Caceres' Daughter Demands Inquiry, Company Pulls out of Dam Project

German engineering firm Voith has canceled plans to continue with the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project against which assassinated environmental activists Berta Caceres and Nelson Garcia protested.

Voith says that the cessation of the project is due to the violent death of Caceres and Garcia, members of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, an organization dedicated to the defense of the environment and Lenca people in the Intibuca region.

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At the beginning of the week, three soldiers and a group from energy development company DESA-Agua Zarca, headquartered in Honduras' capital, were detained in relation to the deaths of the environmental activists.

However, Caceres' daughter, Berta Zuñiga, said during a press conference in Spain that an independent inquiry is required to discover the mastermind behind the murders, Spanish news agency EFE reports.

Honduras is in a situation of "dictatorship," Spanish leftist Podemos party member Pedro Arrojo said after Zuñiga spoke. Arrojo is also a member of the international mission calling for justice in the investigation of Caceres' death .

The current Honduran government came to power after the 2009 ouster of democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya. Democratic presidential contender and presumed nominee Hillary Clinton worked to secure President Juan Orlando Hernandez's role during her tenure as Secretary of State. It is suspected that the government was aware of, or had a role in, the assassinations of the environment activists.

The mission, composed of fifteen jurists, parliamentarians and NGO representatives visited Honduras in March to investigate the murder of Caceres and urge the release of Mexican environmentalist Gustavo Castro, who is prohibited from leaving the country. He is the only witness to the death of Caceres.