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Priest Proposes 'March for Life' Across Mesoamerica |
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By Thelma Mejía *
Roman
Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, winner of the Goldman Prize, popularly
known as the environmental Nobel, said in a Tierramérica interview
that he and his supporters are planning a region-wide demonstration
to protect Central America's forests.
TEGUCIGALPA - Two years ago, logging groups
allegedly offered to pay an assassin 40,000 dollars for the head
of Salvadoran Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, leader of an environmental
campaign in the northeastern Honduran department of Olancho.
The killer-for-hire backed out and confessed the deal to Tamayo,
who remained undaunted in denouncing the problem of deforestation
in Olancho, where about 2.5 million hectares of forest have been
destroyed in the past decade.
Born in El Salvador in 1958, Tamayo has been serving as a priest
in the Honduran department for 22 years. He has led two massive
''marches for life'' to demand dialogue with government officials
and solutions for ending illegal logging in Olancho.
Under national and international pressure, the government finally
agreed to sit down to talk. And the country has made progress towards
a new law on forests.
For his efforts to save the forests, Tamayo received the prestigious
Goldman Environmental Prize on Apr. 17. Awarded by the U.S.-based
foundation of the same name, it is widely seen as the ''Nobel for
the environment''.
Tamayo, who now proposes a ''Mesoamerican march for life,'' spoke
with Tierramérica recently in Tegucigalpa.
Q: What does the Goldman Prize mean to you?
A: Above all, it reflects the story of suffering of my people, there,
inland, struggling to survive. Second is having won a space so that
important people realize what is happening in Honduras, a country
that I feel is mine and for which I am pained to see how it is being
destroyed. Knowing that there are other people in the world who
value the environment is gratifying, and in July I will address
the Group of Eight (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan,
Russia and United States) about these problems.
Q: You are the only Central American who will have a chance
to make a presentation at that meeting. What will be your proposal?
A: I plan to denounce the inequalities, unfair trade and the destruction
and plundering of natural resources, not only in Central America,
but in all Latin America.
While the rich business executives of the industrialized world and
the international bodies approve policies at the cost of our natural
wealth, which are 80 percent the product of illegal activities and
violations of laws, poverty will worsen and we will be exporting
migrants.
I have to expose this reality. If poverty persists due to lack of
opportunities, people will continue fleeing the country in search
of a better future, and if to this we add the fact that many leave
because there are no trees, what kind of future and progress are
we talking about?
Q: How can this negative relationship between migration,
poverty and environmental destruction be resolved?
A: That is the challenge: building a better future for the country
by promoting a major cultural change in society. The forests can
survive and recover to the extent that people change their culture.
This should be part of a great Latin American crusade.
Q: How can we defend the future of forests in Latin America?
A: Through a process in which true commitment to ethics and transparency
prevails. I feel that here the Catholic Church should play a greater
role, lifting up its voice even more. I think we should create a
Latin American environmental union, which would begin with a Mesoamerican
march that we are trying to organize for Mexico and Central America.
They are just plans for now, but we are going to do it. The idea
is that the Church and environmental, grassroots and human rights
organizations from the region will participate. In the case of Honduras,
I believe that all citizens, including politicians, journalists
and the military, should join in protecting the environment, not
from the perspective of repression, but rather through participation.
* Thelma Mejía is a Tierramérica contributor.
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