Worth Dying For | Journeyman Pictures

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Film: Worth Dying For

http://www.journeyman.tv/film/7132

Transcript

[00:05]

I heard the news at about half past two or three in the morning…

[00:11]

Title

Berta Cáceres was one of Honduras’ most prominent environmental and indigenous rights activists.

[00:22]

Title

In 2015, she won the Goldman Environmental Prize, the world’s leading environmental award.

[00:28]

I have spent months and months waking up at the same time without being able to go back to sleep…

[00:38]

Let’s wake up! Let’s wake up, humanity! We’re out of time.

[00:45]

Thinking that if she had never left here at that time…

[00:51]

I dedicate this award to my mother, and to all the martyrs who gave their lives in the struggle to defend our natural resources.

[01:01]

she would still be alive.

[01:15]

Title

Within a year, armed men stormed into her home and shot her dead.

[01:21]

Title

Austraberta Flores

Berta’s mother

[01:21]

I have to say I never expected my daughter to be murdered in such a horrible way.

[01:32]

Title

Although eight people have been arrested in connection with Berta’s murder, the case remains unsolved.

[01:40]

The murders are wrong, they didn’t kill her.

[01:42]

She is still alive to thousands and millions of women, men, young people around the world.

[01:51]

Title

Worth dying for?

[02:00]

Title

Tegucigalpa

2017 – first anniversary of Berta’s death.

[02:13]

We demand justice.

[02:15]

We demand that the people responsible must be punished and, above all, an end to the murders of those who think differently.

[02:28]

Berta Cáceres is a symbol.

[02:30]

title

tomas Membreno

General Co-ordinator

COPINH

[02:30]

Solving Berta Caceres’ case is to solve over 160 other cases, where people have been murdered for defending the land, for defending life,

[02:41]

for searching for progress for Hondurans and the indigenous populations.

[02:50]

Berta brought international attention to indigenous people’s rights in Honduras,

[02:50]

leading protests against illegal logging, U.S. military bases on indigenous lands,

[03:00]

as well as supporting wider social and LGBT rights.

[03:07]

In 2009, she co-founded COPINH, an organization to fight for indigenous people’s rights.

[03:13]

For more than a decade, she led the Lenca people, organising protests and blockades,

[03:21]

in the fight against the construction of the Agua Zarca dam.

[03:29]

Today is a very important day because we are lodging a legal challenge

[03:30]

Title

Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres

Berta’s daughter

[03:32]

against the licence for the Agua Zarca hydro-electric project

[03:36]

the company we hold responsible for my mother’s and other COPINH partners’ deaths.

[03:46]

First of all I would like to say that for me, Berta Cáceres was, besides a partner in our struggle, my sister.

[03:55]

Title

Miriam Miranda

Leader,

Black Fraternal Organisation of Honduras (OFRENEH)

[03:55]

Our villages are located in one of the last bastions of nature that still exist on our planet.

[04:02]

Our fight is to guarantee that we are still able to coexist in a country and in places

[04:10]

that some people are trying to make disappear from earth completely.

[04:15]

My hope is that one day we realise that this is a collective suicide and we must stop it.

[04:23]

As Berta used to say, we have to wake up.

[04:27]

Under international law, indigenous people must be consulted about how the land they occupy is used.

[04:34]

Indigenous groups from all over Honduras have come to support the delivery of the legal challenge against Agua Zarca dam, claiming this right has been violated.

[04:45]

One year on from her killing, the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project remains on course.

[04:50]

And so, the intention of this event was that if the state is not going to do anything, then we will.

[05:01]

They should be ashamed for not allowing us to go inside.

[05:06]

They are not allowing us because it seems like they are afraid of the commission we are carrying out.

[05:13]

We hope that at any moment they’ll let us in, because accessing the Supreme Court is a Honduran’s right.

[05:23]

The process of demanding justice, in every respect, is a healing process.

[05:30]

It’s not only painful having to confront a violent assassination, a hate assassination,

[05:36]

but it’s even more painful having to face this system of impunity that sometimes make us feel it was in vain.

[05:47]

Excuse me, can I go through?

[05:55]

Berta Cáceres’ fight was an obstruction not only for Agua Zarca,

[05:58]

but for all the extractive projects in the rest of the communities of Honduras.

[06:08]

Title

In 2009, a military coup took place in Honduras.

Since then, about 30% of the country has been allocated to concessions for mining.

[06:15]

Much of this is being funded by U.S. and European investment.

[06:21]

title

COPINH’s sister organization, MILPAH, is fighting the construction of further dams on indigenous land.

In San José a dam has already been built.

[06:31]

All of this, where we are, in San José. All that you can see from here.

[06:33]

Title

Margarita Pineda

MILPAH

[06:34]

So, this is a 30-year concession for a dam.

[06:40]

We suddenly realised they were already building, and we reported it, but we haven’t been able to stop it.

[06:46]

We feel helpless, where will this leave us? Hydroelectric here, hydroelectric there…

[06:55]

San José might turn dry.

[07:05]

This river… here, there was a forest…

[07:12]

People said the river has dried up but I never imagined seeing it like this.

[07:17]

According to the conventions, they had to leave a percentage of water so that wildlife could survive.

[07:23]

But imagine, what could live in those dried stones now?

[07:34]

We haven’t had water for four days… Yes.

[07:36]

Title

Pilar Agular

Resident,

San José

[07:39]

This water, they grabbed from that mountain, you see there,

[07:43]

they covered there and channeled the water here and it passes there.

[07:48]

But we can’t use any of that water.

[07:53]

Every house here has no water. They’ve dried out.

[07:58]

All of them have left.

[08:03]

She’s sick, she’s been bedridden for seven years.

[08:18]

I think about future generations.

[08:22]

I experienced how beautiful it was to go to the river, put my hand in a pit, underneath a stone,

[08:28]

and find many fish down there.

[08:31]

And now, maybe my grandchildren and great-grandchildren won’t have the privilege that I had.

[08:40]

That’s why we fight.

[08:42]

For any project on our territory, we should be consulted according to international conventions.

[08:53]

It’s not happening.

[08:56]

Title

Tegucigalpa

[09:04]

There is recognition of the right of indigenous people to their lands and that a consultation must take place

[09:08]

Norma Cerrato

Vice Minister of Human Rights, Governance and De-Centralisation

[09:12]

when a project is going to be carried out.

[09:17]

But we don’t have the procedure. We need a procedure.

[09:22]

Until we have a procedure approved, we can’t know exactly if there have been mistakes or not.

[09:32]

Title

The licence for the dam in La Paz was granted to the husband of National Part president, congresswoman Gladis Aurora Lopez.

[09:37]

Title

Lawyers say this violated the Honduran constitution, but no action has been taken.

[09:43]

Gladis Aurora Lopez, she has only caused damage.

[09:46]

She’s just taking the money from selling the energy, and she doesn’t care that people are suffering.

[09:54]

At some point, the dignity of these people was being played with.

[10:01]

To fight corruption and impunity in Honduras, an independent commission, MACCIH, was set up in 2016.

[10:09]

We are a mission that is completely independent from the government.

[10:13]

Our operating funds are provided by the international community.

[10:16]

Title

Juan Jiménez

MACCIH

Former Prime Minister of Peru

[10:16]

There is no dependency on any institution linked to the Honduran state.

[10:22]

Emphatically.

[10:25]

I believe that corruption is like a disease that has come to stay in the Americas.

[10:30]

The case you’ve mentioned, Mrs. Gladis Aurora Lopez, we consider to be a very interesting subject.

[10:39]

From an investigation perspective, I can’t tell you more because our work is confidential.

[10:47]

But since the beginning of the mission we’ve found that any subject associated with concessions,

[10:52]

are susceptible to corruption, which is the reason why the mission is acting in this area.

[11:00]

It’s not about debilitating the investment system, rather to make it stronger,

[11:04]

in order to attract investment that brings clean environmental standards,

[11:10]

that complies and respects communities, that pays taxes,

[11:15]

with a series of standards that countries would normally require.

[11:20]

The damage of corruption in a country like Honduras, with its high poverty levels, of 60%, it’s really criminal.

[11:31]

Title

Gladis Aurora Lopez did not respond to requests for comment.

[11:37]

In neighbouring Santa Elena, MILPAH opposed the construction of another dam.

Construction has stalled.

[11:58]

We didn’t agree to have a hydroelectric dam here in Santa Elena.

[12:03]

Title

Maria Benitez

MILPAH activist

[12:03]

For some time, they blocked the way so the trucks could not pass.

[12:08]

So the, they couldn’t continue.

[12:12]

MILPAH won, but a lot of accusations have been made against the leaders,

[12:19]

including my husband, because he works for MILPAH. He’s the coordinator.

[12:26]

In Honduras, one of the ways to get you out of the way is murder.

[12:30]

Felipe Benitez

President,

MILPAH

[12:30]

Or they accuse you of terrorism because of the anti-terrorism law.

[12:35]

Or they plant guns and drugs on you and arrest you.

[12:40]

They accused us of being guerrilla members, usurpers, agitators…

[12:45]

They accused us of everything.

[12:47]

So, we have been terribly persecuted, criminalized through social networks.

[12:53]

Not only the state, but also the church saw us in a bad light.

[12:57]

I can’t go to church because they won’t receive me.

[13:03]

Since Felipe has been dealing with human rights,

[13:09]

he’s been told not to be too confident about the safety of his sons and family.

[13:15]

As your children are growing up, you worry about where they are and what might happen to them.

[13:22]

They threatened us, saying they were going to take us at night to kill us.

[13:28]

Five of them came one night.

[13:33]

They tried to trick Felipe into going outside.

[13:37]

I fear that we could be taken away, like what happened to Berta in the end.

[13:45]

We need to prepare, to wedge the windows, the doors, everything.

[13:51]

I have a health problem, bone disease. I can’t walk well… my hands, too.

[13:58]

The more problems get in your head, the sicker you become.

[14:07]

One doesn’t have much resistance any more.

[14:11]

Title

Since the 2009 coup, more than 120 land campaigners have been murdered.

[14:16]

More than 80% of murder cases are not solved.

[14:21]

Title

La Esperanza

[14:28]

Bertita, since the beginning, since she was very young, she got involved in the social struggle,

[14:30]

Title

Agustina Flores

Berta’s sister

[14:37]

and she always knew hers was a high-risk job.

[14:44]

The last time I saw her she told me, ‘Agustina, I’m worried.

[14:50]

The level of threats has increased in such a way, you have no idea.’

[14:54]

And I told her, ‘Bertita let’s go, leave this.

[15:00]

It’s not worth losing your life over. Think about your kids, think about mum, think about us.’

[15:09]

But she was a woman of great convictions,

[15:14]

and she told me, ‘I can’t leave the Lenca people now. In this moment, in this fight, I can’t leave them.’

[15:26]

Title

Berta reported 33 death threats linked to the campaign to stop the Agua Zarca dam.

[15:39]

The same way they murdered Bertita, they have killed many women.

[15:45]

I can’t remember the last figures but I think it’s about 120.

[15:50]

Of course it’s risky, but if we don’t make the sacrifice it will be impossible to stop the destruction of the country.

[16:10]

Title

Those who received credible threats are eligible for state protection.

[16:12]

Title

Berta declined some of the state’s “precautionary measures”, due to mistrust of those providing the protection.

[16:18]

Title

Many others share her reluctance.

[16:24]

I am a person who is faced with a government policy to make us disappear,

[16:32]

because from their point of view we are a danger,

[16:35]

categorised as terrorists for standing up for the earth and natural resources.

[16:41]

It’s a very dangerous campaign for me because now I am in the spotlight

[16:47]

and they could do anything to me, any time, anywhere.

[16:51]

There is not a government guarantee that protects us.

[16:54]

Although I have been given precautionary measures,

[16:57]

leaders and advocates are being murdered even with precautionary measures.

[17:01]

I have been criminalised, judged, arrested and hit by the police. I have been kidnapped by hired assassins.

[17:10]

There is fear, but that can’t stop us carrying on fighting.

[17:16]

Problems are maybe present on both sides.

[17:19]

The person whom we want to protect tells us, ‘I don’t want an escort’ because maybe they don’t trust the police.

[17:29]

They shouldn’t distrust, they shouldn’t distrust our authorities because…

[17:34]

It’s understandable for this situation to happen, for some reason,

[17:39]

but the beneficiary should really accept everything we are offering to secure their life.

[17:47]

That’s my opinion.

[17:50]

We’ve got security provided by the government, however I’m hoping that soon we’ll have our own security.

[17:56]

Fundamentally because we’re conducting a very big cleanup of the police.

[18:03]

The Honduran police force is composed of 16,000 officers, and we have purged 2,500.

[18:09]

And these are the same officers that protect the mission.

[18:13]

Is there a risk to life or the physical integrity of the people working in the mission?

[18:16]

I would say ‘yes’.

[18:18]

But if there are sectors in the country that want us gone,

[18:22]

certainly those are the sectors that are uncomfortable with what we’re doing.

[18:29]

title

The people arrested for Berta’s murder include two military officers and two men linked to DESA, the company that owns the Agua Zarca dam concession.

[18:44]

They have imposed eight hired killers who probably received money, but they only pulled the trigger.

[18:53]

But still missing are the ones I hold responsible – without doubt, the state itself.

[19:02]

That’s why the state is not interested, or it’s not convenient for them, to find those who are really responsible.

[19:22]

I think that our bodies of investigation are doing all they can.

[19:28]

But a murder investigation can take a long time. It’s a process.

[19:33]

You need to have a bit of patience in this case, I think.

[19:38]

I’ll repeat it again, until the people who ordered and paid for the killing are captures, for us there is no justice.

[19:49]

Title

The Cáceres family has been pushing for an independent international investigation into Berta’s murder.

[19:54]

I believe it would have been good for the country to have international support.

[20:00]

This was the proposal presented to the government and unfortunately wasn’t accepted.

[20:05]

I believe that the whole world, not only Honduras, the whole world is waiting to know who killed Berta Cáceres.

[20:16]

So long as impunity exists and the structural causes that generated her murder aren’t addressed,

[20:22]

that latent threat will continue for many other people.

[20:32]

As our people say, the proof is in the pudding.

[20:37]

We have our colleague Berta, a woman known internationally,

[20:41]

and her murder hasn’t been resolved after a year.

[20:44]

What does that mean for us? We are just part of the community… hardly anyone knows us.

[20:49]

In Santa Elena’s district, nine colleagues have been assassinated.

[20:53]

It upsets me because I have lost very close relatives,

[21:01]

an uncle, a cousin

[21:04]

farmers dies, indigenous people die, women, boys, girls, police, soldiers…

[21:11]

Here, everyone dies. With guns but, who kills them?

{21:18]

They have murdered four comrades here in this community.

[21:23]

A boy went missing and his dismembered body showed up in the river.

[21:27]

As if they were sending messages – ‘if you carry on with this foolishness this is what will happen.’

[21:34]

There are prosecutors who have said to us that they’re afraid

[21:38]

because if they act with full force, they’ll either get killed, shot or taken out.

[21:45]

A long time ago, we went to file a complaint with the anti-corruption prosecutors,

[21:50]

and it was completely halted.

[21:52]

If the prosecutors are afraid, what does that tell you about impunity here with us?

[21:59]

We see that recently we’ve had a lot of problems with big interests, we’ve even had deaths,

[22:07]

and we have to try to avoid this from happening in the country.

[22:11]

It’s not beneficial, it’s not beneficial for the country, for the state, for anyone.

[22:16]

This is not beneficial for anyone.

[22:19]

We’re asked sometimes: ‘What will happen in Honduras?’

[22:23]

‘With these levels of corruption and impunity that have brought people screaming into the streets?

[22:31]

Interesting… I’m from Peru.

[22:37]

In my country, never had an armed forces general, a minister, or a deputy set foot in a prison.

[22:45]

The result of investigations was that a president and all of those around him

[22:51]

finally ended up criminalised because of the enormous crimes of corruption they had committed.

[22:57]

Here, the moment has arrived where people have said ‘enough!’

[23:03]

They thought that, as Berta was the one who mobilized the indigenous movement at a national level,

[23:09]

by killing her we would sit idle, that we would do nothing.

[23:13]

But every single one of us has strengthened in knowledge and so we have intensified the struggle.

[23:21]

We are not afraid. After all, we are going to die anyway.

[23:24]

But for a fair fight.

[23:30]

I think living without fear in this country is unthinkable.

[23:33]

I always say that fear is not our prevailing feeling.

[23:38]

The prevailing feeling is indignation, to attack the causes that produce this fear.

[23:44]

So that would be what surrounds us and what moves us.

[23:54]

I have been a congresswoman, a mayor, a governor, a midwife who has delivered more than 5,000 babies.

[24:05]

So what I want is for these children to take up this fight that I have waged all my life.

[24:13]

Of course, these days bring me terrible memories of my daughter’s murder.

[24:19]

I have cried a lot, you have no idea.

[24:24]

But I know I should not do it any more because I’m going to die just from crying.

[24:30]

Instead, I must continue standing, battling, and guiding my family to go forward

[24:38]

until there is justice in this country.

[24:44]

Title

International funders, including those from Denmark, Finland and Panama, have pulled $50 million funding from the Agua Zarca dam project.

[24:52]

title

There are nearly 840 mining projects, most for gold, in development in Honduras.

CREDITS

[25:02]

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR

Nicky Milne

[24:05]

EDITOR

Timothy Moss

[25:06]

CAMERA

Theo Hessing

[25:08]