Friday, April 8, 2016

Women of COPINH: After more than 500 years of resistance we are the legitimate authorities

STATEMENT FROM THE WOMEN OF COPINH

The women of the Civil Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) are speaking up today about the occupation we are carrying out at the Attorney General’s building in the city of Tegucigalpa.

We are protesting in front of this institution to demand justice for the assassination of our compañera, sister and leader, Berta Cáceres. We want them to stop playing around with us and stop re-victimizing us by denying us the truth and trying to manipulate us.

We demand a clear answer in this case and that is why we demand that the Honduran government let in an international and independent commission to carry out an investigation that really goes after the people who ordered and carried out the assassination of our sister.

We the Lenca indigenous women organized in COPINH demand the immediate and definitive end of the hydroelectric project ¨Agua Zarca¨ by the company Desarrollos Energéticos SA (DESA) because it has caused so many deaths, threats and offenses to the community of Río Blanco and the Lenca people.

We the women of COPINH declare that the Honduran state must abide by our decisions within our indigenous territory. The state must be held accountable for After more than 500 years of oppressing us and plundering our territories, the state must take responsibility for its actions. More than 500 years of resistance and thousands of years taking care of mother earth make us the legitimate decision-makers for our territories.

We thank the solidarity of brothers and sisters who have been supporting their support for our demand for justice.

This is a peaceful protest, just like the hundreds of protests taking place around the world, which are part of the struggle for justice, against impunity and in defense of life, for which reason we demand that the forces of repression, those who provoke confrontation, leave this protest area and our communities and respect our integrity and our security.

Police, military and security guards at this institutions violently attacked out brothers, who were hanging a banner with the picture of our sister, Berta Cáceres. These actions are already being denounced at the Inter-American Human Rights Commission, since they are a violation of our protective measures. We ask ourselves, why are the authorities scared of a picture of our sister Berta? Why are they afraid of the voice of the women of COPINH? Why all the military and police?

We the indigenous Lenca women organized in COPINH call on the men and women of the world to join together against misogyny, discrimination, racism, extraction, and patriarchy.

Tegucigalpa, April 7th, 2016

WITH THE ANCESTRAL STRENGTH OF LEMPIRA, MOTA, ENTEMPICA, WE RAISE OUR VOICES FULL OF LIFE, JUSTICE, DIGNITY AND PEACE.

BERTA CÁCERES LIVES.




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