Less that 10 days after Berta Caceres’ murder, one of her most close colleagues was murdered too. On Tuesday March 15, Nelson García, another indigenous environmental activist, was killed by unidentified gunmen as he returned to his family home.
He was a co-founder and one of the the most renowned and active members of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras (Copinh), an organisation that was created almost 22 years ago in order to protect Lenca territory from industrial and state interventions that were violating the human rights of the indigenous population. Garcia’s death confirms that to be an environmental defender in Honduras is a real life threat.
Berta Caceres and Nelson Garcia were killed because their organisation strongly opposed the development of a new hydroelectric project (Aqua Zarca) for many years. In the wake of these two deaths, two European development banks headquartered in nations that believe strongly in human rights protections have finally decided to suspend funding of the Aqua Zarca hydroelectric project activists have been protesting for years. Too late for tears…
