Mar 08 2016
Why the Death of a Honduran Indigenous Rights Leader Matters
GUEST: Suyapa Portillo, an Assistant Professor of Chicano/a-Latino/a Transnational Studies at Pitzer College, she has a blog on the Huffington Post.
Indigenous leader and environmental activist Berta Cáceres was laid to rest in La Esperanza, Honduras on Saturday. Cáceres was gunned down in her home last week by unknown assailants. Her death has sent shock waves across Latin America. She was a leader in the opposition to mining and other extractive industries.
In the years since a US-backed coup in 2009, the Central American nation has become a dangerous place for activists like her. But ordinary Hondurans are subject to rampant crime, drug-related violence, and one of the highest homicide rates in the world.
The issue of Honduras did not come up during the Democratic debate on Sunday between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, despite Clinton’s role in the coup during her tenure as State Secretary.
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