“After a month, the judge in charge of the case suspended my lawyer. They violated all my rights. I was very scared every day. I thought that something could happen to me at any time. I felt like a scapegoat.” – Gustavo Castro Soto
Huffington Post recently published an interview with Honduran activist Gustavo Castro Soto. On March 3, Gustavo was shot during the assassination of Berta Cáceres, leader and co-founder of the Council of Indigenous Peoples of Honduras (COPINH). Gustavo narrowly escaped death, and the Honduran authorities failed to offer him adequate protection, despite “the danger he faced as the sole witness to Berta’s murder, and despite having narrowly escaped being killed himself.”
Instead, he was paraded through ministries and court houses, ordered to tell his story over and over again. He was prevented from leaving the country for a month and effectively treated as a suspect in the case.
After a month, the judge in charge of the case suspended my lawyer. They violated all my rights. I was very scared every day. I thought that something could happen to me at any time. I felt like a scapegoat.”
Last week, authorities in Honduras arrested four men in relation to Berta’s murder. One of them has links with the company in charge of the construction of the dam.