10 years after her killing, Berta vive para siempre

Berta was a shining soul in our midst, imperfect and all so perfect

Berta was the breaker of taboos, the sower of radical inclusion,

the pronouncer of the best virtues of humanity

she was as simple as can be, and at the same time the stuff of legends

her words and her humor turned to seeds sown in fertile soil

her legend lives on as food and good humor for all who knew her.  

And to be honest… 

We’re still harvesting from that sowing of memory!

This week, social justice movements from across the globe have been remembering and celebrating the life of Berta Cáceres, a beloved social movement leader who was assassinated ten years ago for her tireless work in defense of territory, of the rights of Mother Earth, and of us all. The Grassroots International community joins in this collective process of remembrance as we reflect on the many ways Berta’s legacy continues to shape us and the work we accompany.

Standing for life against a project of death

Our relationship to Berta runs through our deep partnership with the organization she co-founded, Consejo Cívico de Organizaciones Populares e Indígenas de Honduras/Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). COPINH organizes the Lenca Indigenous Peoples of Honduras against the many attacks on their territory. They also construct life-affirming alternatives around ecological justice, food sovereignty, grassroots feminisms, and more – grounded in the cosmologies of the Lenca people.

Our partnership with COPINH put us in regular touch with Berta. Beyond the headlines and her legendary status was a person we knew and loved. Our program director Jovanna recalls speaking with Berta on a near daily basis until the day she was suddenly gone, a loss she continues to process and grapple with:

“Unbelievable it has been 10 years. It’s still so fresh in my mind, and my heart is still broken. I miss you, Berta – your guidance, humanity, connection with the sacred river, with Mother Earth and its Peoples, your political clarity, brilliance, joy, and sense of humor. The assassins of the state/capital oppressive system thought their evil actions would stop the resistance and advance their project of death. They didn’t know that your seeds would multiply and your legacy would resound in all corners of the world and that your work would continue to be carried out by the Lenca people, the peoples of Honduras, and beyond. You said clearly, “Me lo dijo el Río!” The river told you… ¡Berta vive la lucha sigue hasta la victoria!

The struggle for which Berta ultimately gave her life was the Agua Zarca megadam project that threatened the Gualcarque River sacred to the Lenca. Berta and COPINH led a successful fight against this massive extractive project backed by international finance, making them targets of the powers behind it. On the evening of March 2nd, 2016, armed men broke into Berta’s home and executed her. Investigations later found that executives from the dam company had ordered her killing.

Sam, a former board member and longtime supporter of Grassroots International is a filmmaker who has documented the struggles of Berta and COPINH through the powerful films La Lucha Sigue and Berta Multiplied. He reflects:

“Berta Cáceres gave her life for the Río Gualcarque. ‘The machinery of death,’ as she called it, tried to silence the movement but instead Berta multiplied and became millions. May her memory be a blessing and an ever-present call for grassroots resistance all the way from Lenca lands in Honduras to Palestine.”

“Berta didn’t die; she multiplied.”

Following Berta’s assassination, a popular refrain in Honduras and well beyond has been “Berta didn’t die; she multiplied.” This could not be more palpable in the work of COPINH, which continued the fight against Agua Zarca, ultimately defeating the project, while also fighting tirelessly to bring to justice all those involved in Berta’s assassination.

Through these efforts, eight men have been convicted and sentenced, including the dam company’s president. The enormity of this feat cannot be overstated, in one of the most dangerous countries for environmental and human rights defenders, where such violations are often met with impunity.

COPINH has not stopped there, continuing to fight to bring to justice everyone responsible for the assassination—a web of international banks, state officials, and more. A major step forward in this process happened this past January with the release of findings by an Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts, providing further evidence in the quest for justice.

Beyond Agua Zarca, COPINH continues to mobilize Lencan communities in fighting the bad and building the good across their territory through a variety of projects and campaigns. They also build solidarity and articulate a shared vision with other movements from the local to global levels.

In Honduras, COPINH has maintained its deep bonds of solidarity with Organización Fraternal Negra Hondureña/Black Fraternal Organization of Honduras (OFRANEH), another partner of Grassroots International. This relationship built upon the sisterhood shared between Berta and Miriam Miranda of OFRANEH, as poignantly described by Miriam in La Lucha Sigue.

Beyond Honduras, COPINH is part of the Movement of Peoples Affected by Dams (MAR), which recently announced its intentions to expand from a regional movement largely focused in the Americas to a global movement.

Another major testament to the ongoing legacy of Berta is the Berta Cáceres International Feminist Organizing School, a space for grassroots feminist movements from around the world to strategize and build together. Anchored by our close ally Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, IFOS officially launched on Berta’s birthday (March 4) in 2021 and has continued to strengthen and expand in powerful ways, including around collective articulations of “feminist economies for the sustainability of life.”

This week, IFOS gathered once again on Berta’s birthday to celebrate her while building momentum for the physical launch of the school in Kenya later this year. Held in six languages, the event featured feminist leaders from the far reaches of the globe each speaking in deeply moving ways about how Berta’s legacy had directly shaped and inspired their own trajectories.

As our solidarity program officer for Latin America, Juan, has reflected:

“Berta Cáceres is – and will always be – a vivid example of intergenerational struggle for the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Berta helped internationalize the struggle of the Lenca People and did so through a lifelong praxis of grassroots feminism, sowing seeds of resistance worldwide. As COPINH affirms daily, ‘Berta didn’t die, she multiplied!’”

With Berta in our hearts and spirits more so now than ever, spurring us onward in these turbulent times, we close with a poem by our friend Stephen of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance and Sustainable Agriculture of Louisville.

“Berta: A Love Poem”