Betty Vasquez Rivera
“It is not an option but rather an obligation to speak out, all of us together, to demand changes. I do not imagine my life without my activism. It is my conviction to do it and it makes me want to live.” — Betty Vasquez
Betty Vásquez Rivera is a woman human rights defender, environmentalist, and feminist working with the organization Movimiento Ambientalista Santabarbarense in Honduras.
She belongs to the Lenca people in Honduras and is a human rights defender, feminist, and environmentalist. Founder of the departmental network of women in Santa Barbara, a member of the national women's movement, and a founder of the Santa Barbara Environmental Movement, which she currently coordinates. Betty is linked to national spaces and institutions for the defense of the territory and climate justice.
Santa Bárbara is the department with the greatest insertion of the mining and hydroelectric industry in Honduras. Of the 537 extractive projects in the country, 98 mining concessions are located in Santa Bárbara, a territory highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The Santa Barbara Environmental Movement M.A.S. is an organization that fights for the defense of human and environmental rights. Since its origins in 2011, M.A.S. has been organizationally strengthened by the Lenca population and its main leaders are women, whose fundamental pillar is to contribute to gender equality. In recent years the organization has been led by the leader Betty Vásquez Rivera, a defender of Human and Environmental Rights. Betty is interested in raising awareness among communities about climate change, its effects, consequences, and new forms of collective resilience.
Articles https://sites.google.com/im-defensoras.org/semillasdecambio/honduras/betty-del-carmen-vásquez-rivera
https://fondocentroamericano.org/honduran-women-create-a-solidarity-fabric-against-extractivism/
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