The Honduran death squad
Nina Lakhani has some explosive revelations about the murder of Honduran environment activisit Berta Caceres in The Guardian.
World famous environmental activist murdered. The activist is one of dozens of opposition leaders targeted for death by police death squads.
Some members of the death squad went into hiding - others ended up dead. The US has been training Honduran security forces because they are corrupt and brutal. Turns out, US vetting and training does not make (all?) Honduran forces less corrupt and less brutal. Some would say that US training makes them more corrupt and more brutal but that wouldn't necessarily be me.
I'm not sure that it was foreign training that caused the soldiers to eat the heads of dogs but I can't help but think of the Guatemala kaibiles. It also wasn't just US and Colombia advisers involved in training the Honduran forces, they are expected, but some ominous "instructors who spoke a foreign language which Cruz could not identify." I'm trying not to connect back to kaibiles speaking an indigenous language, but isn't that what we are supposed to believe by reading this?
Cruz, the informant, conveniently saw names of high-profile activists targeted for elimination on a piece of paper that fell out of his commander's vest.
Yet one additional troublesome development out of Honduras - reality is stranger than fiction.
Berta Cáceres, the murdered environmental campaigner, appeared on a hitlist distributed to US-trained special forces units of the Honduran military months before her death, a former soldier has claimed.
Lists featuring the names and photographs of dozens of social and environmental activists were given to two elite units, with orders to eliminate each target, according to First Sergeant Rodrigo Cruz, 20.
Cruz’s unit commander, a 24-year-old lieutenant, deserted rather than comply with the order. Cruz – who asked to be identified by a pseudonym for fear of reprisal – followed suit, and fled to a neighbouring country. Several other members of the unit have disappeared and are feared dead.
“If I went home, they’d kill me. Ten of my former colleagues are missing. I’m 100% certain that Berta Cáceres was killed by the army,” Cruz told the Guardian.On their own, each accusation doesn't sound that far-fetched. However, when you put them all together it is one heck of a story.
World famous environmental activist murdered. The activist is one of dozens of opposition leaders targeted for death by police death squads.
Some members of the death squad went into hiding - others ended up dead. The US has been training Honduran security forces because they are corrupt and brutal. Turns out, US vetting and training does not make (all?) Honduran forces less corrupt and less brutal. Some would say that US training makes them more corrupt and more brutal but that wouldn't necessarily be me.
I'm not sure that it was foreign training that caused the soldiers to eat the heads of dogs but I can't help but think of the Guatemala kaibiles. It also wasn't just US and Colombia advisers involved in training the Honduran forces, they are expected, but some ominous "instructors who spoke a foreign language which Cruz could not identify." I'm trying not to connect back to kaibiles speaking an indigenous language, but isn't that what we are supposed to believe by reading this?
Cruz, the informant, conveniently saw names of high-profile activists targeted for elimination on a piece of paper that fell out of his commander's vest.
Yet one additional troublesome development out of Honduras - reality is stranger than fiction.
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