Int'l recognition key to protecting Mosquitia

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Murdered environmentalists, when will it stop?

By OLIVIA McGILL

TEGUCIGALPA — Indigenous people are probably the most marginalized in Honduran society. Many communities live under constant fear of losing the land they live on, despite obligations under national and international law, the government has failed to provide them with deeds to protect their right to live on and use the land. Disputes with landowners, multinational logging companies and tourist enterprises over the recognition of land rights have led to abuses against indigenous leaders, including violence, intimidation, death threats and assassinations. The authorities have consistently failed to properly investigate such abuses or to offer adequate protection against them.

On Friday, July 18 the environmentalist Carlos Arturo Reyes was shot dead in the patio of his home in Olancho in northeastern Honduras. At the age of just 23, Reyes was committed to the defense and preservation of the environment. He had received death threats from logging companies for being one of the 10 leaders of the ´´March for Life’’ that took place on June 26, when thousands of people marched for six days from Catacamas to Tegucigalpa, to demand the rape of the forest cease.
The indiscriminate felling of trees in the area is turning the local landscape into desert. At least half of the 2.5 million hectares of Olancho forests have been devastated according to the leaders of the march. The advance of farm, livestock and industrial frontier is one of the main causes but illegal logging also plays a major role. After the march, COFADEH (Committee for Relatives of Detained and Disappeared in Honduras) drew up a list with the names of all the people they thought were in danger because of their involvement in trying to stop rampant deforestation and advised the proper authorities. The list was made public at a press conference on Thursday, July 17, the day before Carlos Reyes was murdered.

Much of the responsibility for these attacks could be placed on President Maduro. The purpose of the march was to obtain an audience with the President on June 26, but when they finally arrived in the city, the President did not receive them, to some, this attitude shows his clear disregard for the depravation of Honduran forests as well as the imminent danger to the lives of those trying to make a difference. Earlier in the week the President had expressed disagreement with the coalition’s purpose for the march as a means of applying pressure to the government to take action. By failing to personally address the situation, he was seen as consciously missing a vital chance to initiate dialogue between key players concerned with the rampant deforestation of Honduras. The coalition has now drawn up a petition to the Government to demand a) an extensive, immediate and impartial investigation into death of Arturo Reyes b) that the government immediately intervenes in the search for solutions to the problems in Olancho c) that they take urgent measures to guarantee the lives and integrity of the environmental leaders and activists d) that they do not militarize the department of Olancho using the argument that it will avoid confrontations, as in reality it generates violations of Human Rights e) and a ban that prohibits commercial logging in defined areas.

CONTINUED HUMANS RIGHTS VIOLATIONS

Over the past decade 25 indigenous people in Honduras have been killed by individuals or groups linked to local authorities or the military. Other indigenous leaders have been injured or threatened and harassed, reportedly by land owners and other private individuals, with the apparent collusion of local officials. In 1997, Candido Amador Recinos, a Maya Chorti, was murdered in Copan Ruinas in Honduras. His body was found riddled with bullet wounds and injuries from a knife or machete. He had deep wounds on his face neck and hands. One wound to his right hand was so deep that the index finger was severed. Organizations representing indigenous people claimed that landowners were responsible for his death. Only a few days before he had informed colleagues that he had received numerous death threats. Neither the actual perpetrators or the instigators of the death of Candido Amador Recinos have been found.

In June 2001, residents of the rural municipality of Gualaco peacefully protested against the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the Babilonia river, saying that it would destroy their livelihood, given that the dams reservoir would inundate 128 families´ coffee plantations and the re-routing of the river would destroy a 1700 foot series of cascades that the locals value as part of their cultural heritage and a source of eco-tourism revenue. Their opposition was long running and it was further galvanized by the murder of community leader Carlos Flores by alleged employees of Energisa S.A., the private company that had undertaken to construct the dam. Carlos Flores(28) was attacked and killed by six men armed with 12-gauge shot guns and AK- 47s. Adding to the controversy was the fact that both the National Congress and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (SERNA) gave approval to this project in spite of the fact that the planned location was to be within the restricted buffer zone of Sierra de Agalta National Park, where more than 470 bird species have been observed, more than half as many as are found in the United States and Canada together. Energisa concedes its employees shot Flores, but suggested that it was a result of armed confrontation, but physical evidence suggests the contrary. His killers have not yet been found.

In February 1995 Jeannette Kawas, a leading conservationist from the U.S, was murdered in her home in Honduras. Preliminary investigations indicated it was carried out by hired killers. Kawas (48) was the president of the Foundation for the Protection of Lancetilla, Punta Sal and Texiguat (PROLANSATE), named for three protected areas the group works to defend. They are very involved in the management of Punta Sal National Park in northern Honduras. At the time of her death in 1995, two organizations were thought to have links to her murder. The National Farmers Union and a palm olive company called Hondupalma, as PROLANSATE vehemently protested concessions given to both these groups in Punta Sal National Park. Her assassins are still at large. The environmentalists Carlos Luna and Carlos Escaleras were murdered in 1997 and 1998. Only one of them has been solved.

Indigenous people of Honduras continue to call for the authorities to carry out investigations into the death of these people and bring those responsible to justice. But while impunity prevails over justice, indigenous people will continue to suffer. For years the various governments of Honduras have demonstrated a lack of willingness to implement a sustainable forest policy. It is well known that politicians and loggers have always acted hand in hand to falsify invoices and twist justice in order to put money in their pockets. The national forest with its pure water, clean air and natural beauty is in the process of being lost for ever due to social indifference and schemers in the National Government. Action must be taken now in order to save a portion of what is left.

To defend the Moskitia is to defend our country

BY EDGARDO BENÍTEZ

Special to Honduras This Week

(First of two parts)

Honduras, as far as the environment is concerned, has the most varied and complicated territory in Mesoamerica, but this is hardly a disadvantage. In fact, it may prove to be our main competitive advantage, but only if society and state are appropriately organized and efficient. In other words, if the people who inhabit this area are poorly organized, they will continue to suffer all kinds of consequences, and the variety of conditions and the ecological diversity within Moskitia will suffer as well.

The department of Gracias a Dios, an indigenous territory, was annexed to Honduras on November 28, 1859, with the signing of the Cruz-Wyke treaty. This region, more commonly known as the Moskitia, has the largest and most complex ecosystem within the national territory. It also constitutes one of the last remaining virgin humid tropical rainforests containing a great variety of ecosystems such as primary broadleaf forests, pine savannahs, mangroves, beaches, lagoons, and marine zones (including reef systems). These ecosystems are still largely conserved and have been able to maintain themselves, because they exist harmoniously with the residents. Scientists have barely researched this enormous biological diversity, but the unique characteristics have motivated the national and international community to create the largest protected area in the region. Here we find the Reserve of Man Rio Platano Biosphere, the Tawahka Asangni Biosphere, the Patuca National Park, and an important wetland system, the Bacalar Lagoon, which was recently declared a Ramsar Site. Other sites are being proposed to become part of the system include the Karataska Lagoon System, the Kruta Wetlands, the Warunta Mountain, the Rus Rus Forest Reserve, and the Swan Islands.

Although this zone maintains and conserves rich biodiversity, and environmental and natural resources, they have been pressured and threatened by colonization (agricultural, cattle and forestry) during the last decade. This is not only endangering natural landscapes, but also the very existence of the people who have inhabited the region for centuries. This has become evident with the loss and conversion of forest ecosystems, the degradation and contamination of the upper watersheds, and the illegal trafficking of flora and fauna. These processes accelerate the degradation of natural resources and the watersheds. As a result, the Moskitia has been converted into a highly vulnerable, ecologically frail region. In addition, the area is frequently exposed to natural disasters that further damage its weak economy. The most recent example is Hurricane Mitch, which destroyed most of the productive and social base in the region.

Inhabited by a cultural mosaic composed of native people such as Miskitos, Tawahkas, Pech, Garifuna, and Mestizos, the people of the Moskitia maintain their cultural identity, languages, traditions, and social productive practices. The Miskitos, estimated to number around 59,000, constitute 75 percent of the population.

The mixtures of biological and social behaviors have resulted in a transition from a subsistence economy to a market economy based on the exchange of goods and services with people from the rest of the country. These transactions have obviously reported negative flows for the indigenous people who are at a disadvantage compared with the rest of the country. The process towards a market economy has forced important adjustments in the social dynamics of people, who now have to produce goods and services that generate the cash needed to buy imported services and goods. In general, this is causing increased pressure on natural resources; since there is an increase in cultivation areas, frequent use of external technology, and immigration. The most notable case during the last twenty years is, without a doubt, diving activities is where indigenous people sell their labor to the lobster industry from the Bay Islands.

Due to its geographic isolation and other socio-cultural aspects, Moskitia is the region of Honduras that’s historically been excluded from development. Most of the population does not have access to safe drinking water, appropriate water sanitation, credit and technical assistance, secondary education or to universities. The government report (FHIS, 1999) declared Moskitia as one of the poorest areas in Honduras, and said that providing enough food is the biggest challenge. Hurricane Mitch aggravated the problem. Even today, the Moskitia’s productive base has not been reestablished. Economic activity is weak, and most people are unemployed or underemployed. The situation is causing grave problems in food security, especially in zones where communities survive on subsistence farming. Such as the Rivers Patuca, Segovia, Kruta, and Platano amongst others. Until recently, the government hasn’t been concerned about community demands for a long-term vision to guarantee food security. Recently, professional loggers have formed an alliance with some corrupt forest managers from AFE-COHDEFOR, the government forest agency. They have arrived at the communities of the Rio Patuca to offer technical “knowledge,” organize Agroforestry Cooperatives, and have begun to cut the last remaining stands of tropical forest. Now, the people who have eternally defended Moskitia’s natural resources and worked free are being paid to destroy trees that keep the Eastern section of our country green.

Photos By EDGARDO BENÍTEZ

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Rapa Lagoon sunset, La Moskitia

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Miskito woman in Kurpe, Patuca River

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Miskito child, Patuca Delta