- Six years after the assassination of environmental activist Berta Cáceres, Roberto David Castillo Mejía, executive president of the hydroelectric company Desa, is sentenced to 22 years in prison in Honduras. This company was building dams on the Gualcarque River, sacred to the people of Lenca, and Cáceres was fighting these constructions.
Berta Cáceres was the leader of the indigenous population of Lenca, an environmental activist and human rights defender. In 2016, they broke into her house and shot her to death.
By crime, in 2019 seven people were convicted and last year Roberto David Castillo was considered one of the intellectual authors of the crime in the courts, participated in the financing, organization and logistics of the crime. Now, the jury has determined the sanction: 22 and a half years ' imprisonment.
Honduras, a dangerous country for ecologists
As we reported in the murder of Cáceres, Honduras “is the most dangerous country in the world for ecologists in terms of population,” according to the Global Witness report. According to the NGO, 101 entrepreneurs were killed between 2010 and 2014. “As governments discuss climate change, river and jungle advocates are killed with impunity without any repercussions on the international press.”
