4 arrested in slaying of Honduran environmental activist
By FREDDY CUEVAS, Associated Press
May 2, 2016 5:00 PM CDT
Police arrest a suspect in the murder of indigneous leader and environmentalist Berta Caceres in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Monday, May 2, 2016. Honduran authorities have arrested four people in connection with Caceres' murder, including three who worked for a hydroelectric project she opposed. Caceres...   (Associated Press)

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduran authorities arrested four people Monday in the killing of environmental activist Berta Caceres, including an active duty army officer and three men who worked for a hydroelectric project she opposed.

A spokesman for the public prosecutor's office, Yuri Mora, said the three did work for or were direct employees of Desarrollos Energeticos SA, which was developing the project that Caceres' organization successfully stopped.

The Goldman Environmental Prize-winning activist was shot dead March 3 by gunmen who invaded her home. Caceres had reported death threats from security personnel for the company, which is known as DESA.

DESA did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday's arrests. In the past it has denied involvement in Caceres' killing.

Caceres' children and the group she founded, the Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras, said in a statement that they wanted an international group of experts from the Inter American Human Rights Commission to participate in the investigation, because "we do not know if these arrests reach all the levels of the masterminds" behind the killing.

Mora identified those arrested as Douglas Geovanny Bustillo, Mariano Diaz Chavez, Sergio Rodriguez Orellana and Edilson Duarte Meza.

Orellana was described as an environmental technician for DESA's hydroelectric project.

In a December 2013 video interview, Caceres told the Swedish journalist Dick Emanuelsson that she had text messages in her phone from Bustillo, who she identified as the hydroelectric project's security chief, threatening her with sexual assault.

Lenin Gonzalez, a spokesman for the armed forces, said at a news conference that Diaz Chavez is an active infantry major and Duarte Meza is a retired infantry captain.

The U.S. Embassy in Honduras said in a statement that it welcomed the arrests.

Caceres led the defense of the Gualcarque River in western Honduras, which is considered sacred by the Lenca people, who successfully fought to halt the proposed Agua Zarca dam.

"The news of the alleged participation of current and former military personnel with ties to the DESA company appears to demonstrate the involvement of government forces in the killing, which is something that should be investigated further," her family said in a statement. "This is reason enough to immediately and definitively cancel the Agua Zarca hydroelectric project."