Land defenders: will the Cáceres verdict break the ‘cycle of violence’ in Honduras?

Conviction of businessman who conspired in murder of indigenous rights activist Berta Caceres raises hopes of end to impunity

When Bertha Zuniga heard that a former Honduran army intelligence officer and businessman had been found guilty of collaborating in the murder of her mother, Berta Caceres, she breathed a big sigh of relief. Five years after the environmental campaigner was assassinated by hired hitmen, this was the verdict her family and friends had been waiting for.

I know there is still a long road, maybe very long and very hard, but to have achieved a guilty verdict against the [former] president of a corporation, [who is] connected to the armed forces: it is unprecedented in our country," says Zuniga, 30.