Video still: Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, general coordinator of COPINH, speaks at the GIEI presentation this morning.
On January 12, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) released their investigative report on the murder of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) co-founder Berta Caceres in March 2016.
PBI-Honduras has accompanied COPINH’s coordinators since May 2016 and was present at the ceremony when the GIEI launched its investigation in February 2025.
This morning, we note that COPINH is highlighting in this social media post: “The murder of Berta Cáceres was directly linked to the economic interests of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, owned by the Atala Zablah family’s business group.”
COPINH has also just posted: “The GIEI revealed that the Honduran government had been aware of plans to assassinate Berta Cáceres since January 2016. Despite knowing about the plot, the government failed in its duty to protect the life of the human rights defender.”
Significantly, El Pais, which had early access to the report, reported yesterday: “[The GIEI] indicates without a doubt that at least part of the money used to pay the hitmen, 25,000 dollars, ‘originated in funds drawn by the [Dutch development credit bank] FMO and [the Central American bank] CABEI, in accordance with a payment order issued within the framework of the loan extended by those institutions.’”
Photo: At a meeting with Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa in September 2025, Peace Brigades International and the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC) highlighted the need to strengthen the Protection Mechanism in Mexico.
PBI-Canada and PBI-Mexico began a collaborative effort in September 2025 to strengthen both the federal and state level Protection Mechanisms for human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico.
This year, look for PBI-Canada updates on an advocacy tour, webinars and more to amplify the demands of PBI accompanied defenders to strengthen the Protection Mechanisms that could help to save their lives.
Video still: Bertha Zúñiga Cáceres, general coordinator of COPINH, speaks at the GIEI presentation this morning.
The Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) has posted on Facebook:
“The truth they wanted to hide is about to come out.
On Monday, January 12, the GIEI [Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts] Honduras Report will be presented: an independent investigation that marks a turning point in the fight for #JusticeForBerta.
“The murder of Berta Cáceres was directly linked to the economic interests of the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project, owned by the Atala Zablah family’s business group.”
“#THE LATEST~ A group of independent experts appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights presented a report revealing that the murder of Berta Cáceres was an economic crime, foreseeable and preventable, supported by an alliance between business elites, the state, and development banks.
It wasn’t just a dam: the investigation into Agua Zarca uncovers a network of offshore companies, the diversion of millions of dollars, and payments to the military, police, officials, and the media to impose the project on Lenca territory.
The report proves that money from development banks ended up financing violence, illegal surveillance, and community division in Río Blanco, while the real business leaders behind DESA remain uninvestigated.
500,000 lempiras, three checks, and an order “from above”: the money trail that connects DESA’s financial structure to the hitman who carried out the murder of Berta Cáceres.
Ten years later, the Agua Zarca concession is still in force, DESA continues to exist, and the community of Río Blanco still does not have collective title: impunity is also a form of violence against the Lenca people.”
“The GIEI’s report will include findings regarding the actors responsible for the crime, as well as recommendations for the guarantee of justice and reparation, and represents a milestone on the path to justice for Berta Cáceres, her family, and the Lenca people by rigorously and independently reconstructing the truth about the murder.”
“In their work report, which is presented this Monday, and to which EL PAÍS has had access these days, the investigators point out that the criminal plot used funds from development credit banks, in Europe and Central America, to pay the hitmen who killed Cáceres. The GIEI details the paths of the money, the meanders and tunnels that the plot arranged to disguise its origin, until its collection in three checks, for more than half a million lempiras, about 25,000 dollars, and its final distribution among the hitmen, now imprisoned.”
That article highlights:
“[The GIEI] indicates without a doubt that at least part of the money used to pay the hitmen, 25,000 dollars, ‘originated in funds drawn by the [Dutch development credit bank] FMO and [the Central American bank] CABEI, in accordance with a payment order issued within the framework of the loan extended by those institutions.’”
“Today, the Interdisciplinary Group of International Experts (GIEI), established to investigate the murder of environmental defender Berta Cáceres, will deliver its final report to the State of Honduras, to Berta Cáceres’s family, and to the communities affected by the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project.
Monday, January 12
9:00 a.m. Honduras | 4:00 p.m. Brussels
Live: https://lnkd.in/ed4CJdwi
The GIEI, composed of three high-profile international analysts, has a direct mandate from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to conduct an independent and impartial investigation and clarify the facts surrounding the murder of the Lenca leader.
Ten years after Berta Cáceres’s murder, this new GIEI report sheds light on the financial network and the corporate and state responsibilities behind the crime.
This case is of paramount importance to the European Union and essential for the protection of human rights defenders in Honduras and throughout Latin America. The Berta Cáceres case is a beacon of hope for breaking the impunity that too often surrounds cases involving environmental defense and that weakens the rule of law and democracy.
From the EULAT Network, we urge European institutions and their Member States to continue supporting the case:
– follow-up on the recommendations presented;
– guarantees of progress in the intellectual audit investigations; and
– a comprehensive reparations plan for the affected communities, COPINH, and the family of human rights defender Berta Cáceres.
A historic opportunity to learn firsthand about the findings of the GIEI (Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts) and to reflect on the next steps to guarantee truth, justice, and non-repetition.”
The Peace Brigades International-Honduras Project has posted on social media:
“Yesterday [January 8], we accompanied the Municipal Committee for the Defense of Common and Public Goods and the Justice for the People Law Firm at the hearing to present evidence in the case against the alleged perpetrators of the murder of human rights defender Juan López. The judiciary scheduled the oral and public trial for June 15-26 of this year. At PBI, we reiterate the importance of advancing the investigations into the masterminds behind the crime and the mechanisms of planning, financing, and protection that allowed it to be carried out.”
López was shot dead on September 14, 2024, in Tocoa, Honduras.
Guapinol Demands Justice has shared: “Our dear colleague Juan López was a tireless defender of the rivers, mountains and forests in Honduras. He loved life and found joy in companionship and collective struggle. He fought tirelessly to end the destruction caused by illegal mining at the hands of Emco Holdings (Pinares/Ecotek) to the Carlos Escaleras National Park, and the rivers that are born there.”
And Proceso.hn has reported: “[López struggled in] defense of the Montaña de Botaderos ‘Carlos Escaleras Mejía’ National Park, opposing mining projects that threatened the water resources and common goods of the community. López had received precautionary measures from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) since 2023, but the Honduran state failed to provide him with effective protection, leaving him vulnerable to the threats he had publicly denounced.”
TuNota has also reported: “The defendants are Óscar Alexis Guardado Alvarenga [alleged perpetrator who fired the weapon], Daniel Antonio Juárez Torres and Lenín Adonis Cruz Munguía [accomplice who provided the motorcycle], accused of the crimes of murder and association to commit a crime, after the judge declared the request of the Public Ministry to expand the criminal offense admissible.”
That article further comments: “There is no public information that points to the intellectual authors of the murder. For environmental defenders, this absence confirms a half-justice. They warn that prosecuting only the alleged perpetrators does not dismantle the structure that allowed the crime or send a clear message of protection to those who defend the territory. On the contrary, it keeps intact the feeling of vulnerability in the communities.”
We continue to follow this and will follow from Canada the trial scheduled to take place from June 15 to 26 this year.
“Yesterday, we observed the arraignment hearing in the case against 13 people from the Medina Sector (Puerto Cortés), #criminalized for their legitimate work as #advocates in opposition to the #mining project of the Agrecasa company. The judge ordered alternative measures to imprisonment and did not authorize the eviction of the René Alemán y Pedrina Melgar Camp, located in the community of Brisas del Mar Tramade. This camp, which we visited last Sunday, is the center of resistance against the extractive project and in favor of protecting common goods.”
On the day of the arraignment hearing, Criterio.hn further reported: “The Puerto Cortés Court imposed measures other than imprisonment on thirteen residents of the Medina Sector, accused of the crime of trespassing, in a trial questioned for acting against communities protesting the destruction of the environment.”
The article continues: “[Defence lawyer Lestter] Castro pointed out that the accusation made by the Public Prosecutor’s Office is based on the obstruction made by the inhabitants of the affected communities to prevent the company Agregados del Caribe S.A. (Agrecasa) from continuing to pollute the environment and cause damage to the infrastructure of their homes.”
It also highlights: “Since April of last year, members of the communities affected by the open-pit exploitation of iron oxide have maintained a sit-in at the main entrance to the Sapadril quarry, located in Brisas de Tramades in the Medina Sector.”
And it noted that: “The lawyer of the Law Firm Studies for Dignity indicated that the date of the initial hearing was set for February 20, 2026. He pointed out that it will be during this instance when the defense will present the evidence to prove that the defendants have not committed any crime.”
On December 31, 2025, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on social media:
“Last week, in our last accompaniment of the year, PBI accompanied the Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque during the traditional procession of the Child God. The day was full of singing and spirituality, and it featured the presence of stewards from different communities, who joined in an act of solidarity and brotherhood.
The procession had the participation of the Visitor of St. Francis of Assisi. The butler and the president of the fellowship shared thoughts on the importance of strengthening the relationship between fellowships as a fundamental foundation to preserve tradition and community identity.”
The Indigenous Community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque is located in the municipality of the same name, in the department of Chiquimula. It belongs to the Maya Ch’orti’ people and is represented by a board of directors composed of 30 ancestral authorities elected annually by the 23 communities and 96 hamlets that make up the community.
Area of work and rights defended
Their struggle is for the land, 243 caballerías bought between 1710 and 1805, in the name of the common people and natives of San Francisco Quezaltepeque. However, the majority of these lands are not recognised by the municipality, which is why their struggle revolves around the recovery of this ancestral land. They also defend their territory against the entry of extractive projects, especially mining.
Description of the problem
The indigenous community of San Francisco Quezaltepeque is resisting a mining company working in the municipality: Minerales Sierra Pacifico S.A. This company has five exploration licenses for gold, silver, copper, lead and zinc. The Ch’orti’ people are concerned about the negative impacts of these mining activities and also about the contamination of the water of the Rio Grande by the honey water from coffee production, which could be worsened by the mining activity.
In addition, the people who make up the community and who are carrying out these demands denounce that they suffer discrimination and racism on the part of the state and municipal public institutions, who on many occasions do not attend to their demands and complaints.
These same people are receiving threats and facing different criminalisation processes for defending their territory, denouncing environmental impacts and demanding free, prior and informed consultation with the communities affected by these activities.
PBI-Canada
At PBI-Canada we continue to follow this situation.
Peace Brigades International-Canada is a member of the Americas Policy Group (APG), a network of Canadian civil society organizations working for human rights and social and environmental justice in Latin America and the Caribbean.
In this joint letter from the Americas Policy Group-Common Frontiers to Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, we state: “It is with the utmost urgency that we share our alarm about the unlawful, lethal, U.S. military attack in Venezuela on January 3 and the abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores.”
The APG-Common Frontiers letter to the prime minister further states: “We join our many partners across Latin America, the Caribbean and beyond who are vigorously condemning the U.S. military operation of January 3, President Trump’s stated intention to ‘run Venezuela’ and sell seized Venezuelan oil, his recorded threats to send U.S. troops into Colombia and Mexico, and threats against Cuba.”
The letter reiterates the call made to the Government of Canada in this letter dated November 13, 2025, to “close the loophole that currently allows for the export of military goods to the U.S. despite the clear risk that they could be used in military operations that violate international law and human rights.”
Unifor statement on U.S. actions in Venezuela (January 7, 2026): “Unifor joins the national and international labour movement and its allies in strongly condemning the recent actions taken by the U.S. Trump Administration against Venezuela.”
KAIROS statement on U.S. attacks on Venezuela (January 6, 2026): “KAIROS joins partners in Latin America, civil society groups, the World Council of Churches and churches in Canada in strongly condemning recent U.S. military attacks on Venezuela.”
The United Church of Canada (January 3, 2026): “The United Church of Canada joins partners in Latin America and the Caribbean and the World Council of Churches in strongly condemning the US military attack on Venezuela.”
On December 24, 2025, the Peace Brigades International-Guatemala Project posted on social media: “We congratulate the members of the La Puya Peaceful Resistance for their tireless and successful struggle.”
Then on December 30, 2025, PBI-Guatemala also posted: “We congratulate the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya for defending its territory against the mining company KCA. To learn more about the context of their fight, the demand of the company and the arbitration process, we recommend reading our article: International Arbitration against the State of Guatemala: Mina el Tambor Case, published in July 2020.”
Now, the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) also reports: “Water defenders from the Peaceful Resistance La Puya, just north of Guatemala City, celebrated an important victory over the holidays.”
IPS further explains: “On December 23, an arbitration panel at the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) ruled against Nevada-based Kappes, Cassiday, and Associates (KCA) in its nearly half a billion-dollar arbitration claim against Guatemala.”
Following the arbitration panel decision, the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya has commented: “KCA lost its wager to make millions of dollars through this international arbitration process, which it initiated knowing that it would never win the consent of communities that have always said no to its unviable project. This project is so bad that the company couldn’t even defend it in an arbitration system designed to protect the investments of transnational corporations.”
The video their media conference on December 28, 2025, can be seen here.
Peace Brigades International began accompanying the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya in November 2012.
Vancouver-based Radius Gold
The story of the Peaceful Resistance begins with the Vancouver, Canada-based mining company Radius Gold securing an exploitation licence from the Guatemalan Ministry of Energy and Mines in 2011.
On March 2, 2012, area residents, who had not been consulted about this mine, set up a 24-hour a day blockade at the entrance to the mine site. Within weeks, on May 8, 2012, the women of the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya laid on the ground, sang and prayed to stop bulldozers from entering the mine.
A few months later, in August 2012, Radius Gold sold the mine to KCA.
Violent eviction of blockade
On May 23, 2014, two PBI-Guatemala field volunteers witnessed 300+ riot police carry out the violent eviction of the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya blockade of the El Tambor mine.
In February 2016, the Peaceful Resistance won a Guatemalan Supreme Court ruling to provisionally suspend the mine. By that point, the mine had already operated for almost two years.
In December 2018, Kappes, Cassiday & Associates filed a $300 million claim with the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a World Bank arbitration mechanism, claiming its investor rights under the Dominican Republic–Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) had been violated.
On May 21, 2021, the court lifted that suspension, but the authorization for the mine to begin operation was not granted.
July 16, 2021: “#PBI accompanies the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya in dialogue with State institutions in the framework of the international arbitration process driven by the company KCA.”
PBI-Canada visits La Puya
On Sunday May 7, 2023, PBI-Canada and PBI-Guatemala visited with Doña Licha and the Peaceful Resistance of La Puya at a roadside site that it has maintained at the entrance to the “El Tambor” Progreso VII Derivada gold mine.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent killed legal observer Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Wednesday January 7.
The Guardian reports: “A witness to the incident, Emily Heller, told local media that the victim was shot in the face multiple times. Heller said she saw a car blocking traffic that appeared to be part of a protest against the ICE operation, and heard an agent telling the driver, a woman, to ’get out of here’.”
The article continues: “‘She was trying to turn around, and the ICE agent was in front of her car, and he pulled out a gun and put it right in – like his midriff was on her bumper – and he reached across the hood of the car and shot her in the face like three, four times,’ Heller told MPR News, a Minneapolis public radio station.”
NBC News adds: “A 37-year-old woman was fatally shot by an ICE agent today after a group of people began blocking officers during an immigration-related operation in Minneapolis, the Department of Homeland Security said.”
Representative Ilhan Omar (Democrat-Minnesota) says: “ICE’s actions today were unconscionable and reprehensible. I am beyond outraged that their reckless, callous actions led to the killing of a legal observer in Minneapolis. …This is not law enforcement. It is state violence.”
And Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says: “What [ICE is] doing is not to provide safety in America. What they are doing is causing chaos and distrust. They’re ripping families apart. They’re sowing chaos on our streets, and in this case, quite literally killing people.” Frey said he had a message for ICE: “Get the f— out of Minneapolis.”
The Guardian article further notes: “The Immigration Defense Network, a coalition of groups serving immigrants in Minnesota, held a training session Tuesday night for about 100 people who are willing to hit the streets to monitor the federal enforcement.”
The Immigration Defense Network’s website has previously highlighted: “The IDN’s rapid response strategy includes maintaining helpline infrastructure, deploying observers, and organizing public demonstrations.”
This evening, the Associated Press reports: “As the sun set over Minneapolis, the crowd stood at the intersection where the motorist was killed just before a vigil was set to start. Most were quiet. Some held profanity-laced signs against ICE, waving Mexican flags or sporting keffiyeh scarves. A few blocks north, cars and improvised barricades blocked the main avenue.”
And USA Today now reports: “A vigil to recognize the woman shot by an immigration agent started at 5 p.m. at the site of the incident on Portland Avenue in Minneapolis. Close to 1,000 people were in attendance as of 5:30 p.m. The crowd chanted the woman’s name, Renee Good, and called for immigration authorities to leave Minneapolis, saying ‘ICE out now.’”
The New York Times reports that the shooting of Renee Nicole Good “is the 9th ICE Shooting Since September.”
ICE and Canadian armoured vehicle company
Last month, CBC News reported: “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earmarked millions of dollars for a bulk order for 20 armoured vehicles from Canadian defence manufacturer Roshel that are built to resist bullets and bomb blasts.”
BNN Bloomberg further reported: “[Member of Parliament Jenny Kwan says] she’s ‘deeply’ and ‘profoundly’ troubled because the ICE agency has been credibly accused of human rights abuses. …Kelsey Gallagher from Project Ploughshares, a non-governmental organization that promotes peace, said if the vehicles were sold to any other security service in the world with the same documented pattern of abuse, Ottawa likely would step in to stop it.”
BNN Bloomberg reported that ICE awarded the contract to Roshel on November 28, 2025, with ICE declaring that Roshel would complete the order within 30 days. That would place the delivery of these armoured vehicles to ICE just prior to the killing of Renee Good in Minnesota.
Video still: Roshel at the CANSEC 2025 arms show in Ottawa.
Along with documenting violations against human rights defenders (HRDs) in Venezuela, multiple human rights experts have denounced the US military attack against Venezuela and highlight that the US contravention of international law and focus on oil puts the lives of human rights defenders at even greater risk.
Attacks against HRDs
Amnesty International has noted: “The NGO Centre for Defenders and Justice recorded 979 attacks and security incidents against human rights defenders during 2024, an increase compared with 524 such events in 2023.”
Their report also documented: “By October, the NGO Foro Penal confirmed more than 1,900 of the detentions, of which 129 were of children. By the end of the year, the government had freed 1,369 people and detained 15 others. However, hundreds of people remained arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, including three children.”
Military action a violation of international law
On January 3, 2026, the day of the US attack on Venezuela, Amnesty International stated: “Today’s military action by the US Trump Administration in Venezuela, which resulted in the capture of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, raises grave concerns for the human rights of the Venezuelan population. It most likely constitutes a violation of international law, including the UN Charter, as does the stated US intention to run Venezuela and control its oil resources.”
They further cautioned: “Those most immediately at risk include human rights defenders and political activists who have courageously opposed Maduro government’s human rights violations and crimes under international law for years.”
That same day, a United Nations statement highlighted: “The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela has voiced grave concern over the country’s human rights situation following the US attack…”
That statement added: “Expert member Alex Neve [a previous Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada] stressed that alleged violations do not justify a military intervention that breaches international law, while the illegality of such an intervention does not diminish the responsibility of Venezuelan officials for years of repression, amounting to crimes against humanity.”
BBC video still, January 6, 2026: Alex Neve: “[The illegality of the US military action in Venezuela] doesn’t at all somehow absolve the Maduro regime of its years of responsibility for crimes against humanity. Just like the fact that there has been this record of atrocious human rights violations in Venezuela doesn’t justify an illegal military intervention by the United States government.”
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member organizations, including, further stated: “Unilateral bombings and military operations are not legitimate tools for conflict resolution; historically, they have led to serious human rights violations, war crimes, and impunity.”
Türk: Military intervention not a victory for human rights
And on January 5, Volker Türk, the United Nations High Commissioner for human rights, commented: “Far from being a victory for human rights, this military intervention – in contravention of Venezuelan sovereignty and the UN charter – damages the architecture of international security, making every country less safe.”
Journalists detained following US attack
The Washington Post has reported: “Venezuela’s government has moved quickly to suppress any public expression of support for Maduro’s ouster, launching a nationwide crackdown that has included the detention of journalists, the arrest of civilians and the deployment of armed gangs across the capital.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists has also condemned: “the detention of at least 14 journalists and media workers in Caracas during the inauguration ceremony of Delcy Rodríguez as president [on January 5], and urges Venezuelan authorities to guarantee that journalists can report freely without intimidation, surveillance, or retaliation.”
GAM, ProDESC condemn US attack, call for the protection of HRDs
During a media scrum on Air Force One on Sunday January 4, a reporter asked US President Donald Trump: “Are you going to demand that [interim Venezuelan president] Delcy Rodriguez let opposition figures return or free any political prisoners?”
Trump responded: “We haven’t gotten to that yet. Right now, what we want to do is fix up the oil, fix up the country.”
Within just a few days of that comment on Air Force One, CNN reported: “President Donald Trump said Tuesday [January 6] night that Venezuela will turn over 30 million to 50 million barrels of oil to the United States, to be sold at market value and with the proceeds controlled by the US.”
Now, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is warning of “the risk of new and serious human rights violations in Venezuela”, urging “Venezuelan authorities to immediately guarantee the protection of all human rights defenders”, and calling on “the international community to take a more active and effective role in promoting and protecting human rights in Venezuela.”
