- On 2 March 2016, environmental activist and human rights defender Berta Cáceres was shot dead early in the morning in her home in Cáceres. Agua Zarca fought against the hydroelectric project: it denounced the relocation of the villages of origin and the privatization of water. He was threatened several times and before he was killed four other activists in the same struggle. In 2019, seven people were convicted of the murder of Cáceres, but one person is attributed the status of "intellectual author", although the report by international experts points to higher positions of the company DESA, which was in a hurry.
The company responsible for the Agua Zarca project, Energy Development Sociedad Limitada (DESA), has until now attributed to its manager, David Castillo Mejía, the "intellectual author" of the murder of Berta Cáceres by the Honduran justice system. But the report of the International Advisory Group of Experts also points to other senior positions in the company. Among the people condemned for the murder of Cáceres, two of them are linked to the company DESA and four to the army.
Honduras: the most dangerous country in defence of the environment
On the fifth anniversary of the killing of the environmental activist, several environmental groups have sent a letter to the Spanish Foreign Minister calling for justice to be done and for Mejía’s trial to be transparent. The letter was signed by Mundubat, Ekologistak Martxan, CEAR Euskadi, Greenpeace...
The letter emphasizes that Honduras is for the defenders of the land and the environment the most dangerous territory in the world: According to Global Witness's latest report, Honduras is the country with the highest number of defenders per inhabitant killed. In the letter, the environmental groups note that "the non-identification and denunciation of all those responsible for the murder of Berta Cáceres puts other environmental defenders at risk and leaves those responsible for this crime unpunished".