"Honduras: Support in the search of justice for the murder of human rights defender Berta Cáceres (2016–2026)", 03 March 2026

...Among the judicial progress: the criminal conviction of seven people as perpetrators of the murder and the conviction of the director of the DESA company as co-author of the crime. Similarly, the conviction for corruption in the concession of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, known as the "Gualcarque Fraud", has allowed progress to be made in the search for justice for other types of responsibilities linked to the imposition of extractive projects. However, not all those responsible for this crime have been brought to justice...

Berta Isabel Cáceres Flores, a member of the Lenca people, co-founder and coordinator of the COPINH, was murdered on the night of Wednesday 2 March in La Esperanza, in the department of Intibucá, her hometown.

Berta Cáceres fought for the rights of the Lenca indigenous people to recover their lands in Río Blanco, Intibucá, in the face of the construction of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam by the company Desarrollos Energéticos S.A. (DESA) on Lenca lands.

In previous years, Berta had been the target of repeated threats, stigmatisation campaigns, criminalisation and surveillance processes due to her opposition to the project. As coordinator of COPINH, she publicly denounced irregularities in the concession and the presence of security forces in the area. Despite precautionary measures granted by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the State failed to provide effective protection...

The responsibilities of the financial actors involved in the Agua Zarca project were also highlighted, such as those of the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank (FMO), which financed it...

Unfortunately, Berta’s murder was just one of many cases of violence suffered by human rights defenders in Honduras...