Nina Lakhani - Who Killed Berta Cáceres? Dams, Death Squads, and an Indigenous Defenders Battle for the Planet

Who Killed Berta Cceres?

Who Killed Berta Cceres?

Dams, Death Squads and an
Indigenous Defenders Battle for the Planet

Nina Lakhani

First published by Verso 2020

Nina Lakhani 2020

All rights reserved

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Verso

UK: 6 Meard Street, London W1F 0EG

US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201

versobooks.com

Verso is the imprint of New Left Books

ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-306-9

ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-308-3 (US EBK)

ISBN-13: 978-1-78873-309-0 (UK EBK)

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Lakhani, Nina, author.

Title: Who killed Berta Cceres? : dams, death squads, and an indigenous defender's battle for the planet / Nina Lakhani.

Description: London ; Brooklyn, NY : Verso Books, 2020. | Includes

bibliographical references and index. | Summary: Drawing on years of familiarity with Cceres, her family, her vibrant movement, and with Central America generally, as well as chilling interviews with company and government officials, Lakhani paints an inti- mate portrait of a remarkable woman. Berta Cceres fought for her ideals in a country beholden to corporate-military control and US power, becoming a role model for acti- vists the world over. Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020001756 (print) | LCCN 2020001757 (ebook) | ISBN 9781788733069 (hardback) | ISBN 9781788733083 (ebk)

Subjects: LCSH: Cceres, Berta, 1973?2016. |
Murder Investigation Honduras. | Trials (Murder) Honduras. |
Political corruption Honduras. | Business enterprises Corrupt
practices Honduras. | Lenca Indians Honduras Government relations. |
Environmentalists Honduras Biography. | Lenca
Indians Honduras Biography.

Classification: LCC HV6535.H66 L35 2020 (print) | LCC HV6535.H66 (ebook) | DDC 364.152/3092 dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020001756

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020001757

Typeset in Sabon LT by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh

Printed in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY

For all the defenders and truth-tellers fighting to save our planet. And for my grandmother (baa), Narabda Sanchdev, who would have been very proud.

You cant kill the truth.

Contents

T he final few months of Berta Cceress life were filled with ominous signs. Just before Christmas 2015, she confided in her sister Agustina that her life was in danger. The messages never stop, the harassment never stops, they have me under surveillance. They dont care that I have children. Those sons of bitches are going to kill me.

Berta was involved in numerous land and water struggles alongside indigenous Lenca communities across western Honduras. But the battle to stop construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque River, in the community of Ro Blanco, had her more worried than usual. Berta told her children she was scared, and that they should take the threats seriously. Mum said there was a group of dangerous sicarios [hit men] attacking the Ro Blanco community and asking about us, her daughters, said Laura, twenty-three, the youngest, home from midwifery college for the Christmas break. I knew the threats were serious because she wouldnt leave me alone in the house, not even for a night.

Berta had reasons to suspect the hit men were hired by DESA, the dam construction company. DESAs trumped-up criminal charges against her and other leaders of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) had failed to silence them. Was it now it was pursuing other means to stop the opposition?

Her sense of unease intensified on 12 February 2016. Douglas Bustillo, a thuggish former army lieutenant and DESAs ex-security chief, messaged her COPINH deputy, Toms Gmez Membreo, out of the blue, accusing Berta of cashing in on the Ro Blanco struggle to win the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize.

You dont have the same support as before, it seems like youve sold out your conscience and ideals. And youve left the people of La Tejera [in Ro Blanco] alone you only used them for your bosss prize and didnt help them, not even with a maternity centre even though she got almost 4 million. Now the people have realized, and theyre not going to support you.

Toms forwarded the message to Berta, who sent it back to Bustillo, and then texted him:

You never tire of being a frontman for DESA repeating everything they say.

Hahaha. Im no frontman, Ive forgotten all about that company, Bustillo replied.

Four days later, driving out of Ro Blanco, Bertas car was shadowed by two SUVs carrying armed locals she knew were linked to DESA.

On 20 February, Berta led a convoy to the Gualcarque, a river considered sacred by the Lenca people, to make a stand against the companys attempt to circumvent indigenous land rights by moving the dam across the shore. DESA was warned about the demonstration via its network of paid informants, and summoned its political and security allies to wreck the event. First, COPINHs buses and cars were detained at a checkpoint where everyone was forced out and the men and women were separated, registered and photographed by police and military officers. Then, a small crowd threw stones and insults. You old witch, youll never come back here! screamed the pro-dam deputy mayor at Berta.

As the crowd jeered, Sergio Rodrguez, DESAs communities and environmental manager, politely greeted Berta before warning her to turn back. There are armed men at the river, we wont be responsible if something happens to you.

Were not leaving, we have a right to be here, retorted Berta, and marched on.

But the public road to the river was blocked by company machinery, so Berta set off on foot in the blistering sun towards the dam encampment. Waiting along the gruelling unshaded track were hired thugs and armed security guards and police officers, including some Tigres an elite US-backed special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team trained for urban combat.

A drone buzzed overhead taking photographs as COPINH protesters threw rocks at the company machinery. DESAs security chief, former police major Jorge vila, appeared with a grisly warning: En unos das, ustedes van a comer el hgado de una persona (In a few days, youll be eating someones liver), he said.

Still undeterred, Berta continued with the exhausted group to the river, where they sat on the shady bank to rest and connect with the Gualcarques sacred spirit. When they finally left it was dark, and Bertas car was pelted with beer bottles and rocks, smashing the rear window.

Less than a week later, around midday on 26 February, a double-cabin pickup truck with polarized windows drove up the narrow dead-end street leading to the COPINH head office in the city of La Esperanza. A tall man with a military-style haircut got out and asked for Berta, while the driver kept the engine running. When asked to identify himself, he jumped into the car and sped off.