ASJ Publication Will Share Information On Slain Activist’s Life

October 18, 2017

There is a belief in Lenca culture, a Honduran indigenous community, that girls are the guardians of rivers. For the Lenca people, activist Berta Cáceres embodied that belief.

Berta’s life was dedicated to defending the vulnerable of Honduras against exploitation.

She fought for the recognition and protection of indigenous rights in Honduras and around the world, including the right to land, natural resources, development, education and representation, particularly for indigenous women. In 2015, she gained international recognition when she won the Goldman Prize for her environmental activism.

The renowned figure came by her passion and courage naturally. Her mother, Austra Berta, was the first female mayor in Honduras and later became a congress representative. A midwife by trade, Austra Berta assisted in over 5,000 births in the rural communities around their home town. Although she was raising 12 children on her own, she did not demand pay from the poor families.

From a young age, Berta went with her mother to care for communities. Struck by the poverty and poor treatment of the Lenca people, she joined a group of activists to advocate for indigenous rights when she was still in high school. Shortly after, Berta married a fellow activist and the two united different indigenous organization to form the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).

COPINH quickly made waves in the nation. Soon after it began, a group of indigenous women from COPINH marched 118 miles from Berta’s home town of La Esperanza to Tegucigalpa, the capital city, to show the nation that the Lenca people were there and they had a voice.

In 2009, COPINH became involved with indigenous communities around the country to defend their rivers against the onslaught of hydroelectric dams. In 2014, Berta filed a report against 49 of the projects, claiming the indigenous communities had not been consulted before the projects were built as is legally required.

In the midst of the heated case, ASJ (formerly known as AJS) is working with Berta’s family to ensure that they have the protection they need.

Next month, ASJ’s investigative journalism website Revistazo will be launching a Microsite dedicated to Berta. The site, in Spanish and English, will provide accurate and up-to-date information on Berta’s life, her activism and the legal case surrounding her death.

For the indigenous community and other activists in Honduras, their river guardian did not die. She multiplied. Berta’s legacy continues to empower many to bravely seek justice for the vulnerable.

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ASJ-US and ASJ-Canada Joint Statement on Honduran Elections

December 2, 2025

ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US Congratulate the Honduran People, Call for Full and Transparent Results As sister organizations committed to justice, peace and hope in Honduras, ASJ-Canada and ASJ-US extend our deepest congratulations to the people of Honduras on the peaceful conduct of their national elections on November 30, 2025. With the initial tally showing an extraordinarily close vote, we call on election authorities to do what is necessary to ensure a transparent count of the remaining ballots in order to guarantee public trust in the final outcome. We commend the Honduran voters for their dedication to democratic participation and their commitment to shaping the future of their country through civic engagement. We also recognize the efforts of electoral authorities, civil society organizations, the international community and the thousands of volunteer observers who worked to ensure a transparent, orderly, and secure process. We are especially proud of our sister organization, ASJ-Honduras, for their unwavering commitment to democracy demonstrated through their electoral observation efforts, their analysis activities, and their consistent call for a fair and orderly process. Now that such a process has been achieved, the work turns to counting the votes with accuracy and transparency. The results remain close, increasing the possibility of a contested result. We support the work of the election officials at the National Electoral Council to give Hondurans confidence in the final results by conducting their count with rigor and transparency. We remain hopeful that the spirit of peaceful participation in the democratic process embraced by the electorate will carry forward into the post-election period to come. We look forward to continued collaboration with ASJ-Honduras as we all work together toward a just and hopeful future for all Hondurans. Matthew Van Geest President, Board of Directors ASJ-Canada Russ Jacobs President, Board of Directors ASJ-US

Artisans of Fraternity, Guardians of Hope

November 28, 2025

A call to action for Honduras

November 2025 ASJ-US Statement about Honduran Elections

By Elizabeth Hickel • November 25, 2025

The Association for a More Justice Society-US Supports the Network to Defend Democracy; Calls for Free and Fair Elections in Honduras November 25, 2025

Context Updates on the 2025 Elections in Honduras

November 13, 2025

Honduras’s Institutional Crisis Deepens Ahead of the 2025 Elections

HOPE

By Elizabeth Hickel • November 12, 2025

Dear friend, I couldn’t stop looking at the picture. Of course, there had been plenty of inspiring photos from this summer’s Prayer Walk for Peace and Democracy. The sea of blue and white rising and falling as hundreds of thousands walked the Honduran hills through Tegucigalpa, flowing like a never-ending stream. Catholic nuns praying their rosaries alongside Pentecostals dancing in the streets. But the picture that still knocks me flat is the closeup. The one of the two men standing side by side (picture enclosed). They are exhausted, and the shorter collapses into the taller. The tears mostly hold joy and relief, but they are mingled with something darker. After all, there had been threats—promises of harm done to themselves and their loved ones if they led their followers through the streets of Honduras in prayer. Despite the fear and intimidation, Pastor Gerardo Irías and Monsignor José Vicente Nácher forged ahead. They knew Honduras needed unity and, above all, prayer before the looming November 2025 presidential elections. As an ASJ supporter, you know that these kinds of threats aren’t out of the ordinary, and your support has helped slow and reverse violence in Honduras. Today, I am writing to share a way you can continue standing with brave Hondurans like Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José in hope. The Evangelical pastor and the Catholic archbishop put the word out as widely as they could to their churches, hoping to mobilize 20,000 to walk and pray. Instead, an estimated 230,000 walked in the capital of Tegucigalpa alone. It was a historic moment. And without your past support for ASJ, it may have never happened. After all, two years prior, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José didn’t even know each other’s names. They first met in 2023 at ASJ’s offices. They were two of many civil society leaders convened by ASJ to discuss safeguarding democracy– especially before the election in 2025. It was at that meeting that they shook each other’s hand and learned each other’s name. It was at that meeting–and many subsequent meetings–where old religious prejudices began to be replaced by trust and mutual affection. So, when the moment came this summer to act, Pastor Gerardo and Monsignor José knew what they had to do. And they knew that they had to do it together.