Sunday, April 26, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Priest Proposes 'March for Life' Across Mesoamerica
- 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.
Andrés Tamayo. - Goldman Prize
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.
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