To President ZELAYA ROSALES

The Environmental Network for Central America (ENCA) is a voluntary group of professionals, academics and concerned members of the public in the United Kingdom who support a variety of environmental non-governmental organizations in Central America, including in Honduras , and inform the British public about environmental issues in the region. 

We are appalled to learn that two members of the Olancho Environmental Movement (MAO) in Honduras , Heraldo Zuniga and Roger Ivan Cartagena were brutally murdered on December 20 2006. We have been in contact with MAO's founder, Father Andre Tamayo, for several years and knew that he, his staff and MAO community activists had regularly received death threats for defending their community rights and resources against illicit practices by powerful timber and mining companies.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights had previously ordered your government to take 'protective measures' to guarantee the safety of Father Tamayo and other MAO members but the events of last December show the total failure of the Honduran state to protect these citizens. We understand that only two days before his murder, Heraldo Zuniga had shared his concern about death threats received from Salama-based loggers employed by the Sansone logging company. What we find even more shocking is that the murders were carried out by a police officer, Juan Lanza based in Salama, who was paid by logging companies to get rid of the MAO members. We are outraged that this form of extrajudicial killing by a member of the police force can take place in the 21 st century, with the apparent complicity of the Honduran State . We shall be publishing news of this crime in our newsletter and British networks, to expose the horrific situation for environmentalists in Honduras .

We stand by our colleagues in the Olancho Environmental Movement and demand that your government conducts an immediate impartial and thorough investigation of the crime, police sergeant Juan Lanza and links to other authorities and loggers. We demand justice be applied to the material and intellectual authors. Just as importantly, we want to know which IAHRC-ordered protective measures you will implement to protect the lives of other threatened MAO activists including Santos Efra'n Paguada, Victor Manuel Ochoa, Ren' Wilfredo Gradiz, Macario Zelaya, Pedro Amado Acosta and Father Andres Tamayo.

Yours sincerely

Dr Stephanie Williamson

On behalf of Environmental Network for Central America

Senor MANUEL ZELAYA ROSALES
Presidente de la Rep?blica de Honduras
Casa Presidencial
Boulevard Juan Pablo Segundo
Palacio Jos? Cecilio del Valle
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Fax: (504) 221-4552

Abogado LEONIDAS ROSA BAUTISTA
Fiscal General del Estado
Ministerio Publico
Lomas del Guijarro, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Fax: (504) 221-56-67
E-mail: Lrosa@mp.hn

Doctor RAMON CUSTODIO LOPEZ
Comisionado Nacional de Derechos Humanos
Boulevard Suyapa, antiguo Edificio de Cannon
E-mail: central@conadeh.hn