caceres. she was gunned down in her home last week, less than a year after she won the prestigious goldman environmental prize. the activists also demanded the release of gustavo castro soto, another well-known environmental campaigner, who witnessed the shooting and was shot twice himself. honduran authorities have barred him from returning to his native wasco, despite he accompanied by the mexican ambassador to the airport. he says his life may be in danger. honduran activist gregoria flores spoke out. >> we came here today to look for the united nations delegate from honduras, but they told us she was not here. we spoke with a person who reports to her and we gave them a letter to manning cliff occasions about berta's case, freedom from gustavo, freedom for the family of berta and the activists around the world as well. one more time, frito for gustavo for gustavo. we need assurances the safety of his life. we want the whole world to say, freedom for gustavo. freedom for gustavo. amy: in th

cÁceres and other murdered land and water defenders, and said her government will not continue to loot honduras. >> poverty increased by 74% to make us the poorest country and it latin america. this figure by itself explains the migrant caravan of thousands of people who flee to the north, mexico, and the united states looking for a place and a way to subsist regardless of the risk it applies to our lives. amy: castro's presidency marks the end of a brutal 12-year regime by the u.s.-backed right-wing national party, which first came to power after the 2009 u.s.-backed coup that overthrew castro's husband, president manuel zelaya. this comes as many are demanding outgoing honduran president juan orlando hernÁndez be indicted and extradited to the united states to face charges of aiding drug traffickers. like his brother. in japan, six people who developed thyroid cancer in the aftermath of the 2011 fukushima nuclear meltdown have filed a landmark lawsuit against the tokyo electric power company. the plaintiffs were aged from six to 16 at the time of the devastating earthquake and tsuna

a caceres. we're going to continue the fight and say no, this is not a great guy as john kelly calls him. this is someoeone who is tryingo escalate collapsed democracy and take over that country in a very autocratic way. juan: i'm wondering, sarah kinosian, can you talk about the opposition? this was an alliance of political parties to the current president that are b backing nasralla. can you talk about that coalition? >> yeah. in the simplest form, salvador , thella has had a party anticorruption party. he has paired with mel zelaya of the liberte party. together.d what i am hearing is that alliance, while it did give salvador nasralla the support he needed to get this far with this support, it also presented problems because a lot of people are not distinguishing between nasralla and mel zelaya. so what you will hear from a lot of hernandez supporters is, one, we are going to have -- either orlando, they're one a try to stay in power because of 2009. or you hear this repeated line that the he

"justicia: berta" justice for berta. a shocking new report looks at who killed berta caceres. we will get an update from "new york times google reporter elisabeth malkin in mexico city. republicans cancel a hearing with san juan mayor carmen yulin cruz who was set to testify alongside fema chief brock long today. >> we received a statement by the congressman thompson stating that the majority of the republicans for the second time in a row has canceled the with no date for it to be rescheduled. i'm just wondering, what are they afraid of? amy: than a federal judge blocked part of president terms transgender military ban. we will speak with the former trans marine who is the challenging the ban. all of that andore, coming up. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in new york city, eight people were killed and 11 more injured when a driver intentionally drove a pickup truck down a bike path along manhattan's hudson river tuesday. officials are calling it an act of terror. police say the attacker was

we are here today outside of the honduran consulate to bring justice to berta caceres for mother's day. she was fighting for all of the environmental rights that everybody deserves. today is a day to celebrate the motherhood of all days outside the honduran consulate. >> we are gathered here today to demand an independent investigation of her murder, to end u.s. military aid to honduras, and to stand against the coup in 2009 at led -- amy: in mexico, mothers of children who have disappeared gathered in mexico city to demand justice for their loved ones. two. mothers of missing sons spoke out about why they do not celebrate mother's day. >> no, we don't celebrate, we search. we search for justice and look for our children. our children who were taken away in the government does nothing to look for them. >> the authorities should make an effort to return our missing who are not just the 43. thousands of missing people. the figure goes up every day. amy: in alberta, canada, a massive wildfire continues to spread in the sprawling forest outside the city of fort mcmurray after all 88,000 re

amy: to see our coverage of berta caceres' life and death and our 2019 interview with her daughter laura zÚniga cÁceres, at the u.n. climate summit in madrid, visit our website democracynow.org. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. the senate voted thursday to open debate on president biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. the final vote was 51 to 50 with vice president kamala harris breaking the tie after every republican senator voted against advancing the legislation. democrats are hoping to pass the bill before march 14, when extended unemployment benefits run out. the legislation has widespread support from voters. one new poll shows 77% o americans support the bill, including nearly 60% of republicans. but senate republicans are attempting to slow the process to a crawl. thursday, wisconsin republican senator ron johnson forced senate clerks to read the entire text of the stimulus bill aloud -- more than 100,000 words filling 628 pages. the house has already approved a $1.9 trillion relie

caceres, who was killed by armed gunmen in her home on march 2, as she was leading a struggle against hydro-electric dams threatening the ancestral land of the lenca people. ecuador is likely headed for a run-off vote in its presidential election as front-running candidate lenin moreno appears to have narrowly failed to capture 40% of the vote. moreno served as vice president to outgoing president rafael correa. with nearly 90% of the votes counted, he's leading his rightwing rival, former banker guillermo lasso, 39% to 28%. ecuador's election is seen as an indication of whether latin america's left-leaning pink tide is over as argentina, brazil, , and uruguay have all seen right-wing administrations rise to power in recent years. lasso has that if you were elelected, he would throwow wikileaks founder julian assange out of the ecuadorian embassy in london. the ununited nati's childrdren's agency, , unicef, is warning as many as 1.4 million children could die this year from famine in nigeria, somalia, south sudan, and yemen. on monday, famine was declared across parts of south sudan,

amy: that was berta caceres, criticizing the honduran military. only hours, berta was killed in her home by armed gunmen. earlier this month, four people were arrested in connection with her murder -- including army major mariano diaz chavez and edilson duarte meza, who is reportedly a retired captain. press accounts report diaz chavez graduated from the prestigious u.s. ranger-supported honduran special-forces course teson -- raising questions about whether u.s.-trained were involved in carrying out berta's murder, and her family continues to call for an indepennt investigation into her death. for more we're joined by annie bird. she's the director of rights and ecology, a project of the center for political ecology, which tracks the connections between economic and development policy and human rights violations. annie, welcome back to democracy now! can you talk about the latest in honduras, what you understand the homeland security secretary was doing in honduras and the latest on those arrested for caceres' murder? >> secretary johnson was vis

all of these dels, unfortunately, have been part -- in the ce of berta cÁceres. the family has strgled for many years and cfronted many threats, attacks, violence, arbitrary detention. her daughters were detained a couple of days before the trial started this week. impunity remains the norm. ere the thorities ar not providing protections for those -- because of the human rights they are doing. those who are fighting the right to land and access to terrories protecting the vironment e the ones who e faci even more violence. government is not protecting the human rights defenders. we are -- [indiscernible] [indiscernle] amy: can you talk about how this country, the united states, sees migration and why people are making noise to the border, so desperate, refugees, to lead countries that they love? people are fleeing violence and poverty and the effects of the climate crisis. not only the united states, but several governments areenying the rights of asylum and people to seek protecon. with the particular early on in the context of the pandemic how migrts have been

this is berta cÁceres speaking in 2015 after being awarded the prestigious goldman environmtal prize for her work protecting indigenous communities and for her environmental justice campaign against that massive dam on the sacred gualcarque river in honduras. she was assassinated inside her home in la esperanza, honduras, about a year later. >> in our worldviews, we are beings sue come from the earth, from the water. i people are concessional guardians of the rivers, in turn protected by the spirits of young girls to teach us that giving our lives in various ways for the protection of the rivers is giving our lives for the well-being of humanity and of this planet. amy: in 2019, we spoke to one of berta cÁceres's daughters, laura zÚÑiga cÁceres, while democracy now! was in madrid covering cop25. laura was there to receive a human rights award and to speak at the social summit for the climate, an alternative climate summit hosted by activists. i asked her about the risks indigenous women face in honduras as they fight to protect the earth. >> just the land and air turn tory is vio

for that they killed berta caceres. amy: one of berta caceres'three daughters resolved her mother's fight would continue. not beenher has killed. my mother has been planted and she is born and reborn in this, which they tried to put out today, this fire that is the struggle of the people. the only thing they did was ignite it more because they try to put out the fire with gasoline. amy: that was berta caceres's daughter speaking after her mother's death in honduras. when we come back from the break, we will be joined by berta's daughter berta zuÑiga caceres and we will be joined by lilian esperanza lopez benitez with copinh. that is the group that berta caceres founded. we will be back in a minute. ♪ [music break] amy: "the house of justice." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are talking about honduras where another indigenous environmentalist has been murdered. this less than two weeks after the killing of the renowned environmental activist berta caceres. nelson

we're going to in with the words of berta cÁceres herself. she was assassinated a year after she won the goldman environmental prize for her work protecting indigenous communities and for her environment of justice campaign against the massive dam on the states they could gualcarque river. this is berta in 2015. >> in our worldviews, we're beings who come from the earth. from the water and from corn. the lenca aren't sessional guardians of the rivers, in turn protected by the spirits of young girls who teach us that giving our lives in various ways for the protection of the rivers is giving our lives for the well-being of humanity and this planet. amy: the great environmentalist berta cÁceres receiving her goldman environmental prize in 2015. in 2016, she was assassinated in her own home in honduras. this weekend, monday, david castillo was one of those found guilty of her murder. we also want to thank suyapa portillo, honduran scholar and associate professor at pitzer college and the author of the new book "roots of resistance: a story of g

activist berta caceres. protesters are gathering to call on the u.s. to stop funding the honduran military over accusations that state security forces have been involved in human rights violations, extrajudicial killings, and the murder of environmentalists like berta caceres. before her death, berta and her organization, copinh, was long the target of repression by elite honduran security forces and paramilitary groups. only hours before she was killed, berta caceres accused the military, including the u.s.-funded special forces tigres unit, of working on behalf of international corporations. >> we haveve to understand whyy these projects are so important. the governrnment has a all of is inststitutions a at the seservif theseompanies bececause they're , because these businesses are capable of moving anti-terrorism command is like the tigres, military police, national police, security guards, hitmen, etc. amy: to talk more about honduras, we're joined by tomas gomez membreÑo, ththe new generl coordinator o

she is a long-time friend and -- of both gustavo castro soto and berta caceres. she's currently the coordinator of other worlds, a social and economic justice organization. bell is also an associate fellow at the institute for policy studies. welcome back to democracy now! what is happening right now in the wake and the floor of the berta caceres assassination? what is happening to gustavo castro soto? >> the first thing to point out, gustavo is not only the sole witness, he also was a target for assassination. he was, as you mentioned, shot twice and in the one letter he is unable to get out to a few of us, he said they tried to assassinate me and they are still trying to assassinate me. igned death after having been shot twice. the death squads, who were sent, we're certain, by the honduran government, thought that he was dead. they left. gustavo's arms. he was a mean really picked up for questioning. he is now in his fifth day of questioning will stop it reads like the worst horror movie you could ever imagine. it h been crazyhere gusvo walocked up in hrible d

this is berta caceres's daughter berta isabel zuÑiga caceres. here to renounce the lack of justice. the authorities one us to feel the case has been resolved. on the contrary, we're saying the process is full of irregularities. amy: at thursday's demonstration in tegucigalpa, police in riot gear fed tear gas at protesters who responded by hurling rocks. protesters were demanding an end to impunity for the killers of more than 150 land rights activists in the aguan valley since 2009. we'll have more on the assassination of berta caceres after headlines. in rochester, new york, vandals toppled more than a dozen headstones at a jewish cemetery thursday, defacing some of the grave markers. new york governor andrew cuomo ordered police to investigate the vandalism as a possible hate crime. it was at least the third desecration of a jewish cemetery in the u.s. over the past two weeks. at the vatican, a prominent member of a commission advising pope francis on how to end clerical sexual abuse stepped down this week to protest what she described as inaction by the church. marie collins, an

then we remember the life of berta caceres. she was assassinated this week just months after winning the goldman environmental prize, the world's leading environmental award. >> our mother earth, militarized, poisoned, a place where basic rights are systematically violated, demands that we take action. amy: we will speak with her nephew, journalist in san francisco. all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman juan gonzalez. i'm amy goodman. four republican presidential candidates faced off thursday night at the fox theater in downtown detroit. marco rubio, ted cruz and john , kasich all teamed up against frontrunner donald trump. meanwhile, outside the fox theater, hundreds of people rallied to protest the gop debate, and what they say is hateful and islamophobic rhetoric coming from the republican party. this is william antoun of the michigan muslim community council. >> we're here to protest the republican debate, the policies and things that some of the

slain indigenous and environmental leader berta caceres. in march, she was murdered in her home in la esperanza, honduras. for a decade, she led the struggle against the agua zarca dam planned along a river sacred to the lenca people. honduran authorities have charged five people in connection with her death, including a honduran army major and employees of desa, the company behind the dam.

berta caceres was assassinated in march 2016. in november 2018, a court ruled her killing was ordered by executives of the honduran company behind the agua zarca dam, known as desa, who hired the convicted hit men to carry out the killing. at least two of the men involved in the murder were trained by u.s. military forces. berta caceres' assassination came a year after she won the goldman environmental prize for her work protecting indigenous communities and for her environmental justice campaign against the massive dam. this is berta caceres speaking in 2015. >> in our worldviews, we are beings who come from the earth, from the water, and from corn. people are ancestral guardians, in turn protected by the spirits of young girls who teach as that giving our lives in various ways for the protection of the rivers is giving our lives for the well-beieing of humanity and of this planet. amy: that was berta caceres giving her acceptance speech at the 2015 goldman environmental prize ceremony. ago, iust a few weeks had a chance to sit

and environmental leader berta caceres. berta was assassinated last year. her daughter was nearly assassinated last week. >> we did not expect the attack. we were traveling back when a vehicle blocked the road in front of us and men jumped out with machetes and threw rocks at us, trying to attack us. as we escaped, they pursued us. amy: we will speak with bertita zuniga caceres from her home in honduras. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in germany, more than 100,000 protesters flooded the streets of hamburg thursday, as leaders of the world's largest economies gathered for the g20 summit. marchers carrying banners reading "welcome to hell" and "the world is not for sale" were met by heavily armed riot police who used water cannons, teargas, and stun grenades to disperse the protests. protests resumed earlier today as demonstrators staged sit-ins at key intersections in the city in an attempt to disrupt the first day of the g20, where presid

,f people googled berta caceres in every picture she is glowing. you can just feel her presence. this tremendous heartbreak for all of us. i want to make sure people understand this is the biggest assassination since the coup. there have been hundreds of people that have been assassinated, both high state security forces and byby pririve actors and death squads, but they never touched the top leaders of the opposition. was a top leader of the opposition. in fact, when the resistance to the territories, she cap his beautiful speech welcoming everybody. one of the most beautiful speeches i have ever heard. what is going on now -- she was so internationally renowned. speaker of the house -- excuse me, ranking democrat in the house of representatives nancy pelosi gave a whole reception in her honor last year. everybody did everything they could to protect berta, and she was still assassinated. this is a clear message by the honduran elite, the honduran right, that they will kill anybody now. i want people to understand that everyone feels like they can be killed, no matter how famous

amy: had you ever met berta caceres? >> not a person. it was after we were able to go to hundreds and learn about her legacy. i cried tears that are not about sadness, but the joy that her spirit continues to live on and created strength and a lot of us women. amy: you're reading a t-shirt that says "defend the sacred." >> because everything we believe in humidityneeded is sacred. the air, the water, and the soil with which we cannot live without. common sense dictates defend the sacred. amy: who will you be marching with? >> i will be marching with my ancestors today and my three-year-old daughter ayanna. she is here not fully understanding what it is about, but it is all about her. amy: tom goldtooth, you are standing beside kandi right now. talk about your activism that has led to this day, april 29, that it looks like it promises to be one of the hottest ever and washington, d.c., history. you have been listening to some of the voices out in the streets, this by the reflecting pool. kandi mossett, well known indigenous rights leader.

>> yes, i agree with passage of the burda berta caceres -- berta caceres human rights act because e we need to have an investigation. amy: having the organization of american states, the oes alarm observation mission, said the tight margi -- president zelaya, what is your response to the former bolivian president? look, he is a mafrom the far right. of the cia. few works with them. he informs them. of as vice president dictator in bolivia. in bolivia, he appears to be critical of the system. here he has come to defend a dictator. a traitor forever. amy: in "the wall street journal," there was a opinion doingthat said you are the bidding of venezuela, president zelaya. it is also what the pr firms in washington that represent the honduran right are trying to say. what is your response to them? >> i did not know the venezuelans until i became president of honduras and i met hugo chavez. my record as a citizen is well known throughout my entire life in honduras. i am a democratic minded man. i am a pacifist. i don't use weapons. plus, i have a clean record throughout my life. my private l

we have the berta caceres, which we are pushing forward right now. we would like to see that phil enacted. if enacted, it would suspend aid until it can be certified that the rights of folks have not -- are no longer being trampled upon as they try to seek a more democratic honduduras. image of congressman keith ellison, thank you for being with us, recently back from honduras, long concerned about the situation there. when we come back from break, we will be joined by hundred human rights activist zenaida velasquez, one of the founders of the founders of the committee of relatives of the disappeared in honduras, lost her sister. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: honduran musician karla lara performing here on our democracy now! studio. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue on the crisis in honduras, where tens of thousands of protesters poured into the streets sunday two to announce the alleged election fraud and to support opposition presidential candidate salvador nasralla. last week

and i repeat it again, taking the life of berta caceres is a hit on the honduran state. amy: the suspects have been identified as sergio rodriguez orellana, a manager for social and environmental issues for desa douglas geovanny bustillo , who had worked for a security firm hired by the dam project. the other two are reportedly an army major and retired captain. berta caceres' family has called for an independent investigation, saying they have been excluded from the honduran government's probe. in a statement, the family said -- "because we have been denied our right under honduran law to participate in the investigative process from the beginning, we have no way of knowing if these arrests are the product of an exhaustive and diligent investigation, nor do we know if they include those who ordered the assassination. the news of the alleged participation of active and retired members of the military linked to desa in the assassination should be investigated further and indicates involvement by state agents which is enough reason for the immediate suspension of and a def