[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

DAM-L Honduran Dam Activist Killed <fwd>

----- Forwarded message from Monti Aguirre -----

X-UIDL: &b$#!EHH"!o&G!!,]9!!
Return-path: <owner-irn-action@netvista.net>
Received: from DaVinci.NetVista.net (mjdomo@mail.netvista.net [206.170.46.10])
	by lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.8.7/8.8.8) with ESMTP id QAA24440
	for <dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>; Tue, 10 Jul 2001 16:34:30 -0400 (EDT)
Received: [(from mjdomo@localhost)
	by DaVinci.NetVista.net (8.10.0/8.8.8) id f6AKOVU15814
	for irn-action-list; Tue, 10 Jul 2001 13:24:31 -0700 (PDT)
	(envelope-from owner-irn-action@netvista.net)]
Received: [from monti.irn.org ([205.178.127.217])
	by DaVinci.NetVista.net (8.10.0/8.8.8) with ESMTP id f6AKONJ15791
	for <irn-action@netvista.net>; Tue, 10 Jul 2001 13:24:23 -0700 (PDT)
	(envelope-from monti@irn.org)]
Message-ID: <4.3.2.20010710131501.00ab2c30@pop3.netvista.net>
X-Sender: irnmonti@pop3.netvista.net
X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 4.3
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 13:24:22 -0700
To: irn-action@netvista.net
From: Monti Aguirre <monti@irn.org>
Subject: LS: Emergency Action: Environmental Leader Killed in Honduras
Sender: owner-irn-action@netvista.net
Precedence: bulk

Subject: Fwd: Emergency Action: Environmental Leader Killed in Honduras

From: paulap@globalresponse.org

Subject: Emergency Action: Environmental Leader Killed in Honduras
Date: Fri, 6 Jul 2001 13:58:27 -0600

Dear Members of Global Response's "Quick Response Network:"

Please join this Amnesty International campaign to protest the killing of
Carlos Roberto Flores, a community leader who opposed construction of a
dam in Honduras.  Other environmental and indigenous activists and their
families may also be at grave risk.  A strong outpouring of international
support may save lives. -- Paula Palmer

URGENT ACTION APPEAL

6 July 2001

UA 169/01         Fear for safety/death threats/unlawful killing

HONDURAS  Killed:   Carlos Roberto Flores

Community leaders: Jose de la Cruz Flores, Jose Braulio Zuniga,
Orlando Najera, Javier Padilla, Orlando Santos, Javier Cardona,
Isidro Zuniga Guillermo Espinal, Ramon Zuniga, Issac Chirinos,
Gilberto Flores, Enemecio Veliz, Rafael de Jesus Ulloa
Other members of communities in the municipality of Gualaco,
Olancho department

Family of Carlos Roberto Flores: Rosa Elvira Flores (f), Martin de
Jesus Solis (his parents) Tereza Martinez Avila (f) (his wife) and their
two children, aged 3 and 5

A community leader protesting against the construction of a
hydroelectric dam was shot dead on 30 June. Eyewitnesses say the
gunmen were security guards working for the private company
building the dam. Amnesty International is concerned that other
leaders and their communities in the region may be at risk of further
attacks.

The power company Energisa won a government contract in May
2000 to build and run a hydroelectric dam on the river Babilonia, in
the municipality of Gualaco, Olancho department. The communities
that will be affected, and non-governmental organisations, believe the
dam will seriously damage the environment and ruin the livelihood of
local people, who may be forced off their land. Energisa have carried
out environmental impact studies, but the affected communities and
NGOs claim these studies have underestimated the damage the dam
will cause.

The communities protesting against the planned dam received death
threats, and in April 2001 they issued a public statement in a national
newspaper, together with the human rights organization La
Coordinadora Nacional Contra La Impunidad (CONACIM), National
Coordination Against Impunity, denouncing these threats and calling
on the authorities to withdraw warrants for the arrest of community
leaders (named above) for alleged criminal damage to Energisa
property. Carlos Roberto Flores was one of the named community
leaders.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Amnesty International has documented a number of cases in
Honduras in recent years where local communities, many of them
indigenous, have been threatened and their leaders killed in apparent
reprisal for highlighting environmental damage and campaigning in
favour of community rights. The gunmen responsible often have links
to powerful local landowners. Environmental activists Carlos
Escaleras and Carlos Antonio Luna were murdered in 1997 and
1998.

At least 25 indigenous leaders have reportedly been murdered in the
last 10 years. The authorities have taken no action to bring those
responsible to justice, and Amnesty International is concerned that
this can only encourage the killers to commit further human rights
abuses.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send
telegrams/telexes/faxes/express/airmail letters:
- expressing concern at the murder of Carlos Roberto Flores on 30
June 2001 in the municipality of Gualaco, Olancho department;
- expressing concern for the safety of his family and of members of
the communities in the municipality of Gualaco which are protesting
against the construction of the hydroelectric dam on the river
Babilonia, particularly those named above;
- asking the authorities to take action to protect all those at risk, and
to consult with them on what action is appropriate;
- urging the authorities to conduct a prompt, impartial and thorough
investigation of the killing and the threats the communities and their
leaders have reportedly received, to make public the results of the
investigation and to bring those responsible to justice;



APPEALS TO:
President of the Republic:
S.E. Carlos Roberto Flores Facusse
Presidente de la Republica de Honduras
Casa Presidencial
Boulevard Juan Pablo Segundo
Palacio Jose Cecilio del Valle
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Telegram: Presidente, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Fax:           011 504 234 1484
E-mail:   law'bureau@hotmail.com
Salutation: Dear President/Senor Presidente

Attorney General:
Dr. Roy Edmundo Medina
Fiscal General de la Republica
Fiscalia General, Ministerio Publico
Edificio Castillo Poujol, 4 Avd,
Colonia Palmira, Boulevard Morazan
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Telegram: Fiscal General, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Fax:      011 504 239 3698 (this number may be hard to
obtain)
Salutation:    Dear Attorney General/Senor Fiscal General

Minister of Security:
Dr. Gautama Fonseca
Ministro de Seguridad
Ministerio de Seguridad
Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Telegram: Ministro Seguridad, Tegucigalpa, Honduras
Fax:           011 504 238 0238
Salutation:    Dear Minister/Senor Ministro

COPIES TO:
National Human Rights NGO:
Coordinadora Nacional Contra la Impunidad
Apartado Postal 1243
Tegucigalpa, Honduras

National Commissioner for the Protection of Human Rights:
Dr Leo Valladares Lanza
Comisionado Nacional de Proteccion de los Derechos Humanos
Avda. La Paz No. 2444
Contiguo a Galerias La Paz
  Tegucigalpa, HONDURAS

Ambassador Dr Hugo Noe Pino
Embassy of Honduras
3007 Tilden St. NW Suite 4-M
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 966 9751

Please send appeals immediately. Check with the Colorado office
between 9:00 am and 6:00 pm, Mountain Time, weekdays only, if
sending appeals after August 17, 2001.

Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement
that promotes and defends human rights.

Please do not repost this appeal to any part of the Internet
without prior permission from Amnesty International. Thank you for
your help with this appeal.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
PO Box 1270
Nederland CO 80466-1270
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 303 258 1170
Fax:     303 258 7881


------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to majordomo@netvista.net
with no subject and the following text in the body of the message
"unsubscribe irn-action".

----- End of forwarded message from Monti Aguirre -----