0:09

Berta Cassarus was one of the most influential

0:11

advocates for indigenous and women's

0:13

rights in Honduras lardis

0:16

Criminacion con

0:22

and when she

0:24

began leading a protest campaign against

0:27

a proposed hydro electric dam,

0:29

she became one of the most celebrated environmental

0:32

activists anywhere. Honduras

0:35

was known as the most dangerous place

0:37

in the world for environmental activists.

0:40

More than one hundred had been reported

0:42

killed in just the previous five years.

0:46

She told friends about threatening phone

0:48

calls she'd get. She said, strange

0:50

cars followed her on the road. She

0:54

knew that she was very much still

0:57

being targeted and still at risk of

0:59

being killed. Berta

1:01

was the most powerful activist in her

1:04

country, but none of the accolades

1:06

could protect her. In the end, a

1:12

prominent environmental rights activists was

1:14

shot dead into Juras on Thursday, prompting

1:16

protests in the capital. My

1:21

name is monte Real, an investigative

1:24

reporter for Bloomberg Green. On

1:26

the upcoming podcast Blood River,

1:29

we tell the story of a murder murder

1:32

in a place where murderers thrive,

1:35

where about of all

1:37

homicides are left unsolved

1:40

and unpunished. Hounder

1:47

and police claimed that she was killed and a robbery

1:49

gone wrong, but her family, friends and supporters

1:52

are convinced that her death was a political

1:54

assassination. It's

1:56

a story full of deception, false

1:59

leads, and cruel twists.

2:02

It's about money, power,

2:05

political influence, and the

2:07

violence that goes along with them.

2:10

That violence didn't begin or

2:13

end with Berta. I

2:16

threw myself towards the side of the bed in my room

2:18

to protect myself, and the gunmen shot

2:20

me in the head. I said, don't

2:22

call the police, you know, because calling the

2:24

police on honderous it's like calling the mafia

2:27

to crime scene, and you

2:29

can't trust them.

2:31

We'll hear from victims, investigators,

2:34

and eyewitnesses, the communities

2:37

that fought alongside Berta, and

2:39

the executives on the receiving end of that

2:41

activism. We'll go into

2:43

their homes, their offices, and

2:46

in some cases, their prison cell All

2:49

of them now face the same question,

2:52

who, in the end, is really

2:55

responsible for the death of Berta

2:57

Cassidys and what does

2:59

justice actually look like in a

3:01

place where killers almost always

3:03

walk away untouched.

3:07

We think it's quite possible that there's more to

3:09

this crime then has

3:12

been exposed. So far. Blood

3:21

River launches on July. Subscribe

3:24

today on Apple Podcasts,

3:27

Spotify, or wherever you get

3:29

your podcasts. H