Berta Cáceres Dead: Human Rights And Environmental Activist Murdered In Honduras

2015 Goldman Environmental Prize winner, Berta Cáceres, has been assassinated in her hometown of La Esperenza, Intibucá in Honduras. The influential activist was reportedly receiving different threats for opposing a hydroelectric project that would flood large areas of native lands and cut off water supplies to hundreds. "We strongly condemn this despicable crime. The United States of America calls for a prompt and thorough investigation into this crime and for the full force of the law to be brought to bear against those found responsible,” U.S. ambassador in Honduras, James D. Nealon, said in a statement.

At least two individuals broke down the door of the residence where Berta was staying for the evening, shot and killed her, SOA Watch reports. Police said they had detained a suspect, but did not identify the person, “I have no doubt that she has been killed because of her struggle and that soldiers and people from the dam are responsible, I am sure of that. I hold the government responsible,” her mother, Austrabertha Flores, said on radio Globo at 6.

Here’s a video of Cáceres explaining her grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the world’s largest dam builder to pull out of the Agua Zarca Dam.