Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Protection Sought for Eco-Bishop

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Sep 30 2006 (IPS) - The Honduran national human rights commissioner, Ramón Custodio, has called on the authorities to provide protection for Catholic bishop Luis Alfonso Santos, in the western city of Copán, who has received death threats for his opposition to an open-pit mine in the area. “We have taken bishop Santos's charges seriously, and we demand that the state take measures for his safety and that of the members of the Civic Alliance for Democracy, whose fight for the environment is just,” Custodio told Tierramérica.

Alongside the Alliance — a coalition of social and community groups — the bishop of Copán was able to halt changes to the 1998 mining law that would have allowed open-pit mining to continue without environmental protections and with little economic benefit for Honduras.

The bishop is calling for the law to be overturned and declared unconstitutional.