The results of last Thursday and Friday’s hearing against Tomás Gomez, Berta Cáceres, and Aureliano Molina, and related developments, are:
· No decision has been given as of yet. The judge will render her verdict after the third hearing, which will be held Friday, Sept. 20 at 3:00 PM (mountain time). Please note that there are four total charges against the three, not all of which are being heard at this time;
· The government is requesting that Tomás, Berta, and Aureliano be imprisoned;
· Meanwhile, the police presence in the north of the department of Intibucá, including the village of Rio Blanco, has increased. So have government threats and harassment of those resisting invasion of their lands;
· Another COPINH member was arrested last week on charges of being a danger to the well-being of the nation;
· More international pressure will be required from all of us. Please stay tunned for actions in your area, and ways you can voice your opinion and defend COPINH and Rio Blanco
See COPINH’s declaration below:
Decolonization, rivers and emancipation versus racism, arrogance and capitalism.
Communique on the Initial Hearing
Yesterday, after an intense campaign of struggle from the court houses of Intibuca against the criminalization of COPINH, we communicate the following:
1.- Once again it was clearly demonstrated that the intent of the DESA corporation and the Public Ministry of Intibucá, in obedience to this corporation with its empty and manipulative accusations, is a posture of economic power that seeks to criminalize the historical cause of COPINH and the Lenca People. The demonstration of racism and belittlement of the Lenca People was a false witness of accusations full of lies, contradictions and even absurdity. What was even more clear was the aggression, interventionism and abuse on the part of the institutions of the State against the Lenca People in general.
2.- The witnesses and defense lawyers, headed by the compañero Víctor Fernández, played a fundamental role, making a declaration of defense that was conscious, bold, firm and demonstrated that the indigenous people of Río Blanco are in struggle, with their conviction of their legitimacy as a First People, defending their collective and individual Rights, and that there is no basis for the accusations against our compañeros for their deeds.
3.- The Public Ministry and the private accusers, at the moment of presenting their petitions to the First Court of Letters, asked for a sentence of prison with substitute measures for Aureliano Molina and Tomas Gómez, which would consist of a prohibition of being present in the “scene of the crime”, to present themselves to the Justice every 15 days, and that the defense lawyer would be responsible for the behavior of both compañeros; in the case of Berta Cáceres, General Coordinator of COPINH, the accusers asked for prison.
4.- The female Judge in the case, the lawyer Lissien Lisseth Knight Reyes, DID NOT make a judgment yesterday, putting the date for a subsequent hearing to take place next Friday September 20, 2013 at 3:00 p.m. with the First Court of Letters of Intibucá.
5.- The company threatens to present more accusations against the three defendants, and also against Other members of the Indigenous Council, the Council of Elders, and the Neighborhood Council (Patronato) of Tejera in Río Blanco.
6. In the meanwhile, more police forces have been deployed and more militarization and harassment in the communities to the north of Intibucá, including in Rio Blanco. All this is a result of the signature of an Act of Government, the company, and indigenous and council imposters, with the participation of SEDINAFROH, and President Porfirio Lobo Sosa.
7.- We alert the communities organized by COPINH, to the social movements, to the Honduran resistance, to the progressive political and social forces, to those we call you to the cause of the defense of the goods of nature; to international solidarity and human rights organizations, that what the accusers are proposing and pushing for is the violent eviction (of the blockade) in Rio Blanco, using the repressive forces of the State, an unacceptable and shameful threat, to evict the Lenca People who cannot be removed from their own territory, occupied for thousands of years, and thereby criminalizing their just and noble struggle even more.
8.- We call for struggle and acts of strong solidarity among all those who undertake actions in the face of the Honduran government. We ratify that COPINH, despite all the circumstances of attack and criminalization, will continue the development of this process of defense of the territories, the culture, the spirituality and the common goods of nature, of the Lenca People and for dignity.
The Rivers are Not for Sale: They are to Protect and Defend!
With the ancestral strength of Icelaca, Lempira, Mota and Etempica we raise our voices full of life, freedom, dignity and peace!
NO MORE CRIMINALIZATION OF COPINH’S STRUGGLE!
(Translation by Stephen Bartlett)
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La Esperanza, Intibucá, September 14, 2013
