[Peace] Soldier: Unit trained by US Special Forces was ordered to kill Berta

[Robert Naiman]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/21/berta-caceres-name-honduran-military-hitlist-former-soldier
'

Berta Cáceres's name was on Honduran military hitlist, says former soldier
A unit trained by US special forces was ordered to kill the environmental
activist who was slain in March, according to an ex-member who now fears
for his life

Nina Lakhani in Mexico City
Tuesday 21 June 2016 05.00 EDT

Berta Cáceres <https://www.theguardian.com/world/berta-caceres>, the
murdered environmental campaigner, appeared on a hitlist distributed to
US-trained special forces units of the Honduran military months before her
death, a former soldier has claimed.

Lists featuring the names and photographs of dozens of social and
environmental activists were given to two elite units, with orders to
eliminate each target, according to First Sergeant Rodrigo Cruz, 20.

Cruz’s unit commander, a 24-year-old lieutenant, deserted rather than
comply with the order. Cruz – who asked to be identified by a pseudonym for
fear of reprisal – followed suit, and fled to a neighbouring country.
Several other members of the unit have disappeared and are feared dead.

“If I went home, they’d kill me. Ten of my former colleagues are missing.
I’m 100% certain that Berta Cáceres was killed by the army,” Cruz told the
Guardian.

Cáceres, an indigenous Lenca leader who won the prestigious Goldman
Environmental Prize in 2015 for a campaign against the Agua Zarca
hydroelectric dam, was shot dead in her home in March 2016
<https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/03/honduras-berta-caceres-murder-enivronment-activist-human-rights>.
Before her murder, she had reported 33 death threats linked to the campaign
and had warned international human rights delegates that her name was on a
hitlist.

According to Cruz, Cáceres’s name appeared on a list given to a military
police unit in the Inter-institutional Security Force (Fusina), which last
summer received training from 300 US marines and FBI agents
<http://www.wola.org/commentary/which_central_american_military_and_police_units_get_the_most_us_aid>
.

Five men have been arrested for her murder, including Maj Mariano Díaz
Chávez, an active-duty major in the Honduran army. Díaz had previously
participated in joint US-Honduran military operations in Iraq, and is
reported by local media to be a graduate of the elite Tesón special
operations course which is partly taught by US special forces*. *Diaz was a
military police instructor when arrested, but has since been given a
dishonourable discharge <http://www.sinembargo.mx/11-06-2016/3053129>.

Annie Bird, director of the group Rights and Ecology which documents human
rights abuses in Honduras, said: “Cruz’s testimony suggests death squads
are targeting political opposition, but the justice system is so broken,
and directly controlled by figures implicated in corruption, that there is
no one [in Honduras] who can credibly investigate.”

The Guardian interviewed Cruz several times by telephone and video call,
and spoke with several people – academics, community leaders and activists
– who have interviewed Cruz and confirmed his identity and military
background.

[...]

===

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1
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