Alert! The killers of Berta Cáceres would be released amid the COVID19 crisis

On April 7, the Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project posted, “Copinh Intibucá warns that there is a possibility that two of the people convicted of the murder of Berta Cáceres will be released from prison in the framework of the #coronavirus health emergency.”

“They are Sergio Rodríguez Orellana and Douglas Bustillo, workers of the Atala Zablah family and sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder.”

PBI-Honduras adds, “COPINH also warns of a possible release of David Castillo, one of the intellectual authors of the crime.”

The Guardian has reported, “In November 2018, the court ruled the murder was ordered by executives of the Agua Zarca dam company, Desa, because of delays and financial losses linked to protests led by Cáceres.”

That article adds, “Sergio Ramón Rodríguez, the communities and environment manager for Desa, and Douglas Geovanny Bustillo, a former Desa security chief, and ex-US trained army lieutenant, were given 30 years and six months for their participation in the murder. …David Roberto Castillo, a US-trained former military intelligence officer, and Desa’s president has been indicted as an “intellectual author” of her murder.”

The COPINH alert says: “COPINH strongly denounces that the authorities of the State of Honduras and the National Penitentiary Institute led by the Honduran army intend to release these convicted murderers taking advantage of the health crisis the country is going through.”

COPINH demands that the authorities in charge clarify this situation.

Their full ALERT in Spanish and English can be read here.

The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project began accompanying the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) in May 2016. Berta Cáceres, the co-founder, and coordinator of COPINH, was killed in March 2016.