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Activists Around the World: Bertha Zuniga Cacera · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stepan
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Never told your protection of iHeart Radio, and welcome to
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  Speaker 1: another segment of activists around the world. And before we start, though,
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  Speaker 1: because we are going to talk about legacies and like
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  Speaker 1: kind of a family tree and just people you look
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  Speaker 1: up to. We've talked about legacies before, things that we
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  Speaker 1: remember that we hope to leave behind. But is there
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  Speaker 1: something that your mother or someone important in your life
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  Speaker 1: who has either given you advice, said something, or did
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  Speaker 1: something that you hope to carry not only in your life,
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  Speaker 1: but to like pass it on. Yeah, yeah, I think. Um,
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  Speaker 1: I was very very fortunate that I think I've told
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  Speaker 1: the stream in brief before on the show. But I
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  Speaker 1: won this award when I was in high school and
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  Speaker 1: you were supposed to nominate a teacher who you felt
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  Speaker 1: like it had really contributed to how you got where
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  Speaker 1: you were, and I nominated my third grade teacher and
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  Speaker 1: she was just so sweet about it, and people told me, like,
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  Speaker 1: educators at that young level normally don't get nominated, and
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  Speaker 1: she told me that I was just like, but you
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  Speaker 1: had such a big impact on my life. And I
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  Speaker 1: had gone up to give this speech and my dad,
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  Speaker 1: who's very sentimental. He was a very like he had
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  Speaker 1: a good way with words, he said, because I didn't
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  Speaker 1: know what it's gonna say, and he was like, you
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  Speaker 1: should say she's the architect of your dreams or whatever,
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  Speaker 1: something very sweet and nice and sounded really good. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: I went up and told a bunch of jokes about
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  Speaker 1: how I probably would have been in jail if not
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  Speaker 1: for and all this stuff, and I got a little lives.
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  Speaker 1: But I came down and I talked to her afterwards,
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  Speaker 1: and I was kind of embarrassed because I knew it
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  Speaker 1: wasn't what my dad wanted, or probably what either of
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  Speaker 1: my parents wanted. And she just said something so kind
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  Speaker 1: that was like they just want you to be and
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  Speaker 1: this is very you, and I'm sure that they're very
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  Speaker 1: proud of you. And that was one of the reasons
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  Speaker 1: I nominated her, where she was somebody who like saw
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  Speaker 1: you and like made the extra effort to help you
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  Speaker 1: because I was extremely shy when I was in third grade,
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  Speaker 1: and she did all of these things to make sure
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  Speaker 1: like I felt comfortable. So she was just somebody who,
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  Speaker 1: like I really went that extra step to help you succeed. Right,
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  Speaker 1: I love that, Yeah, I think for me, I was
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  Speaker 1: actually a teacher as well, not that you know, we
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  Speaker 1: don't have other advice, but one of the things I
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  Speaker 1: just remember it was nothing like a short statement, because
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  Speaker 1: apparently she has a lot of sayings that I don't
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  Speaker 1: remember that people talk about because she was a significant person, um,
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  Speaker 1: And she was a teacher at my high school. She
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  Speaker 1: was a drama teacher. And when I say drama, like
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  Speaker 1: she exuded drama in every way, like she was a
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  Speaker 1: presence to behold. Um. But one of the things I
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  Speaker 1: really admired about her is that she was able to
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  Speaker 1: admit when she was wrong, and she would publicly apologize
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  Speaker 1: to whomever she had wronged. Essentially, it wasn't even a
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  Speaker 1: big deal, Like I know for me. One time, I
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  Speaker 1: think I talked to this about this before I was
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  Speaker 1: doing uh Noises Off and I was a character in
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  Speaker 1: that show where she's supposed to wear a suit and
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  Speaker 1: be official, and I was like, I don't like skirts.
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  Speaker 1: Let me do these pants suits because I love the
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  Speaker 1: pant suits. And she's like, hmmm, I don't know. I
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  Speaker 1: came and showed it off and she was like, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: you're right, I publicly admit I'm wrong, you are right,
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  Speaker 1: because she was fighting me until I finally was able
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  Speaker 1: to show her this is what it looks like. And
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  Speaker 1: I feel more comfortable this way, especially on stage. I
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  Speaker 1: don't want to be wearing a skirt because I was
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  Speaker 1: already going up and down and I was like, people
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  Speaker 1: probably can see things. I don't want that to PC,
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  Speaker 1: but I you know, I was able to do that,
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  Speaker 1: and she was able to like actually like make sure
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  Speaker 1: everybody was with us and not being like pompous, not
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  Speaker 1: being sarcastic, was like I want to apologize that was right,
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  Speaker 1: and we want to make sure that I acknowledge that
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  Speaker 1: I should have listened to her like it was the
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  Speaker 1: whole thing. And she would also give out candy as
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  Speaker 1: her way of apologizing, so I got a pack of
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  Speaker 1: Emminem's Day too. But yeah, like stuff like that like
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  Speaker 1: stuck with me because like I've never seen adults as
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  Speaker 1: a teenager to admit they were wrong. They'll either just
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  Speaker 1: pretend like it never happened or still kind of like
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  Speaker 1: gaslight you, which we didn't know that term when I
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  Speaker 1: was in high school, into being like, well you should
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  Speaker 1: have done this instead, like you should have told me
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  Speaker 1: in a different way or you should like all these
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  Speaker 1: excuses of about why they are still not completely wrong.
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  Speaker 1: And I remember that stuff with me. It was like
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  Speaker 1: something as an adult, like I hope to be that
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  Speaker 1: adult because I learned to trust her and respect her
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  Speaker 1: opinions a lot more because I knew at least she
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  Speaker 1: was able to acknowledge when she was wrong and stiff
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  Speaker 1: like that really kept with her legacy of who she was.
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  Speaker 1: That the kids really felt connected to her because she
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  Speaker 1: was able to do that in such a way that
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  Speaker 1: made us feel like a peer in a way, and
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  Speaker 1: in that she earned that respect. She listened to you
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  Speaker 1: exactly and just admitting you were wrong, it was like, WHOA,
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  Speaker 1: that's huge, you know. I think that's something that we
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  Speaker 1: often talk about on this show, and hopefully we'll always
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  Speaker 1: talk about when we see women who are in power
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  Speaker 1: or women who have to make a difference, are able
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  Speaker 1: to leave a legacy of being all inspiring in a
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  Speaker 1: way that because they did something, their actions matched their words.
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  Speaker 1: And I love seeing that. UM, And today we want
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  Speaker 1: to talk about two women who did that and who
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  Speaker 1: are doing that. UM. We're talking about the works of
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  Speaker 1: Bertha Caceres and the legacy left behind by her legendary mother,
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  Speaker 1: Berta Caceres so Zenica Cases life has always been encompassed
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  Speaker 1: with activism due to her parents who have been working
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  Speaker 1: in the indigenous and environmental activism for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: Her mother, Barta Caceres, who I just mentioned, was a
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  Speaker 1: leader for the Linca indigenous community in La Speranza, Honduras.
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  Speaker 1: Her mother helped found the Council of Popular Indigenous Organizations
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  Speaker 1: of Honduras or c p I n H, which is
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  Speaker 1: an organization or working for the rights of indigenous community
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  Speaker 1: in Honduras um and within this activism, she also fought
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  Speaker 1: for the rights of the LGBTQ community and women's rights
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  Speaker 1: throughout her life. During her activism, Betras was able to
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  Speaker 1: help bring attention to the damages of big corporations and
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  Speaker 1: industries destroying the land. She and her organizations led protests
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  Speaker 1: to stop construction and the ruining of the land, which
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  Speaker 1: also led to violence as one protest was disrupted due
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  Speaker 1: to the Honduran army opening fire on the protesters and
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  Speaker 1: a quick side note, Honduras has been listed as one
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  Speaker 1: of the deadliest places in the world for environmental activists.
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  Speaker 1: As of twenty nineteen, hundreds have been murdered and many
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  Speaker 1: activists have been criminalized for their activism, but Verta continue
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  Speaker 1: to fight and was able to get some corporations to
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  Speaker 1: withdraw from the area and to stop some of the
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  Speaker 1: funding at the time, and many were met with violence.
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  Speaker 1: Many of these protests and harassments for the activism the
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  Speaker 1: officials during that time or on the side of the
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  Speaker 1: corporations as well. They filed charges against the leaders for
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  Speaker 1: quote usurpation, coercion, and continued damages against the business that
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  Speaker 1: had been constructing a series of hydro electic dams on
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  Speaker 1: the wildcarc of her Her activism and her work had
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  Speaker 1: put her in danger. She was placed on a list
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  Speaker 1: that was deemed as being under threat in two thousand
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  Speaker 1: nine by the Inter American Commission on Human Rights are
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  Speaker 1: that I a c H, but that did not slow
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  Speaker 1: her down. Many of her opponents continued to see her
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  Speaker 1: as a threat and a force as she worked to
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  Speaker 1: continue to protect her land and the people. It was
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  Speaker 1: in sixteen when she had invited a fellow activist to
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  Speaker 1: discuss possible alternatives to hydro electric projects. She was murdered
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  Speaker 1: in her home, and though she was supposed to have
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  Speaker 1: protection due to the threats on her life. They were
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  Speaker 1: not with her that day, right, um, and just kind
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  Speaker 1: of putting a bow at the end of that. They
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  Speaker 1: finally did arrest several people from one of the corporations
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  Speaker 1: that are still there, I believe in twenty nineteen, and
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  Speaker 1: I think of one they're convicted and being the author
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  Speaker 1: of her death. So there has been some justice, but
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  Speaker 1: I think is you know, it's one of those is like,
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  Speaker 1: is it really justice? In her legacy has been carried
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  Speaker 1: on by her daughter Betta, who was like did as
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  Speaker 1: the new president of the cop I n H in seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: She has continued to find that her mother had started
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  Speaker 1: way back when working to shut down Hartfold projects and
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  Speaker 1: the continued abuse of the marginalized people and their land
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  Speaker 1: in Honduras. Uh MERCTA has been working with people all
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  Speaker 1: over the globe try to bring change within Honduras, including
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  Speaker 1: seeking to pass a legislation to suspend military aid in
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  Speaker 1: in Honduras. UH that the name of the bill was
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  Speaker 1: actually called the Berta Cassier's Human Rights and Honduras Act,
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  Speaker 1: and this was in the US, and though it hasn't passed,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm not really sure if it's dead on the
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  Speaker 1: floor or what's going on? It was reintroduced from the
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  Speaker 1: original time which happened at twenty seventeen. It was reintroduced
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  Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen. But the fact they were able to
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  Speaker 1: get forty seven House for representatives to back it put
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  Speaker 1: their names on the bill. It does show the need
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  Speaker 1: for deeper research at the detriment of the U. S
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  Speaker 1: military's interference in Latin America. UM we have to call
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  Speaker 1: out the fact that Hillary Clinton was a part of
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  Speaker 1: this and did not help during these violent times, as
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  Speaker 1: things are still being disruptive and the indigenous people are
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  Speaker 1: still endangered today. UM As in fact, Bea said today,
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  Speaker 1: we have to keep holding US investment companies accountable as
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  Speaker 1: well as the role that country plays and Honduras this
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  Speaker 1: current situation. Many big people here continue to defend the territories,
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  Speaker 1: the rights of communities and nature in order to have dignity.
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  Speaker 1: But we need other people to support us and be
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  Speaker 1: clear of the situation in order to change it. And
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  Speaker 1: I think that's a big conversation. And as as y'all
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  Speaker 1: have noticed, as I've noticed, the more research we do
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to activism all around the world, we
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  Speaker 1: can't ignore the bigger play of who's financially helping and
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  Speaker 1: who is financially holding people back, who was assisting when
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  Speaker 1: they shouldn't be, and how we should be holding our
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  Speaker 1: own accountable for the damages happening all over the world.
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  Speaker 1: And I think it's important that we continue to speak
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  Speaker 1: on that um And like her mother, she too has
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  Speaker 1: been deemed a threat. There's been some assault on her
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  Speaker 1: as well as threats actual attacks on her and her
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  Speaker 1: people by the corporation and people around her. And she's
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  Speaker 1: been harassed and even threatened by those who oppose her work.
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  Speaker 1: And when she was asked how she continues to be motivated,
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  Speaker 1: she said, it is the need to dignify ourselves as people.
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  Speaker 1: With so many people being murdered. I believe we are
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  Speaker 1: a country that deserves justice and we have to fight
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  Speaker 1: to live differently. We dream of a tranquility everyone wants,
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  Speaker 1: with justice and truth as tenets of our struggle. When
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  Speaker 1: I grow disappointed by the system of impunity, what strengthens
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  Speaker 1: me is to see Hondurans fighting on the streets. Because
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  Speaker 1: if this struggle was only mine, then why should I
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  Speaker 1: go on UM? Yes, and again, when she was asked
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  Speaker 1: about her memories of her mother, She said, I remember
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  Speaker 1: her as a hard working person, but I also remember
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  Speaker 1: her with a big smile on her face. Because I
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  Speaker 1: believe that the strow cannot be just to martorize ourselves.
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  Speaker 1: We fight with joy and hope, because if we do not,
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  Speaker 1: more than half of the struggle is lost. We always
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  Speaker 1: say that the image of my mother multiplied because we
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  Speaker 1: found her present in the struggle of so many women
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  Speaker 1: from so many communities who continue to fight very hard UM.
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  Speaker 1: And she has been a part of this fight from
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  Speaker 1: the jump. Her family has been with her as well.
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  Speaker 1: She is currently still president of that organization UM. With
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  Speaker 1: her masters and history of Hundre and Latin countries, she's
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  Speaker 1: got a lot under her belt and knowing how to
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  Speaker 1: come forward. But yeah, she under constant threat as her
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  Speaker 1: activism continues on, and we know there's a lot to
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  Speaker 1: be said about again how we need to UM be
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  Speaker 1: an ally for communities like ourselves, and that we do
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  Speaker 1: talk to our representatives about bills like this and why
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  Speaker 1: it's important. Inside note, the person who actually brought this
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  Speaker 1: on was a representative from Georgia Annie m M. Surprising. Yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: but I mean I think this is a beautiful example
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  Speaker 1: of what we're talking about at the beginning of this
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  Speaker 1: idea of being this legacy, being inspired and passing that
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  Speaker 1: on and other people seeing that and doing the same.
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  Speaker 1: So we always love to see that we see that
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: so often in these episodes, and as always, listeners, if
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: you have any suggestions, thanks for to the people who've
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: already sent them in, please keep those coming. You can
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: emails that Steffan to your mom Stuff at I Hurt
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• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Told You I Thanks. It's always to our super producer
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