Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: A Vote Against Whales?

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GUATEMALA CITY, Sep 20 2004 (IPS) - Environmental organizations, led by the international watchdog Greenpeace, denounced that Guatemala would vote in favor of reducing protection of whales, especially the hunting of minke whales. Cecilia Chapa, of Greenpeace International, told a press conference that there are plans to reconsider whale protections in October, during the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species, to be held in Thailand.

''There is evidence that on previous occasions Japan also pressured developing countries like Nicaragua, Belize and Cote D'Ivoire,'' to vote to lift protections for whales, she told Tierramérica.

''Members of Guatemala's National Council for Protected Areas have asked for a vote to reduce the degree of protection for minke whales,'' said Carlos Albacete, an activist with the environmental group Trópico Verde. Officials from the Council declined to comment to Tierramérica on the matter.

Japan, with long history of whale hunting, claims that it captures the little-studied minke for scientific purposes.