Social organizations and the Barcelona City Council agree to commemorate Berta Cáceres

Who was Berta Cáceres?

Berta Cáceres was a Honduran indigenous activist who stood for the preservation of the river surrounding her Lenca community.

During a march she was leading a month earlier to her death in 2016, she had an altercation with soldiers, police and some employees of the Honduran company Desarrollos Energéticos S.A.

In 2010, D.E.S.A and other International hydroelectric companies were given a governmental permission to build dams in the Gualcarque river in western Honduras, the area of the Lenca community.

There were attempts to make it democratical, but the Honduran state ignored the Lenca demands. By 2013, ballot boxes and peaceful marches turned into clashes with the police, and a Chinese hydroelectric company withdrew in the face of the social protests.

Cáceres was in the front line since the beginning. She founded the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). In some years, she saw three of her colleagues murdered by the authorities. Here you can read more about it.

She was shot dead at her residence aged 44. The Honduran police claimed not to know anything about the case. In fact, she and her family had been threatened many times. 

Catalan organizations stand for Berta Cáceres’ memory

Entrepobles, Fundipau and the Catalan Institute for Human Rights have proposed the Barcelona City Council to set up a monument dedicated to Berta Cáceres in the upcoming Glòries park.

Glòries is an area in the middle of the Catalan capital that has been under remodelation for a while. Among other things, the Barcelona City Council has the plan to transform the old park into a pedestrian and running area.

So far, the transformation is going well, even though at some point it had to stop due to some contract and funding difficulties.

This month of August, a nonprofit named Huacal which works in support of El Salvador, has released the news: they also adhere to the initiative to remember Berta Cáceres in the city. The Barcelona City Council has agreed to place a monument in her memory.

This video recommended by Huacal organization explains Berta Cáceres' community struggle, the fight for human rights and the environment.