The murder of Berta Cáceres five years ago is an unresolved issue, especially the role played by the Honduran state and its alliances with hydroelectric companies. | Photo: Twitter: COPINH

Tegucigalpa, March 2 (RHC)-- Tuesday, March 2nd, marks the fifth anniversary of the murder of Honduran environmental activist Berta Cáceres.  Civil society organizations in the Central American country are leading a day of commemoration and struggle for justice.

Berta Cáceres, who was co-founder of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh), was murdered on March 2, 2016, in La Esperanza, Intibucá, for leading a campaign to prevent the construction of a hydroelectric dam with international funding on a river sacred to the Lenca people, her community of origin.

Five years after the assassination of Berta Cáceres, social activist and defender of indigenous peoples and the environment in Honduras, seven people were convicted for her murder.  They were convicted for master-minding the assassination, but those who hired the murderers to take her life are still in hiding. 

According to Copinh, which before and after the murder of Berta Cáceres has denounced threats by hydroelectric and paramilitary forces; David Castillo's lawyers have repeatedly taken dilatory measures, which have caused delays in the judicial process to date.

Human rights organizations from around the world have repeatedly called on the Honduran authorities to guarantee the rights of access to justice, truth and reparation for the family of Berta Cáceres and the members of Copinh.