Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Catholic Cardinal Urges Against Giving In to Gold

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Jun 24 2006 (IPS) - Catholic Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez has exhorted the executive and legislative branches of the Honduran government not to give in to pressure from the transnational mining corporations that want to expand open pit mining in this Central American country. Making the best use of natural resources should be done “without putting the interests of enriching a handful of people before fighting the suffering of the majority,” Rodríguez told Tierramérica.

“Life is worth more than gold, and nature is the temple in which we all have the chance to encounter God in all that has been created and honored,” he said.

In mid-June, numerous civil society organizations launched a five-month campaign against pit mining and the use of cyanide, which threaten the environment and human health.

The mining companies want the government to allow them to pay 25 cents on the dollar per hectare of the concession — a sum ecologists say is ridiculous and an insult.