Ask Your Rep. to Return as a Co-Sponsor of the Re-Introduced Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act!
March 2nd marks the one-year anniversary of the assassination of Berta Cáceres, the beloved Honduran Indigenous and environmental rights leader. Witness for Peace continues to demand justice for her brutal, politically-motivated murder. Although eight arrests have been made in the case, the investigation has been riddled with irregularities (including the theft of the case files), and evidence suggests that the intellectual authors of the crime remain at large. Moreover, Berta’s family and COPINH, the organization she co-founded, have been intentionally kept in the dark about the ongoing proceedings against her killers.
Revelations have surfaced that two Honduran soldiers arrested for the murder received U.S. training, that the assassination was possibly planned and coordinated by the Honduran military, and that Berta was actually on a military hitlist. These, alongside the continued murder, harassment, and criminalization of resistance that have occurred in the last twelve months, show a Honduran government that has, with U.S. backing, continued to use violent state power to repress movements like Berta’s. Moreover, the Honduran armed forces have continued to brutalize Lenca communities in the name of an exploitative model of extractive industry. There can be no discussion of justice in Berta Cáceres’s assassination until these policies end.
With the election of Donald Trump, and especially Trump’s appointment of Gen. John Kelly--who supports military aid to/militarization of Honduras--as Homeland Security Secretary, the voices of opposition to U.S. support for these perpetrators of grotesque human rights abuses are more important than ever. The Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act has been re-introduced in this new Congress, under bill number H.R. 1299, and we need your support in getting sponsors for the bill, including people who co-sponsored when it was introduced last year.
In 2016, 52 Representatives co-sponsored the Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, introduced by Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) in the House of Representatives in June of that year, with immediate and broad support including the AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club, Witness for Peace, and over a hundred other faith, labor, environmental, and human rights organizations. Berta's family and organization COPINH, immediately applauded the action and praised the leadership of these Members of Congress. Your Representative was one of the 52 co-sponsors when the bill was introduced last year, and we need them to co-sponsor again now!
The bill states: "The Honduran police are widely established to be deeply corrupt and to commit human rights abuses, including torture, rape, illegal detention, and murder, with impunity” and that the military has committed violations of human rights. Therefore, the bill asks that the United States suspend all “...security assistance to Honduran military and police until such time as human rights violations by Honduran state security forces cease and their perpetrators are brought to justice.”
Please call your representative NOW, asking for their Foreign Policy Aide! Again, because the bill, H.R. 1299, is being re-introduced, all of the bill’s co-sponsors will need to co-sponsor once again! If your representative has not yet signed since the bill's re-introduction, please call them now and ask them to add their support, once again, as a co-sponsor of the bill!
“My name is _____. I'm a constituent from (your town/city) in (your state) and I’m calling to thank Rep. _____ for her/his leadership last year co-sponsoring The Berta Cáceres Human Rights in Honduras Act, and ask her/him to once again co-sponsor the legislation, which was just re-introduced under the number H.R. 1299. Even though arrests have been made in the case, the investigation has been riddled with irregularities, and evidence suggests that those who ordered Honduran leader Berta Cáceres' murder remain at large. Can I count on him/her to sign on again? Please call me this week at (your phone number) to let me know if Rep. _____ will sign again.”
In your phone conversation, please highlight why this bill is important to you, especially if you have traveled to Honduras or heard a Honduran speaker in your community.
Thank you for your advocacy on this piece of landmark legislation for human rights and an end to impunity in Honduras!2) Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-13]
3) Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9]
4) Serrano, Jose E. [NY-15]
5) Schakowsky, Janice [IL-9]
6) Ellison, Keith [MN-5]
7) Lee, Barbara [CA-13]
8) Davis, Susan A. [CA-53]
9) Speier, Jackie [CA-14]
10) Moore, Gwen [WI-4]
11) McCollum, Betty [MN-4]
12) Lipinski, Daniel [IL-3]
13) Dingell, Debbie [MI-12]
14) Pocan, Mark [WI-2]
15) Holmes Norton, Eleanor [DC]
16) Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-32]
17) Bonamici, Suzanne [OR-1]
18) DeLauro, Rosa L. [CT-3]
19) Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4]
20) Cicilline, David N. [RI-1]
21) Pingree, Chellie [ME-1]
22) Blumenauer, Earl [OR-3]
23) Rush, Bobby L. [IL-1]
24) Tonko, Paul [NY-20]
25) Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-3]
26) Slaughter, Louise [NY-25]
27) Waters, Maxine [CA-43]
28) Velázquez, Nydia [NY-7]
29) Kind, Ron [WI-3]
30) Lynch, Stephen [MA-8]
31) Lacy Clay, William [MO-1]
32) Polis, Jared [CO-2]
33) McGovern, Jim [MA-2]
34) Davis, Danny K. [IL-7]
35) Lewis, John [GA-5]
36) Eshoo, Anna G. [CA-18]
37) Chu, Judy [CA-27]
38) DeFazio, Peter A. [OR-4]
39) Yarmuth, John A. [KY-3]
40) Nolan, Richard [MN-8]
41) Clark, Katherine [MA-5]
42) Pallone, Frank, Jr. [NJ-6]
43) Beyer, Donald S., Jr. [VA-8]
44) O'Rourke, Beto [TX-16]
45) Cartwright, Matt [PA-17]
46) Panetta, Jimmy [CA-20]
47) DeSaulnier, Mark [CA-11]
48) Lowenthal, Alan [CA-47]
49) Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-12]
50) Quigley, Mike [IL-5]
51) Keating, William R. [MA-9]
52) Lieu, Ted [CA-33]
53) Foster, Bill [IL-11]
54) Cleaver, Emanuel [MO-5]
55) DelBene, Suzan K. [WA-1]
60) Himes, James A. [CT-4]
Sponsored by
