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A Honduran Court sentenced Honduran Roberto David Castillo to 22 years and six months in prison on Monday for the murder of environmentalist Berta Cáceres, which occurred on March 2, 2016. A crime for which seven people were already convicted in 2019 This case has become one of the most emblematic in relation to the defense of environmental rights in this country.
Castillo, an executive of the company Desarrollos Energéticos SA (DESA), was sentenced in July 2021 as the “intellectual co-author” of the murder of the environmentalist of the Lenca ethnic group and today, after a tireless effort by the Cáceres family and their followers, he was eventually sentenced to 22 years and six months in prison.
According to the Honduran Public Ministry, Castillo “arranged the death of Cáceres as part of a plan to remove any obstacles that would interfere with DESA’s operations on the Gualcarque River,” the ancestral territory of the Lenca indigenous people.
The sentence against Castillo is known almost a year after being found guilty and after four postponements by the Sentencing Court.
This same Court was in charge of reading the sentence in the presence of the accusing party, which were the Public Ministry, the relatives of Cáceres, led by his daughter, Bertha Zúñiga, members of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (Copinh), human rights defenders, among others.
Likewise, the Honduran Public Ministry added that it has “no real progress to clarify the intellectual authorship” in the murder of Cáceres.
Seven people were convicted of the crime in 2018 and received sentences of up to 50 years in prison. Elvin Rápalo, Henry Hernández, Edilson Duarte and Oscar Torres Velásquez were sentenced to 34 years for the crime and 16 years for attempted murder.
Who is Roberto Castillo?
Castillo is a career electrical and military engineer. When the murder occurred, he was executive president of the DESA company, in charge of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam, a project that the environmentalist opposed.
The reading of the sentence against Castillo was scheduled for June 17, however, the date was removed by the Sentencing Court with National Jurisdiction, as indicated by the Public Ministry in a statement.
In August 2021, the Public Ministry requested “the maximum punishment, 25 years in prison, pointing out as aggravating circumstances that the act was carried out with abuse of superiority or trust, by means of price or reward and committing the crime for racist or other reasons. relating to ideology.
A sentence that does not convince the relatives of the environmentalist
“David Castillo’s sentence does not satisfy the Lenca people’s demand for justice. The State of Honduras remains in debt,” said Bertha Zúñiga, daughter of the environmentalist leader.
Discomfort that spread among the followers and comrades in the struggle of Cáceres, who added their reflections on the case through a statement. “There will be complete justice when the masterminds of the crime have been captured, prosecuted and sentenced,” Copinh stressed.
The Lenca organization and the Cáceres family also indicated that they have made concrete proposals to move towards “comprehensive justice” for the environmentalist and to be able to guarantee “the rights to truth, justice, reparation and guarantee of non-repetition.”
However, in legal matters, the defense of Cáceres, despite these impressions, applauded the result. “What happened today must be claimed as a victory for Copinh and the Lenca people,” stressed Víctor Fernández, one of the environmentalist’s lawyers.
Marta Cáceres and her legacy
Cáceres was murdered on March 2, 2016 in the city of La Esperanza, department of Intibucá, in western Honduras, despite having precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to protect her from the constant threats she received. for supporting their fight for environmental rights.
The environmentalist opposed the construction of Agua Zarca, on the Gualcarque River, considering that it caused irreparable damage to the environment, mainly to the communities of the Lenca ethnic group.
She was not afraid to confront the company, and despite her death, her colleagues and followers uphold the legacy of a woman who died to protect the land.
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