WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Eleven environmental groups, with millions of members worldwide, are demanding action from the President of Honduras following the alleged murder by state police of two Honduran activists.
On the eve of the first anniversary of his inauguration, President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales faces an international outcry over the shootings of Heraldo Zuniga and Roger Ivan Murillo Cartagena on December 20, 2006, in the town of Guarizama in central Honduras. The men were local leaders in the Environmental Movement of Olancho (MAO), a grassroots organization that fights illegal and unsustainable logging by commercial timber companies in their community forests. Their police killers were allegedly acting under the influence of the country's powerful timber interests.
Zelaya took office on January 27th, 2006, voicing strong commitments to crack down on the logging these activists were fighting. Up to 50% of timber in Honduras is illegally harvested; the U.S. is the primary market for its pine and mahogany products. Zuniga and Cartagena are among eight environmental activists killed since 1995 in Honduras. Although MAO's guiding force, Father Andres Tamayo, has brought international attention to his cause (including a prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize), he and fellow leaders continue to be subject to death threats and intimidation.
The letter calls on Zelaya's government to "give this case the thorough attention and due process it requires to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice, and do everything in your power to prevent this from ever happening again."
Coalition members voiced serious concerns about Honduras's environmental commitment in light of the killings. Said Patrick Alley, Director of Global Witness, which has conducted an Independent Forest Monitoring program in the country: "These terrible murders shine a spotlight on the forest sector of Honduras. The sector suffers from grave mismanagement."
Allan Thornton, President of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which documented the country's illegal timber trade in a widely publicized 2005 report, agreed: "Will Honduras's track record of impunity for crimes against forests and against the people who fight for them continue?"
Adding to environmentalists' concerns is a controversial dam planned for the country's largest river. "We only hope that people who dare to challenge the 'Patuca 3' dam initiative will not be silenced in what we fear is becoming the Olancho way," said Osvaldo Mungia, Executive Director of Honduran organization MOPAWI. In 2001, an activist protesting a dam project in the same region was killed.
The organizations whose representatives signed the letter are: Center for International Environmental Law; ACICAFOC; Defenders of Wildlife; Environmental Investigation Agency; FERN; Friends of the Earth-U.S.; Global Witness; Greenpeace Spain; REHDES; MOPAWI; Natural Resources Defense Council.
The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) is the world's leading organization dedicated to exposing crimes against wildlife and the environment.
Environmental Investigation Agency
