April 11, 2022
- Members of Berta Cáceres’ family ask the United States to stay vigilant so that all those involved in her assassination be punished according to the law.
- ASJ accompanies Berta Cáceres' family in meetings with U.S. officials and multinational agencies
- “We are with you in the search for justice”: Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House
Tegucigalpa, April 11, 2022. The family of indigenous leader and environmental defender Berta Cáceres traveled to Washington, D.C. to request the support of officials and government agencies in monitoring the judicial process against the material and intellectual authors of her assassination.
This is Berta Cáceres family’s second visit to Washington, D.C., led by mother Austra Berta Flores, with the accompaniment of the Asociación para una Sociedad más Justa (ASJ), to discuss advances in the investigation and trials of the perpetrators and to request the attention of Congressmembers and U.S. agencies to the case.
During the advocacy trip, the Flores family met with representatives and staff from several congressmembers’ offices, the House of Representatives, and government offices, among them: Patrick Ventrell, Department of State; Michael Camilleri and Emma Buckhout, United States Agency for International Development (USAID); Tim Reiser, office of Senator Patrick Leahy; Ausan Aleryani, Legislative Assistant for Foreign Policy, and Nathan Lee, office of Senator Tim Kaine.
In addition, they met with: Wyndee Parker, National Security Advisor of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi; Congressman James McGovern; Eric Jacobstein, Director for Central America and Cuba at the National Security Council (NSC); Alex Sadler, House Foreign Affairs Committee chaired by Congressman Gregory Meeks; Serena Gobbi, Legislative Director for Congresswoman Norma Torres; and Ricardo Zúniga, Special Envoy for the Northern Triangle.
The visit aims for the United States government, within the framework of international cooperation, to monitor that Honduras ensures
the crime against environmentalist Berta Cáceres does not go unpunished. At the same time, it aims to continue strengthening the investigations so that justice is done and all those responsible, both material and intellectual authors, face trial.
“ASJ has accompanied the investigation since Berta Cáceres’ assassination. We appreciate the significant advances in the case, yet it is very important that all those responsible be prosecuted,” stated Carlos Hernández, ASJ-Honduras’ Executive Director.
Members of the Flores family, Austra Berta Flores, Gustavo Cáceres, Roberto Cáceres, and José Antonio Carrillo participated in the trip; along with Carlos Hernández and Kurt Ver Beek, member of the Board of Directors, from ASJ. They are also accompanied by Seattle International Foundation (SIF) representatives.
In September 2019, the group met with representatives of international agencies and U.S. government officials, among them Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States.
As ASJ works for the proper functioning of government systems, it appreciates the diligence of Honduras’ Attorney General Office so that seven material and one intellectual author, David Castillo, were prosecuted and convicted for their crime against Berta Cáceres, while insisting that all those involved are punished according to the law.
