The Price Of Conservation – I.C.A.R.U.S Inc.
It is with a heavy heart that the ICARUS team joins countless others in mourning the assassination of Honduran Indigenous leader Berta Cáceres. A pioneer in matters of the environmental rights of Indigenous peoples, Berta co-founded the National Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) The group has dealt with threats and repression since its founding. Honduras is one of the most dangerous places in the world for environmental activists, second only to Brazil. Yet Berta, and others like her, refuse to back down in the face of continuous adversity.
Indigenous peoples all over the world face the same, including those here in America, where various Nations must regularly wage war in court to avoid having land taken from them only to be be awarded to conglomerate mining companies or other private, or government ventures which not only destroy the environment, but provide no income to the peoples they displace, and create critical health concerns secondary impacts for them.
Berta fought this fight not just in Honduras, but on a global scale, bringing together Indigenous peoples from all over the world in a united struggle against abuse, repression, and exploitation. Now Berta will be missed on a global scale. Last year, she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize for her work. This year, she was murdered by those seeking to silence her powerful voice.
They will not succeed. Berta’s voice will live on inside anyone who ever heard her speak, anyone who read about her work, and anyone who has shared in her struggle.
Berta will never be silenced.
We will be her voice now.
You cannot murder us all.