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Bertha Zuñiga Caceres, the daughter of murdered Honduran environmentalist Berta Caceres, participated in an interview with Democracy Now Thursday, revealing key details about an attempt on her life on June 30.
Zuñiga said she believes last month’s attack had something to do with an ongoing water conflict in La Esperanza region of the country, where her family actively organizes against multinational corporations.
Zuñiga, 26, was travelling in a car with two other members of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras, Copinh, when they were attacked.
“The people that attacked us, we don’t know them,” Zuñiga told Democracy Now.
“There was four of them. Three of the attackers had machetes, and the fourth one was the driver of their vehicle, who was actually the most aggressive.”
The three men with machetes blocked the Copinh members' car, threatening Zuñiga and her companions, Sotero Chavarria and Asuncion Martine, who are members of Copinh’s leadership committee. A fourth man threw a stone at their vehicle, hitting the top of the window.
The men then tried to force their car off the road but the driver managed to escape with the passengers.
“It was a big surprise and a big alert for us, because it could have had very different consequences,” Zuñiga said.
“In many ways, it was luck that we were able to escape in the way that we were.”
The attack came weeks after Zuñiga was named the new leader of Copinh, the group formerly led by her mother.
“I think that the Copinh assembly process, which we just had, is a process that not only names the new leadership of the organization, but it’s also a process that has reorganized and has strengthened the communities that make up Copinh, as well as our work,” Zuñiga said.
“The strengthening of the organization and of the communities is something that the economic and political powers that don’t like our work are obviously concerned about, and so that could very much have to relate to this attack.”
Honduras is considered one of the world's most dangerous countries for human rights defenders. At least 33 activists were killed in 2016, according to Front Line Defenders.
Caceres, a 44-year-old Indigenous leader, environmentalist and leftist activist, was shot and killed at her home in the Honduran city of La Esperanza on March 3, 2016.
Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, a member of La Voz de los de Abajo, told Democracy Now that the attack on Caceres was extremely worrisome, but was not a surprise to him.
“As long as money continues to flow to the Honduran security forces, as long as these conflicts are allowed to rage in a complete state of impunity, we can expect these kind of attacks,” he said.
The incident has been reported to authorities, but no arrests have been made thus far. Zuñiga said despite the attack, her organization is going forward with their struggle.
“Part of our struggle is to break this cycle of impunity, so that the people who carried out this attack, they should be held responsible for their actions and for what they did,” Zuñiga said.
“I was born into a people of great dignity and of great strength. And my mother, Berta Caceres, instilled upon us, from a very young age, that the struggle is rooted in dignity and that we must continue forward defending the rights of our people.”
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