European Funds Linked to Berta Cáceres Assassination and Widespread Corruption

The case of Berta Cáceres and the Agua Zarca initiative in Honduras is a prime example of how development resources generated by European banks, theoretically intended for positive impact, end up funding human rights violations, including contract killings. This is according to Pedro Biscay, an anti-corruption expert with the Independent International Group of Experts (GIEI).

An exhaustive study conducted over a year by the GIEI, under the mandate of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and in agreement with the Honduran state and Cáceres' family, followed the money trail. Biscay explained that a syndicated loan of $43 million from the Dutch development bank FMO and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) for the Agua Zarca initiative, of which $18 million was disbursed, saw approximately $12.5 million (about 67%) illegally diverted. These funds were used for bribes, media campaigns, informants, security forces, lobbyists, and hitmen, according to Pedro Biscay, executive director of the Center for Research and Prevention of Economic Crime.

The extensive report arrives at a critical moment for the European Union's new investment initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean. These initiatives combine Official Development Assistance funding with private investment and state contributions from each participating country. Development banks are key players in this European strategy, known as Global Gateway. It is important to note that the murder of the Gualcarque River defender occurred ten years ago, and the Agua Zarca hydroelectric plant predates the Global Gateway plans. However, Biscay emphasizes that it serves as a test case, demonstrating how resources intended for development can be misused and defrauded by local business groups operating in recipient countries.

"What is most relevant about the GIEI report is that it not only reveals the operation behind a murder but also a structural practice embedded in international banks that finance companies in Latin America," Berta Zúñiga Cáceres, daughter of Berta Cáceres and general coordinator of the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH), told DW. The Honduran activist presented the report's findings in Brussels to European institutions in March 2026. She stated, "We addressed the Global Gateway policy and highlighted the importance of including clauses related to human rights, anti-money laundering, corruption, and the financing of terrorism, as they exist in international law."

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El caso de Berta Cáceres, o la iniciativa Agua Zarca en Honduras, es paradigmático. En términos concretos, demuestra cómo recursos de desarrollo generados por bancos europeos, destinados teóricamente a intervenciones con impacto positivo, terminan financiando violaciones de derechos humanos. En este caso, incluso el pago a sicarios