A vehicle blocked their car, and its passengers stepped out with their weapons, trying to attack the group. They managed to escape, but the incident was not the first – nor would it be the last time Bertha Zúñiga would face a violent threat.
That encounter came just over a year after Zúñiga’s mother, Berta Cáceres, a prominent Lenca Indigenous rights activist in Honduras, was killed in her home in March 2016, leading to Zúñiga taking the leadership of her group, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH).
Zúñiga was a toddler when her mother started the group to defend indigenous Lenca land from commercial interests that local communities say harm and exploit it.
Bertha Zúñiga continues the fight that her mother began against powerful corporate and political interests. Facing death threats, smear campaigns, and even state security leaks, Zúñiga leads COPINH in defending Lenca land and water from destructive projects—undaunted by the risks that cost her mother’s life.
