WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), senior member of the Senator Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on the assassination of Honduran environment and human rights activist Berta Caceres.

“In the face of innumerable social, economic, and political challenges, the people of Honduras have lost yet another brave advocate, one who fought the abuse and exploitation that has sadly come to characterize life in Honduras. My thoughts and prayers are with Berta Caceres’ family during these difficult times.

“Berta Caceres’ murder is a reminder that the universal values we, as Americans, should be championing – life, liberty, security – are at risk in our own hemisphere, and a major source of the painful and treacherous humanitarian crisis that is tearing the social fabric of Central America.

“The disturbing reports surrounding Caceres’s death underscore the continued brutality and danger faced by those who devote their life to peacefully fight for basic human rights and a better tomorrow, and demands a response from the Government of Honduras. I call on President Hernandez to act immediately to this end and conduct a full and thorough investigation. Ms. Caceres lived under the threat of violence because she espoused the principles of dignity and respect for all people – something that must be restored before tragedies like this will end.”

"News media are widely reporting the murder of Berta Cáceres, a hugely influential Honduran indigenous rights activist, was killed in her hometown of La Esperenza, Intibucá, on Thursday. She would have turned 46 tomorrow. Cáceres was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize after she led a peaceful campaign to stop one of the world's largest dam builders from pursuing the Agua Zarca Dam, which would have cut off the ethnic Lenca people from water, food and medicine. La Prensa of Honduras reports that Cáceres was currently working to stop a company from building a hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque river, which the Rio Blanco community said would fundamentally change their way of life. Authorities, the paper reports, said she was killed during a robbery, but her mother said that Cáceres was killed "because of her struggle."

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