On 3 March 2016, the environmental activist Berta Cáceres was found dead. Murdered in her apartment in La Esperanza. She was known across the borders for her activism for social and environmental justice. Capitalism was her great opponent. She wanted the Hondurans themselves to determine their lives and to protect nature according to their ideas. It is no surprise that the hydropower Agua Zarca moved into the focus of her protests after the approval in 2010. The company DESA wanted to build the hydropower plant at the Rio Gualcarque. A river of great spiritual value for the Lenca. DESA was financed by the Dutch Development Bank FMO and the Finnish bank FinnFund. Turbines should be delivered to DESA from the german company Voith Hydro, a subsidiary of Siemens. According to the international standard, however, in the case of large infrastructure projects, companies still have the obligation to consult local residents in advance. There were no appropriate consultations in the neighboring communities around Agua Zarca. Agua Zarca was just one of hundreds of environmental pollution projects approved after the civilian military coup without the legally required consultation of the Community. Berta Cáceres and her organization Copinh complained that votes had been bought and signatures had been falsified. The dispute about right and wrong escalated after the activist had blocked the construction site of Agua Zarca for weeks. The state had sent soldiers to stop the protests and guard the construction site. But the opponents did not bend. People died. All investors have been aware of human rights violations in order to construct the power plant for years. But only the murder of Berta Cáceres and the subsequent protests led to the withdrawal of the sponsors, Voith Hydro and finally the operator company.

Written by: Miriam Milzner

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Murder for hydropower: The case of Agua Zarca, Honduras