Urgent Action: Environmental Activist Assassinated in Honduras
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 08 March 2016 17:45
- Written by editor
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Honduran Activist Assassinated and Witness Being Detained
Take Action Now
Dear friends,
CoDevelopment Canada joins the many organizations expressing condemnation of the assassination of Berta Cáceres, general coordinator and co-founder of the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), and the subsequent detention in Honduras of a witness to the crime, Gustavo Castro Soto who is a Mexican citizen.
We are calling on Canadian & Honduran officials to take steps to conduct an independent investigation of the assassination and to urge the Honduran government to guarantee Mr. Soto's safe and prompt return to Mexico.
Please also see our blog for International Women's Day which we are dedicating to Ms.Cáceres.
Thank you,
CoDev staff and board.
Honduran activist assassinated and witness being detained
Urge Canadian and Honduran authorities to take action
Ms. Cáceres was killed in La Esperanza, Intibuca after several individuals broke into the house where she was staying and shot and killed her. We are also very concerned for the safety of Gustavo Castro Soto, a Mexican colleague of Ms. Cáceres, who witnessed and survived her assassination, and who is now being held in Honduras.Ms. Cáceres’ murder was witnessed by Gustavo Castro Soto, a Mexican citizen and colleague from the organization Otros Mundos Chiapas. Mr. Castro has fully participated in all aspects of the investigation into Ms. Cáceres’ assassination. On Sunday, March 6th, Mr. Castro attempted to leave Honduras legally and with protection from the Mexican Embassy in Honduras, but was detained by Honduran authorities at the airport under the argument that he had to give additional testimony, without having received prior notification of this. Honduran authorities are insisting on conducting additional interviews with Mr. Castro in Intibuca instead of from the safety of the Mexican Embassy in Tegucigalpa.
After assuring Mr. Soto verbally that he could leave Honduras after giving additional testimony, the Honduran Attorney General then issued a 30 day migratory alert requiring Mr. Soto to remain in Honduras, in spite of already having participated fully in the investigation.Please join CoDevelopment in signing two letters to Canadian and Honduran officials from the link below. The first letter calls on the Canadian Government to: urge the Honduran government to revoke the migratory alert that keeps Gustavo in Honduras and guarantee his safe and prompt return to Mexico; urge the Mexican government to maintain and strengthen measures for Gustavo's physical and psychological well being in Honduras and safe return to Mexico; urge for an independent investigation with international participation, given the weakness of the Honduran justice system to ensure a full and impartial investigation of Berta Cáceres’ assassination.
The second letter calls on Honduran authorities to lift the migratory alert and allow Mr. Castro to leave Honduras, and calls on the Mexican authorities to take greater actions to pressure the Government of Honduras to allow Mr. Castro to leave Honduras.
Take Action Now
Thank you for signing up to receive urgent action notifications. It is with the support of dedicated people like you that we are able to respond quickly when threats are issued against the Latin American communities with whom we work. This is solidarity in action and you are an integral part of it.
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