Berta Se Multiplicó - COPINH Resists:La Voz Delegation Report
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| ggjalliance.org |
V. Cervantes July 26, 2016, Chicago
Unless otherwise credited, photos are from La Voz de los de Abajo
On July 25, some people might have been surprised outside the Democratic Party’s National Convention in Philadelphia to see protesters wearing masks made from a photo of assassinated Honduran indigenous leader Berta Caceres and a giant puppet of Berta as well marching through the streets.
Unless otherwise credited, photos are from La Voz de los de Abajo
On July 25, some people might have been surprised outside the Democratic Party’s National Convention in Philadelphia to see protesters wearing masks made from a photo of assassinated Honduran indigenous leader Berta Caceres and a giant puppet of Berta as well marching through the streets.
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| Nas lutas@PersonalEscrito |
One of Berta’s daughters, Laura Yolanda Zuniga, was there too
representing Berta’s organization COPINH and her family as part of the
Grassroots Global Justice Alliance actions. The protesters had a
specific complaint related to COPINH and Honduras, denouncing the fact
that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has admitted to working hard to
extend and institutionalize the June 2009 coup d’etat in Honduras and
the fact that the Obama administration in general continues to support
and supply funds to the latest version of the coup government, President
Juan Orlando Hernandez — despite a very long list of human rights
violations, state violence, and corruption allegations tied to
Hernandez's government and political party. At the same time, it isn’t
really a surprise to find COPINH participating in protests that include
support for migrant’s rights, against police murders of black and
latinos in the US, the TPP, environmental justice and more. Since its
beginnings COPINH has had an international vision.
In late June of this year La Voz de los de Abajo sent a small fact
finding and accompaniment mission to Honduras. One of our priorities was
to show support for and to talk to with COPINH in the aftermath of the
assassination of its co-founder and long-time general coordinator, Berta
Caceres. On June 26 th we started
out for La Esperanza, Intibuca to visit COPINH and to pay our respects
to Berta Caceres’ family. Leaving from Marcala, La Paz, where we had
visited campesinos from the CNTC, we were already in the area in which
the Lenca indigenous people’s communities and descendants are a
majority. The indigenous word Lenca means something like “a place of
many waters” in English and it is a land of rivers flowing down from
breathtaking mountains
covered
in Honduran pine mixed with flowering plants and cultivations of coffee
and small land holdings of corn and beans. At the time of the Spanish
conquest the Lenca were one of the larger groups of indigenous people in
the region and were concentrated in the Southwestern region of
Guaymara - eventually renamed Honduras by the Spanish. Their resistance
to the conquest, led by their most important leader Lempira, is
celebrated like that of Cuahtemoc in Mexico.
covered
in Honduran pine mixed with flowering plants and cultivations of coffee
and small land holdings of corn and beans. At the time of the Spanish
conquest the Lenca were one of the larger groups of indigenous people in
the region and were concentrated in the Southwestern region of
Guaymara - eventually renamed Honduras by the Spanish. Their resistance
to the conquest, led by their most important leader Lempira, is
celebrated like that of Cuahtemoc in Mexico. |
| hondurastierralibre.com |
Lempira was killed during the final Lencan uprising of 1537-1538. After
the conquest, tens or even hundreds of thousands were eliminated by
violence, slavery, and disease. This history does not feel so distant
given both the ongoing violent attacks on the communities and their
tenacious resistance in the region today in defense of the waters of the
rivers that are threatened by hydroelectric projects involving
international and national companies, land grabbing by the regional and
national oligarchy, and the murders of the defenders themselves such as
the March 2, 2016 murder of Berta Caceres. Just a few days after we left
Marcala itself would be the site of the murder of another environmental
community activist associated with COPINH. Lesbia Yaneth Urquía was
murdered and her body found in a trash dump on July 7th.
Five members or supporters of COPINH have been murdered since 2013 when
the struggle against the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project intensified
(Justo Soto, Nelson Garcia, Tomas Garcia, Berta Caceres, Lesbia Yaneth
Urquía)
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| Graffitti on muncipal building "JOH Assassin" |
In Berta's case it wasn't until July 8, 2016 that the Honduran government finally conceded publicly that it had not provided the required protection to Berta prior to her assassination. At the family home, the on-duty policeman got out of his car and looked us over as Doña Austra Bertha Flores (Mama Berta) came out of the house to greet us and again when we left the house. She is an articulate, strong woman who has her own history of activism and service to the communities, having been a midwife for many years, as well as a mayor and a governor, known for having a position in defense of the Lenca communities and the poor in Honduras. She showed us the small altar dedicated to Berta in the house and spoke sadly, but proudly of her daughter. She spoke firmly and with determination outlined the continued demands of the Flores/Caceres family for an independent international based investigation of the assassination, and an end to the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project.
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| Mama Bertha with La Voz members |
Mama Bertha also strongly denounced the fact that the government and its investigators have never shared information or included the family in the investigation and strongly reiterated the family’s position that the investigation will not be complete, even if the gunmen and most proximal guilty are jailed, until all the intellectual authors of the crime are identified and brought to justice as well.
At the time we were in Honduras the introduction of the Berta Caceres Human Rights Act in the U.S. Congress on June 14th was reverberating in the Honduran media, augmented by a June 21st Guardian article
exposing the fact that Honduran military special units circulated an
order to assassinate a “kill list” of activists including Berta Caceres
before her death. To date, three of the four men arrested for Berta’s
murder are military - one an active duty officer in the Armed Forces,
although the government has denied that there is or was a hit list. The
Berta Caceres Act would cut off US security aid to the national police
and military, and require a "No" vote on multilateral developmental
loans until the government of Honduras meets a series of conditions for
investigating and ending human rights crimes. Doña Austra Bertha
expressed her strong support for this proposal and her personal thanks
to the members of Congress and solidarity activists pushing the Act
forward.
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| Mural at Utopía |
COPINH has made their ideas concrete with the construction of an
organizational center and meeting space called Utopía just outside of La
Esperanza; a women’s refuge, and their office and radio stations. The
La Voz de los de Abajo group arrived at Utopía later in the afternoon of
June 26th. We spoke with Tina, a
COPINH member who is one of the people who keeps Utopía up and running
on a daily basis and later with a leader from the Rio Blanco community
along with a member of COPINH’s coordinating committee, Asunción, and
COPINH’s communication coordinator Gaspar Sanchez.
They had all only recently returned from traveling outside the country to present COPINH’s case on Berta’s assassination to solidarity organizations and legal entities in Europe and Costa Rica. Utopía has meeting halls, dormitories, a kitchen, — decorated with beautiful murals and slogans that reflect Lencan culture and the people’s struggles. It includes land that has been planted with corn and beans and a few head of cattle graze around the building. A larger meeting shelter outside the main building is under construction because the meeting halls inside are not large enough for the people’s assemblies. COPINH uses popular assemblies as the key part of their decision making process. The next morning when the General Coordinator Tomas Gomez Membreño arrived he explained that COPINH has the vision of making Utopía a more sustainable collective agricultural project as well as a center for training and gatherings.
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| La Voz members at Utopía |
They had all only recently returned from traveling outside the country to present COPINH’s case on Berta’s assassination to solidarity organizations and legal entities in Europe and Costa Rica. Utopía has meeting halls, dormitories, a kitchen, — decorated with beautiful murals and slogans that reflect Lencan culture and the people’s struggles. It includes land that has been planted with corn and beans and a few head of cattle graze around the building. A larger meeting shelter outside the main building is under construction because the meeting halls inside are not large enough for the people’s assemblies. COPINH uses popular assemblies as the key part of their decision making process. The next morning when the General Coordinator Tomas Gomez Membreño arrived he explained that COPINH has the vision of making Utopía a more sustainable collective agricultural project as well as a center for training and gatherings.
Tomas also had just returned to Honduras from a speaking tour in the
United States, including Chicago and Washington DC. The next day as he
showed us more COPINH projects including the women’s refuge, main office
and one of the radio stations. While he drove us he talked some about
the history of racism in the region. La Esperanza is really a dual city
which includes La Esperanza and the city of Intíbuca. According to some
histories these cities originally corresponded with closely related
Mayan and Lenca communities that were, along with the entire region,
seized by the Spanish crown. During the 19th
Century the area slowly drew in more businesses and ranchers from
outside the Lenca area and from Guatemala and El Salvador this new elite
founded La Esperanza. Meanwhile, as Tomas explained, The city of
Intíbuca remained more indigenous and poorer, with its residents
discriminated against to the present day. These kinds of conditions
greatly influenced the founding of COPINH and its principles of
autonomy.
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| Lilian |
At the women’s shelter we met with another long time leader in COPINH,
Lillian, who explained the importance of COPINH’s feminism and
anti-patriarchal stance not being in words only but also in action.
The women’s shelter is an impressive apartment complex with around 8 complete apartments (each with its own kitchen and bathroom) as well as a communal kitchen and meeting rooms. Women fleeing domestic violence or other difficult situations can find not only shelter but also emotional support. Lilian told us that COPINH organizes women’s encounters (in which men are asked to do all the cooking and childcare so that women can fully participate). Their plan for the center, for which they are looking for solidarity funding, include to have full-time healthcare staff for psychological and physical health, educational projects and more.
The women’s shelter is an impressive apartment complex with around 8 complete apartments (each with its own kitchen and bathroom) as well as a communal kitchen and meeting rooms. Women fleeing domestic violence or other difficult situations can find not only shelter but also emotional support. Lilian told us that COPINH organizes women’s encounters (in which men are asked to do all the cooking and childcare so that women can fully participate). Their plan for the center, for which they are looking for solidarity funding, include to have full-time healthcare staff for psychological and physical health, educational projects and more.
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| "No Patriarchy" "My body is my territory" |
When we got to COPINH’s office and the site of one of their radios
(Radio Guarajambala) we found La Abuelita (the Grandmother) Doña
Pascualita on the air, with another compañera, talking about women’s
contributions to their communities and to the organization COPINH. We
were invited to say a few words about our organization, the solidarity
movement and other things going on in the US.
Later Gaspar interviewed La Voz member Jenine, who is active in the Palestinian community in Chicago, about the Palestinian struggle. She took the opportunity to denounce the members of the Honduran oligarchy of Palestinian descent probably 5 of the 8-10 oligarchic families, including the Atala family who are involved in the Agua Zarca project and the Faccusse family that is the largest landowning family and dominates the Aguan Valley. She called them out as not representing the Palestinian people who understand very well the role of elites who betray the people.
Since the death of Berta, COPINH leaders as well as her daughters Berta,
Olivia Marcela and Laura Yolanda have been non-stop traveling across
Honduras but also internationally, advocating for pressure on the
Honduran government to allow an internationally based investigation of
the assassination and to end the Agua Zarca project. One of the focuses
of COPINH is on how to deal with the Honduran government's refusal to
allow the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to head up an
independent investigation of the assassination. This has been one of the
key demands of the family and of COPINH since the assassination and
COPINH is considering possibilities for organizing an independent
investigative group themselves with internationally recognized experts.
Berta’s death and the demands of seeking justice for her and defending
COPINH from the blatant attempts to destroy it as an organization, have
taken a toll on the organization and its leaders but they made it clear
that they are strong and united as an organization, unblinking in the
face of the attacks and dedicated to the vision of COPINH. Berta Caceres
was murdered but that murder spread her spirit and as the slogan goes —
“she didn’t die, she multiplied”. |
| La Abuela Pascualita on the air |
Later Gaspar interviewed La Voz member Jenine, who is active in the Palestinian community in Chicago, about the Palestinian struggle. She took the opportunity to denounce the members of the Honduran oligarchy of Palestinian descent probably 5 of the 8-10 oligarchic families, including the Atala family who are involved in the Agua Zarca project and the Faccusse family that is the largest landowning family and dominates the Aguan Valley. She called them out as not representing the Palestinian people who understand very well the role of elites who betray the people.
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| Gaspar Sanchez interviews Jenine with interpreter |
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| Mural in Utopía | http://hondurasresists.blogspot.mx/2016/07/berta-se-multiplico-copinh-resistsla.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook |
