Ndana Bofu

One year ago, Honduras became headline news with the assassination of Berta Caceres. A distinguished indigenous leader, feminist, environmental defender and recipient of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize, Berta was killed for organizing opposition to a hydroelectric dam on the Agua Zarca River in Lenca territory.

I spoke to Berta Cáceres the day she was murdered. I never imagined that later this year I would be in a demostration along with almost a thousand women in Honduras asking for justice for her murder. That day we had been talking about a workshop we were doing together on collective healing and power. The last thing she said to me was, “Take care, compita.” She called some of us compita or compa, short for compañera, a political term we use for a friend in the struggle.

You shouldn’t have to risk your life to demand respect for your rights and the rights of others, but in Honduras hundreds of defenders have been threatened and murdered for doing just that. Most of these cases are not investigated or prosecuted. Honduran women human rights defenders delivered this message to UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst, during a visit to the country in August.