and General Coordinator of La Via Campesina Honduras,
Rafael Alegría, introduced in National Congress a proposed law for
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform with Gender Equity for Food Sovereignty
and Rural Development, to seek solutions through the political channels
to the problems that peasants and indigenous peoples face today in
Honduras. To this day, this proposal has not been taken into account by
the Board of Directors of the National Congress.
For this
reason, La Via Campesina Honduras denounces the government of Honduras
and the transnational companies that extract and exploit our country’s
natural resources.
As an international movement of peasants, we
demand that the State of Honduras punish those responsible for this vile
assassination, and we call to all international organizations that
defend human rights to join this demand.
La Via Campesina makes a
call to organize protest actions in the embassies of Honduras around the
world to demand clarity in this crime, and to protect defenders of land
and territory, and of human rights in Honduras.
We express our
solidarity and extend our condolences to the family of Bertha Cáceres,
to the Lenca people, and to the people of Honduras who suffer her
irreparable loss.
TEGUCIGALPA M.D.C. 3 MARCH 2016
GLOBALIZE STRUGGLE, GLOBALIZE HOPE
BERTHA CÁCERES ¡VIVE!
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
http://viacampesina.org/Via-info-en/
