Bertha Isabel Zúniga Cáceres is the daughter of Berta Cáceres, a Honduran environmental activist who fought to defend the rights of indigenous peoples and co-founded the Copinh, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras. Winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2015 — the alternative Nobel Prize for the environment — for her opposition to the construction of the Agua Zarca dam, which would have destroyed the sacred river of the indigenous Lenca people, Berta Cáceres was murdered in March 2016. On the occasion of the Internazionale festival in Ferrara, during the event "Uno sporco lavoro", we spoke with Bertha Isabel. Here is what she told us.

How did the project to build the Agua Zarca hydroelectric dam, in the indigenous community of Río Blanco in Honduras, begin?
Agua Zarca is just one of the hydroelectric projects that were granted following the 2009 coup d'état in Honduras. When the company responsible for the works, Desarrollos Energèticos (Desa), first made its way to the river with machinery and equipment, the indigenous Lenca population knew nothing about it. Approval for the project was granted without first consulting the local community, which would never have wanted a dam on its land. Moreover, the project must be considered illegitimate since it was authorised during the coup. In 2013 the community reacted by blocking the roads to prevent the machinery from passing through. It was a devastating year, marked by conflicts between the population and Desa. The latter even brought in the military, police and private security forces, and put up signs reading "private property". All of this represented a form of repression against Copinh, the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organisations of Honduras, which represents the voice of the Lenca people.

What does the river mean to you, and what would the social and environmental consequences of the dam be?
The Agua Zarca project would block the course of the Gualcarque river. The river holds great spiritual value for the Lenca community — it is home to sacred spirits. The dam would alter the lives of the local population, who depend on its water. That is why, in addition to the considerable social repercussions, the project also has a major environmental impact: part of the mountain has been destroyed and a great many trees have been felled along the river to build the road for transporting machinery and to make way for settlements.

The company continues to claim that this is a clean energy project, but that is a lie, because — like a great many other hydroelectric projects in Latin America — it is dirty, polluting energy even if no fossil fuels are being burned. I believe the most important aspect of the project is the one linked to human rights. In 2013 one of the leaders of Río Blanco, Tomás García, was killed by an official during the protests. Other people have also died in violent clashes. Right up to the murder of Berta Cáceres, my mother, who had already been reported to the authorities, arrested and labelled an obstacle to development.

During a demonstration, a banner was displayed bearing the following words: "Hydroelectric projects are not measured in kilowatts, but in people killed."
That message was directed at the project's financing bank, the Dutch Development Bank (Fmo). It maintained that the project was small and would have little environmental impact. But we ask ourselves how it is possible that a project so small, as the developers claim, can cause so many deaths. Fmo is therefore responsible for the militarisation of the community, the killings and the conflicts that have arisen from our opposition to the project. We do not need their money — we just want them to leave. We do not want all these deaths to go "unnoticed" because of the high rate of impunity in Honduras. People know they can kill without consequence, and the banks participate in these killings, making themselves complicit in them.

Carrying on your mother's struggle, are you afraid? What are your goals for your future?
I don't know exactly what I will do in the future, but right now I want to commit myself to this struggle for indigenous communities. I know what I am getting into. The climate of tension is evident, but fear is not the dominant feeling. Because that is precisely what they want — they want to frighten us — but you cannot fight with fear. We want a fairer and more equitable world. We want happiness for everyone, and the struggle right now is the only means of achieving great things.