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.

TRIP REPORT HOME
BACKGROUND
CIP’S OBJECTIVES IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE MARCH FOR LIFE
HIGHLIGHTS
CIP'S EVENTS
RESULTS
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS POST-MARCH
PROGRAM STAFF AND COLLABORATORS
CIP’S STRATEGY AND NEXT STEPS FOR THE PROGRAM