Development & Aid, Environment, Tierramerica - Ecobrief

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: New Threats Against Father Tamayo

TEGUCIGALPA, Jun 3 2006 (IPS) - Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo did not heed the threats of expulsion from residents and logging businesses who demanded that he leave the northeastern Honduran department of Olancho by May 31.

The ultimatum took place in the town of Salamá, where a week ago a partial ban was declared on the forests, the preservation of which is the centerpiece of the fight led by Tamayo, who was born in El Salvador but became a naturalized Honduran citizen this year.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya pledged to protect the life of the clergyman, but the gesture was not enough in the eyes of many activists.

“Tamayo's life is in danger and it is not enough that the president says he is going to protect it. He must investigate and apprehend those who are making these constant threats,” Bertha Oliva, of the human rights organization COFADEH, told Tierramérica.

Salamá, where Tamayo has lived for the past 23 years, is one of the areas most devastated by illegal logging and lumber trafficking. Official figures indicate that some 108,000 hectares of forest are cut down each year in Honduras.