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BACKGROUND
Staff
CIP’S
OBJECTIVES IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE MARCH FOR LIFE
A PRELUDE TO THE SECOND MARCH FOR
LIFE, JUNE 24-30, 2004
HIGHLIGHTS
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS POST-MARCH
PROGRAM STAFF AND COLLABORATORS
CIP’S STRATEGY AND NEXT
STEPS FOR THE PROGRAM
RESULTS
National March for Life 2004 - Trip Report
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Illegal logging and related corruption have become so
serious in the Central American nation of Honduras that
thousands of peasants marched on the capital of Tegucigalpa
on June 30 from all over the country to call an end
to this devastating practice. The Center for International
Policy's Central America program organized a delegation
of prominent U.S. citizens to accompany them:
STAFF
Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY)
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former lieutenant governor
of Maryland
Ambassador Robert E. White, president of the Center
for International Policy
Mike Farrell, well-known actor and co-chair of Human
Rights Watch in California
Robert Edgar, secretary general of the National Council
of Churches (NCCC)
Antonios Kireopoulos, sub-secretary of the NCCC
Joseph Eldridge, chairman of the board of the Washington
Office on Latin America and chaplain of American University
Allen Andersson, prominent businessman and former
Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras
Paula Palmer, program director of Global Response
Background
Last year on June 20, Padre Andrés Tamayo, leader
of the Environmental Movement of Olancho (MAO) led some
3,000 people on a 175-mile march to protest illegal
logging in the department of Olancho, Honduras. The
ongoing epidemic of illegal logging in Olancho, abetted
by official corruption, has devastated forests, causing
water-table levels to drop, poverty to rise, and forced
farmers from their lands. In addition, at least five
environmental activists have been killed for defending
the forest. Church leaders and activists have been harassed
by powerful logging interests, and a number are featured
on an alleged “hit list.”
Padre Andres Tamayo: Leader of the Environmental Movement
of Olancho
Padre Tamayo’s “March for Life” (Gran
Marcha por la Vida), which started in Olancho’s
capital, Juticalpa, culminated in Tegucigalpa, the capital
of Honduras, on June 27, 2003. Twenty-seven religious,
human rights, campesino, student, and labor organizations
supported it. The marchers prepared seven demands that
they hoped to discuss with Honduras’ President,
Ricardo Maduro, who had campaigned in 2002 on a platform
of fighting corruption and similar illegal activity.
Instead, they were met at the Presidential House by
a small army of anti-riot police, armed with the usual
assortment of rubber truncheons, protective helmets,
and metal shields. A few weeks later, President Maduro
agreed to participate in a round table discussion with
MAO and a number of government representatives. Out
of that meeting came the decision to set up a commission
to discuss MAO’s seven proposals. Though the commission
met five times in 2003, no real progress was made.
The beginning of 2004 proved even less fruitful, with
the government failing to re-convene the commission.
MAO leaders believed the government was using the existence
of the commission as a backdrop for its plans to introduce
a new forestry law, Ley Forestal de Areas Protegidas
y Vida Silvestre, which was structured in such a way
that it would weaken, rather than strengthen community
involvement in managing local forest resources and tilt
ever more favorably towards the logging companies. In
March of this year, frustrated at the government’s
lack of initiative in reconvening the commission and
fearful that the new forestry law would be passed without
the consent of local communities, MAO decided to plan
a second March for Life, though this year the march
would be national in scope.
The goal of the march was to make all Hondurans aware
of their right to a healthy environment that guarantees
life and resources for current and future generations,
as well as to make the protection of the environment
a central issue in the government’s policy agenda.
CIP'S OBJECTIVES IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE MARCH
FOR LIFE
The Center for International Policy, which has been
working with MAO since November of 2003, assisted
MAO and its principal ally, COFADEH (Committee of
Families of the Detained-Disappeared in Honduras),
in planning the March by providing over $100,000 in
financial support, as well as much-needed international
solidarity and visibility. By bringing a US delegation
to Honduras and executing a national and international
media campaign, CIP sought to achieve the following
objectives:
-To sponsor an event that would serve as an example
of civic responsibility and peaceful democratic action;
-To bring together representatives of the educated
elite committed to democratic change with leaders
of the rural environmentalist movement;
-To gain favorable publicity, nationally and internationally,
for those working in Honduras for democratic change
and to strengthen rule of law; and
-To persuade the government to recognize the necessity
of community involvement in forest management and
protection
There were certain other objectives, expressed and
implied. We wanted to shake up the ruling circles
and empower Padre Tamayo and his supporters in the
environmental and human rights community to shift
the government’s attention to the issues of
illegal logging, corruption, and environmental destruction
in the country.
A PRELUDE TO THE SECOND MARCH FOR LIFE, JUNE
24-30, 2004
The “March for Life” against illegal logging
developed amidst a tense and social and political
climate and generated great controversy. The weeks
and days leading up to the events were full of surprising
political apprehensions and declarations:
The president of the Honduran Congress, Porfirio
Lobo Sosa, appealed to Honduras’ new immigration
law and called for the expulsion from Honduras of
all foreigners who participated in the March. Lobo
Sosa is the leading candidate in the presidential
election scheduled for next year. He represents Olancho,
the department perhaps most affected by illegal logging
and has close connections to the logging industry.
President Maduro, like Lobo Sosa a member of the Nationalist
Party, knowing he could not win such a battle, announced
he would join the March and stated that he would take
new actions on forestry sector reforms. In response,
the organizers of the March, fearful of having their
event co-opted by the government, requested the President
not participate.
In the meantime, the co-organizers of the March –representatives
of other popular labor, student, human rights, indigenous
and farmer organizations—began having internal
disagreements while planning for the March. Building
consensus among them proved to be a challenge. The
co-organizers disagreed over a number of details including
when the March would take place, who would lead it,
and what would be the focus of the demands. Internal
dissent was escalated by a common fear that the government
would try to co-opt the event. The Regional Coordinator
of Popular Resistance finally decided not to participate
in the event at all.
The director of public prosecutors in the attorney
general’s office, Humberto Palacios Moya, taking
his cue from his President, took on further investigations
on COHDEFOR (Administración Forestal del Estado
– Corporación Hondureña de Desarrollo
Forestal, the government’s agency in charge
of overseeing and regulating the forests of Honduras)
and carried out raids on police stations known for
their complicity in illegal logging. His findings
prompted Oscar Alvarez, the minister of security,
to close down these police posts, however Palacios
Moya was immediately fired for his trouble.
In honor of the Day of the Tree and in an effort to
restore its national and international credibility,
COHDEFOR, published a special report in a major national
newspaper on its achievements and contributions to
abate poverty and protect the forests of Honduras.
The teachers organized hunger strikes and marches
throughout Tegucigalpa during the month leading up
to the march in an effort to demand higher wages and
better benefits. Both the Center’s staff and
March for Life organizers feared that the strike would
overlap with their events and dilute the March’s
call for the protection of the environment.
Padre Tamayo and other co-organizers of the march
spent considerable time visiting communities all over
the country to discuss the issues they face with regard
to the environment and encouraged them to march at
the end of June to demand their right to a clean and
healthy and environment: their right to life. Padre
Tamayo appeared frequently on TV, radio and the press
calling on “all communities to unite in the
search for justice and to wake up this country by
participating in the March.”
Two days before the start of the March, the bishop
of Copán, Luis Alfonso Santos –traditionally
one of MAO’s allies-- announced he would not
participate in the event, because of alleged rumors
of infiltrators who were aiming to destabilize the
government and demand President Maduro’s resignation.
One day before the start of the March, President Maduro
and the Catholic hierarchy asked the March’s
organizers to postpone the event claiming to have
received inside information from the Armed Forces
supporting the bishop’s statements and instead,
invited them to dialogue. MAO and co-organizers of
the March accepted the invitation to dialogue, but
rejected their proposal to suspend the March reminding
both that the movement had been planning the event
for the past four months and that democracy cannot
be strengthened when the president is infringing upon
people’s rights to assemble and engage in civic
movements. They also denied the existence of infiltrators
and the intention of the March to seek President Maduro’s
resignation.
Just hours before going to press, El Heraldo breaks
its agreement with CIP to publish our report on illegal
logging. The owner and editor of the newspaper considered
the content of the report to be too “sensitive”
despite that they themselves had recently published
investigative articles on illegal logging and corruption.
They agreed to publish the report on the condition
that CIP pay a much higher price than the one previously
agreed upon. CIP declined this offer and went with
El Heraldo’s competition, major national newspaper
La Tribuna, owned by a former President who represents
the political party opposition. The report was published
immediately.
One favorite rumor going around the government and
the NGO community was that Robert White is working
for the CIA and trying to infiltrate the government.
Even the Minister of Security insinuated that the
March was being funded by Venezuelan President Hugo
Chávez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro with intentions
to destabilize the Honduran government.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE MARCH
Despite the controversies, unfounded rumors and threats,
thousands of campesinos, students, and workers representing
over twenty-four organizations, led by community and
religious leaders, kicked off the March on June 24
from four different points in the country: Siguatepeque,
Comayagua (north), Choluteca (south), Juticalpa (northeast),
and Danlí, El Paraíso (east). Each night,
community leaders held teach-ins for the host communities.
They spoke with residents about their rights as citizens
in a democracy and encouraged them to participate
more fully in the civic life of the country.
The Center’s staff and US delegation members
were so grateful to receive essential assistance by
the dedicated Riecken Foundation staff who skillfully
coordinated and facilitated all transportation arrangements
and allowed CIP staff to use their offices and equipment.
On June 29, the first members of CIP’s US delegation
arrived in Tegucigalpa and were “welcomed”
by a sea of 35,000 teachers carrying out a strike
to demand higher wages and benefits (the Marriott
Hotel, where the delegation stayed, happens to be
located two blocks from the Presidential House). The
teachers and the government had yet to come to an
agreement and the angry teachers were not easily going
to give up on their demands. If necessary, they were
determined to come back to the Presidential House
every day.
As tensions grew between the government and the teachers
and unfounded rumors were building the momentum for
the arrival of the March to Tegucigalpa, President
Maduro was prepared to enact an executive decree (“Estado
de Excepción”) to suppress people’s
rights to mobilize and dissent. The timely arrival
of CIP’s international delegation prevented
the President from executing this measure.
That evening, CIP staff and US member delegates drove
to the outskirts of Tegucigalpa to find the group
marching from Olancho at a high school where they
were being hosted for the evening. They were greeted
by hundreds of curious and smiling campesinos sporting
white t-shirts and hats with the March for Life logo
(courtesy of the Center). Despite the exhaustion of
having marched over six days the marchers were in
high spirits; talking, singing, and enjoying the company
of their fellow marchers. After spending some time
meeting and congratulating the Olanchanos on their
hard work and persistence, the group met briefly with
Padre Tamayo to express our support and respect for
his leadership. Padre Tamayo was pleased and touched
by our visit.
On the morning of June 30, the four groups of marchers
numbering about 5,000, coming from their respective
directions, walked peacefully through the streets of
Tegucigalpa to their destination at plaza La Merced,
in front of the National Congress. They raised their
arms in victory and chanted, “Si se pudo,”
or “We did it.” CIP staff Bruna Genovese,
Mike Farrell, and Paperboy Ventures consultant James
King, joined the group from Olancho in the final hours
of their journey.
The remaining Center’s staff and all eight
of the other US delegates made it to the culmination
of the march on time. The group joined Padre Tamayo,
Bertha Oliva, Bishop Mauro Muldoon, and the rest of
the March’s organizers up on a podium flanked
by a squad of armed military police waiting for disorder
and violence to break out. Each of the delegates delivered
a short but cheerful speech charged with words of
hope and support for the marchers’ struggle.
Padre Tamayo, impassioned in his call to preserve
the forests and protect the basic rights of the poor,
called for non-violence, stressed civic responsibility,
the need for dialogue, and refused the role of demagogue.
Following up on Padre Tamayo’s address, Representative
Maurice Hinchey supported the goals of the march by
emphasizing that the preservation of the forests and
water resources constituted a fundamental human right.
Despite the fact that the government of Honduras did
not welcome our visit and support to the marchers, CIP
went ahead and in coordination with the co-organizers
of the March, MAO and COFADEH, organized a cluster of
activities in solidarity with the March for Life.
Robert White, Robert Edgar, Allen Andersson, Joseph
Eldridge
The Center hired two Honduran professionals to assist
them in organizing two key events and launching a media
campaign to support the themes of the March. Thanks
to their support, CIP received daily news updates about
the development of the March, purchased radio spots,
commissioned a timely press release and published an
International Policy Report on illegal logging in a
widely-read honduran newspaper, conducted press releases
and orchestrated national and international media --National
Public Radio and Miami Herald--coverage of the march
and the delegation’s visit to Honduras.
CIP hosted a welcome reception at the Marriot for the
US delegates on the evening of June 30th to facilitate
the mingling of government ministers and national leaders
with Padre Tamayo and his supporters. Over 200 representatives
from the government, international organizations, the
diplomatic sector, and NGO’s alike were invited.
Although Honduran officialdom boycotted the event, many
key political and diplomatic figures attended, including
the surprising presence of president of Congress, Porfirio
Lobo. We were informed by reliable sources that the
government warned the international NGO and diplomatic
community not to attend because of imagined security
concerns.
Kathleen Kennedy Townsend delighting the crowd
Each delegate delivered another short speech emphasizing
the values and principles of democracy, the rule of
law, civil rights, while caring for a clean environment
and the conservation of natural resources. Kathleen
Kennedy Townsend was particularly effective to address
her remarks directly to the president of Congress. To
a delighted audience, well aware of Lobo’s close
ties to the logging industry, Kathleen described how
in a conversation earlier that evening, Lobo had told
her of his commitment to the defense of the forests
and his promise to her to use his power to advance environmental
protection and human rights. She invited him to step
up to the challenge.
On Thursday, July 1, CIP’s media consultant and
coordinator arranged a live TV interview for Allen Andersson
and Kathleen Kennedy Townsend on Renato Álvarez’s
popular morning news program, Frente a Frente. The government
of Honduras, fearful of the delegates’ declarations
going uncontested, arranged to have the Minister of
Agriculture participate in the program. The participants
engaged in an interesting and candid debate. Both US
delegates stressed that a society must be law-abiding
and corruption-free in order to attract business investments.
They also reaffirmed our support of those fighting to
save the forests of Honduras and to protect the rights
of all its citizens.
Reverend Joseph Eldridge addressing the press
After the interview, all of the delegates participated
in a press conference at the hotel. A farewell breakfast
immediately followed. Only members of the NGO community
were invited and attended the event. Honduran human
rights commissioner Ramón Custodio and Padre
Tamayo were the guests of honor and both delivered tremendous
speeches.
After breakfast, the US delegation met with Minister
of the Presidency Luis Cosenza, and then later that
afternoon, with President Maduro at the Presidential
House. At the meeting with the President, the delegates
reiterated our hope that he would meet with Padre Tamayo
and begin a dialogue that would quickly lead to concrete
measures. That afternoon, the President received Padre
Tamayo and co-organizers of the March.
The president, Padre Tamayo and co-organizers of the
March discussed the marchers’ main seven demands:
1. Suspend new logging operation permits.
2. In order to guarantee impartiality and better accountability,
allow different sectors of society to participate in
monitoring and supervision of logging operations –process
known as “social auditing”
3. Create a forestry commission to control the logging
industry.
4. National Congress should declare Olancho’s
forest in a state of emergency.
5. Investigate property titles of private property and
common lands together with the National Agrarian Institute
(INA).
6. Design an awareness and education campaign about
the real value of the forests for the residents of Olancho.
7. Clean up COHDEFOR’s regional offices together
with an evaluation of the personnel.
After an hour and forty minutes of discussions and
negotiations, they agreed to establish the “Instancia
de Compromiso Ambiental” comprised of two commissions,
to analyze and discuss the various demands made by
the movement with the advent of the March for Life.
One of the commissions is made up of five government
officials, headed by the secretary of agriculture
and livestock, Mariano Jiménez. Another commission
represents the interests of the environmentalists
and is composed of eight members and is led by Padre
Tamayo. The meetings will take place at the National
Human Rights commission and will be supervised by
the human rights commissioner. The commissions will
take place at least every fifteen days and minutes
will be drawn up and signed by both sides and a witness
of honor.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
POST-MARCH
Unfortunately and as it is often the case, one week
after the announcement of COHDEFOR’s intervention,
illegal logging increased, mainly in Olancho and the
Biosphere Reserve of Río Plátano. Honduran
human rights commissioner, Ramón Custodio has
denounced the severity of the problem and there are
daily reports of violent confrontations between the
communities and the loggers. In a desperate move to
defend the forest, community and environmental activists
have taken matters into their own hands. They have
evicted the loggers, blocked roads and stopped trucks
transporting timber, and even set on fire one of the
sawmills. Tensions have risen between armed loggers
and community activists. Military police have been
sent to the area to try and prevent the conflicts
from turning violent.
President Maduro traveled to Olancho and personally
witnessed the flow of trucks loaded with timber authorized
by COHDEFOR.
To date, the Instancia de Compromiso Ambiental has
met twice. The results of the first two meetings have
been promising.
The president set up a commission to investigate COHDEFOR
as well as suspend its right to issue licenses or to
perform any other official act. As a result, General
Director, Gustavo Morales and other personnel were also
suspended. Shortly after, Morales, was forced to resign
from his position.
The institution has agreed to:
Review the management plans, in order to suspend or
annul those with irregularities.
Implement on site investigations.
With regard to the new forestry law:
A commitment from President Maduro to ask the National
Congress to withdraw the new forestry law currently
in the legislative process.
Plans to set up a commission to revise and reform current
forestry legislation.
With regard to the conflict in the department of Olancho:
The president will instruct the appropriate institution
that no more management plans will be approved in the
country, until its necessary.
With regard to mining:
Publish the registry of concessions indicating the
current state of exploration and exploitation of mines
at the national level.
Prepare a draft bill of the Reform Law or of the current
Mining Law.
The Secretary of Natural Resources and Environment
(SERNA) will issue a Ministerial Agreement with the
objective of implementing sustainable means relatives
to mining development at the national level.
Finally, with regard to implementing a ban on logging,
MAO and co-organizers of the March persist in achieving
this forestry measure. A popular but desperate measure,
the prospect of a ban in logging has spurred national
and international concerns and controversy. The government’s
environmental commission has expressed its lack of
support to a complete logging ban. It has considered
the possibility of moratoriums, but is leaning towards
restructuring the logging industry rather than going
for a complete ban on logging. Some international
NGOs have shared their concerns with CIP and urged
us to be cautious and advise the organizers of the
March to reconsider this demand.
CIP'S STRATEGY AND NEXT
STEPS FOR THE PROGRAM
In partnership with Honduran human rights and environmental
organizations, the Center for International Policy's
(CIP) Central America Program plans to undertake the
following activities in 2004:
1. Organizational Strengthening of Environmental Movement
of Olancho (MAO):
After the conclusion of a successful National March
for Life in June 2004, it is clear that MAO, under the
leadership of Padre Tamayo, plays a vital role in advocating
for greater community participation in the protection
of the environment in Honduras. CIP believes that MAO’s
organizational structure should be nurtured and strengthened
for it to be able to play an even more effective role
in influencing environmental policy and empowering campesinos
to protect the natural resources in their local communities.
The communities in Olancho trust and respect MAO. The
movement’s work has caused environmental awareness
to increase at the local, national, and international
level, in both rural and urban sectors.
2. Research illegal logging:
With the support of Honduran and international organizations,
CIP will gather and disseminate information about the
socioeconomic dimensions of illegal logging as a way
to raise national and international awareness of this
issue and promote a change in forest governance and
global trade policies.
3. Environmental Transparency Program:
CIP is also exploring the possibility of partnering
with a honduran watch-dog organization to create an
Environmental Transparency Program. Such a program might
create perception indicators on environmental transparency.
Another possibility would be to create public forums
where municipal forest management plans are made public,
or environmental impact studies presented. The idea
would be to try and create a program that is supported
by a number of organizations dedicated to transparency
and civic participation.
RESULTS
OF THE MARCH FOR LIFE
CIP's
Central America Program brought a delegation
to Honduras at the end of June 2004 to support local
environmental movement's march through towns and villages
to raise awareness about illegal logging and other
environmental concerns.
- American
News coverage of the 2004 March for Life
- Honduran
News Coverage
of the 2004 March for Life
- Recount
of
the March for Life by the Committee of the Families
of the Detained-Disappeared in Honduras
- Comic
Strip on the destruction
of the forests of Honduras, by Alan McDonald
- Photo
Gallery
CIP
STAFF TRAVELS TO HONDURAS (February, 2004) |
