Sunday, April 17, 2016

"People of the world: Intensify the struggle" - Declaration of International Summit in Honor of Berta Cáceres

Final Statement of the Berta Cáceres Lives International Peoples' Summit



In this land of over 500 years of struggle, with the sound of free-flowing rivers, the strength of mountains, barrios and villages, the fury and tenderness of natural life, the spirit of the ancestors, the hopes and pain of men, women and children, the people of Berta gather in memory of her rebellious life.

Photo: Giorgio Trucchi
From April 13-15, 2016, close to 1,500 people from grassroots social movement organizations in Honduras and delegations from 22 countries have come together for the Berta Cáceres Lives International Peoples’ Summit in Tegucigalpa and Rio Blanco, Honduras to debate, share and reflect.


WE DECLARE that we are completely conscious of the fact that Berta Cáceres’s assassination was due to her struggle and the struggle of COPINH against the criminal, neocolonial, femicidal and extractive model imposed by the Honduran and international ultra-right wing. They spread this model through the continent through violent actions such as these assassinations and through other strategies that undermine justice for the people, such as the current attempt to carry out a coup d’état against the Brazilian people. We condemn this coup attempt, which follows in the wake of the nefarious 2009 coup here in Honduras.

WE RECOGNIZE the immense ethical and practical contribution of our compañera Berta and her commitment to popular struggles around the world. She brought her aspirations to life with her radical and honest words, with the depth of her decolonizing thought, the spiritual strength of the indigenous peoples, a profound knowledge of and great confidence in popular struggle, and the international horizons of her vision of emancipation. We assume these elements of her legacy today with joy and strength.

WE COMMIT OURSELVES to the struggle, thought, actions and rebellions of this anti-patriarchal, anti-capitalist, anti-racist vision so that it may continue nurturing the diversity of struggles around the world that confront the neoliberal logic of death, which are already being built throughout this continent.

During this summit we have sought consensus on ideas, proposals and collective alliances between organizations, countries and political initiatives in order to set in motion the intentions and desires for transformation, starting at the roots.

Following the Honduran Social Movement Platform (PMSH), the Berta Cáceres Honduran Grassroots Alliance, COPINH and the family of Berta Cáceres Flores, we commit ourselves to struggle for:
  • Truth and justice in the crime against Berta Cáceres Flores, which means pushing for an investigation led by a team that takes the context of her political practice into account and that identifies all of the perpetrators and plotters of her assassination and others that are part of their project of death.
  • The withdrawal of the DESA corporation from Lenca territory, the liberation of the Gualcarque River, struggle for the confluence of collective energies, instruments of communication, territorial actions, formation of a working group backed up by international experiences to expel extractive projects from Honduran territory.
  • The definitive withdrawal of military presence from indigenous territory and grassroots communities, both rural and urban.
  • The recognition of COPINH as the organization responsible for watching over and protecting its territory along with OFRANEH and other legitimate organizations of the first nations.

Those present at this summit and organized in the Platform of the Honduran Social Movement commit ourselves to continue the process of internal unification and strengthening of our proposals for robust internationalist action, with Berta and her actions as our inspiration and horizon.

To all peoples of the world, men and women, we invite you to intensify the struggle with energy and principled unity. We will never give up hope nor will we wait to bring to life the utopia of justice, freedom and autonomy that is our legitimate vision for life and happiness on this earth.  


Photo: Giorgio Trucchi

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