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Environmental Movement of Olancho (MAO)

Honduras: Help Protect the Environmental Movement of Olancho (MAO)posted on: 2011/06/20

The Environmental Movement of Olancho (MAO) campaigns to stop the illegal and unrestricted logging that has led to soil erosion, the drying up of rivers and the further impoverishment of the people. Destructive and irresponsible logging practices have led to an environmental crisis which caused widespread contamination and led to the spread of disease in the affected region. Because their activities threaten the economic interests of the major logging companies they have been harrassed, intimidated, attacked and killed.

MAO faces major repression from the government and the military as well as the logging companies. Members, including Carlos Flores, Mauricio Hernandez, Arturo Reyes, Heraldo Zuniga and Roger Ivan Cartagena have been killed. These cases have not been investigated and the perpetrators have still to be identified. Local coordinator Rene Gradis and Padre Andres Tamayo have both survived repeated assasination attempts.

Help Protect the Environmental Movement of Olancho (MAO)posted on: 2010/10/18

The Environmental Movement of Olancho (MAO) campaigns to stop the illegal and unrestricted logging that has led to soil erosion, the drying up of rivers and the further impoverishment of the people. Destructive and irresponsible logging practices have led to an environmental crisis which caused widespread contamination and led to the spread of disease in the affected region. Because their activities threaten the economic interests of the major logging companies they have been harrassed, intimidated, attacked and killed. ===Further Information=== MAO faces major repression from the government and the military as well as the logging companies. Members, including Carlos Flores, Mauricio Hernandez, Arturo Reyes, Heraldo Zuniga and Roger Ivan Cartagena have been killed. These cases have not been investigated and the perpetrators have still to be identified. Local coordinator Rene Gradis and Padre Andres Tamayo have both survived repeated assasination attempts.

Front Line denounces the murder of Honduran human rights defendersposted on: 2007/01/08

To the national and international community, we denounce the brutal murder of two compañeros of the Environmental Movement of Olancho (MAO)

On December 20 2006, Heraldo Zuñiga and Roger Ivan Cartagena were extrajudicially executed by National Police agents outside the Mayor’s Office in the municipality of Guarizama, in front of local residents.

On Tuesday, only two days before his murder, our compañero Heraldo had shared his concern about death threats received from Salama-based loggers employed by the Sansone logging company. MAO had denounced these individuals for harassing and threatening to murder Heraldo and others before the tribunals. The Inter-American Human Rights Court ordered the Honduran government to provide protective measures. We now see the results.

The murder was carried out by Salama-based police seargeant Juan Lanza, who brought the two murdered men to Guarizama, where his accomplices finished the job. Considering these facts, there is not much to hope for in a state in which the public security forces are made up of assassins paid by the shadiest interests in the country – the logging and mining sectors.