Berta Cáceres(1971 — 2016)
Berta Cáceres
Honduras
8 min read
Honduran environmental activist of Lenca origin, co-founder of COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras). Winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015, she was assassinated in 2016 for her fight against the Agua Zarca dam.
Famous Quotes
« Wake up! Wake up, humankind! We're out of time. »
« The Gualcarque River has called upon us, as have other territories, and we must answer their call. »
Key Facts
- 1971: born in La Esperanza, Honduras
- 1993: co-founded COPINH to defend the rights of the Lenca people
- 2015: awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, the world's highest environmental honor
- 2016: assassinated at her home on March 2, after years of threats linked to her opposition to the Agua Zarca dam
- 2021: CEO of the company DESA convicted for his role in the assassination
Works & Achievements
Organization created to defend the political, territorial, and cultural rights of the Lenca peoples of Honduras; COPINH is today a landmark reference for indigenous struggles in Central America.
A grassroots mobilization that forced international funders (FMO, Voith Hydro) to withdraw from the project and led to the dam's permanent abandonment — an emblematic victory against extractivism in indigenous territory.
A speech broadcast worldwide calling on humanity to "awaken" in the face of nature's destruction; a landmark text of the international environmental movement, translated into dozens of languages.
Grassroots education led by COPINH to inform villages about ILO Convention 169, the right to free prior and informed consent, and available legal recourse — a lasting tool for community empowerment.
Berta Cáceres built a network of local, national, and international organizations to document and denounce the criminalization of environmental activists in a country ranked among the world's most dangerous for this cause.
Anecdotes
Berta Cáceres grew up in La Esperanza in a politically engaged family: her mother, Austra Berta Flores, a midwife and activist, welcomed Salvadoran refugees fleeing the civil war of the 1980s. This early contact with injustice and displacement forged Berta's political conscience from childhood.
In 2013, Berta Cáceres organized Lenca communities to physically block access to the construction site of the Agua Zarca dam on the río Gualcarque, a river sacred in Lenca cosmogony. Her peaceful but determined resistance ultimately forced German giant Voith Hydro and Dutch bank FMO to withdraw from the project — a rare victory against extractivism in Central America.
When accepting the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 — the world's highest honor for grassroots environmental activists — Berta Cáceres quoted revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg: 'Awaken! Awaken, humanity!' Her speech, broadcast worldwide, made her an icon of indigenous and environmental resistance.
Despite dozens of documented death threats and several assassination attempts, Berta Cáceres consistently refused to leave Honduras. She was murdered in her home in La Esperanza on the night of March 2–3, 2016. Her death triggered a wave of international outrage and accelerated the definitive abandonment of the Agua Zarca dam.
In 2021, David Castillo, president of the company DESA tasked with building the dam, was found guilty as a co-perpetrator of the murder by a Honduran court. This conviction, the result of years of legal struggle led by the Cáceres family and COPINH, remains a rare victory for environmental justice in Latin America.
Primary Sources
Wake up! Wake up, humanity! There is no more time. Our consciences are shaken by the fact that we must reconcile with nature in order to guarantee life. The Gualcarque River has called out to us, as have others, and we must heed that call.
We, the Lenca peoples of Honduras, declare our inalienable right to our lands, our waters, and our forests. We demand that the Honduran State respect ILO Convention 169 and guarantee our right to prior, free, and informed consultation.
In 2014, at least 101 environmental defenders were killed worldwide. In Honduras, a country of 8 million people, the per capita murder rate of environmental activists exceeds that of any other country in the world.
The Commission grants precautionary measures in favor of Berta Cáceres Flores, defender of the rights of indigenous peoples in Honduras, in view of the serious and imminent threats to her life and physical integrity.
The indigenous Lenca peoples paid a heavy price for their resistance to the 2009 coup. Our leaders are criminalized, our lands seized, our rights violated in the name of a development that benefits only multinational corporations.
Key Places
Birthplace of Berta Cáceres, capital of the Intibucá department and heart of the Lenca territory. Home of COPINH, it is where she lived, campaigned for over twenty years, and was assassinated on March 3, 2016.
A sacred river in Lenca cosmology, believed by tradition to be inhabited by protective spirits. Site of the Agua Zarca dam project, it was the main stage of the resistance organized by Berta Cáceres from 2013 to 2016.
The Honduran capital where Berta Cáceres argued before government bodies, pursued legal cases, and met with representatives of national and international human rights organizations.
Venue of the Goldman Environmental Prize ceremony in April 2015, where Berta Cáceres delivered a landmark speech before the international community and emerged as a global environmental icon.
A predominantly Lenca department of Honduras and the main arena of COPINH's work. Its forests, rivers, and rural communities were at the heart of every legal and activist battle fought by Berta Cáceres.