The Fight Against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras: Justice for Berta and Beyond

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

10-5-2016

Abstract

The 2009 military coup in Honduras cemented the Central American nation as a hotbed of human rights abuses, the new frontier in the U.S.-led War on Drugs, and an all-out plunder of national territory and resources. Those who resist are targeted and killed with a level of impunity unheard of in the 21st century in Latin America; the March 2nd assassination of beloved Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres is an example of state crime and impunity amongst many. Those who head North are often sent back to the very violence and poverty from which they fled. The heart of the crisis is the U.S. policies of militarization, the legitimization of a brutal Honduran State, and the promotion of crony capitalism. For the Honduran people, the results are violent and devastating, but their inspiring resistance continues.

Martín Fernández is the National Coordinator of the Movement for Dignity and Justice (MADJ), which seeks to expose and combat state violence and corruption, while organizing communities around the principles of self-determination, ecological sustainability, and collective resistance. The grassroots organization has been routinely subjected to threats and intimidation due to their human rights work. Martín will discuss this work in the context of Honduras today, and today, and how U.S. policies and security aid contribute directly to the ongoing crisis.

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