Eleven environmental groups announced Monday that they have sent a letter to President Manuel Zelaya demanding a full investigation into the killing of two Honduran activists.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Eleven environmental groups announced Monday that they have sent a letter to President Manuel Zelaya demanding a full investigation into the killing of two Honduran activists.
Activists Heraldo Zuniga and Roger Ivan Murillo Cartagena were fatally shot on Dec. 20 in the central Honduran town of Guarizama, 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Tegucigalpa in the province of Olancho, a region being rapidly deforested near the Nicaraguan border.
The two men were local leaders in the Environmental Movement of Olancho, or MAO, which opposes logging by timber companies.
The organization alleged in a news release that Zuniga and Murillo Cartagena were shot by four police officers in front of several townspeople. Both men reportedly had received death threats from logging companies in the nearby town of Salama, MAO said.
The letter, signed by 11 environmental groups including the Center for International Environmental Law, Global Witness and Greenpeace Spain, said that eight environmental activists have been killed in Honduras since 1995, including five in Olancho.
The letter said the Honduran government needs to case of the two men's slaying "the thorough attention and due process it requires to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice, and do everything in your power to prevent this from ever happening again."
Julio Cesar Marin, Zelaya's spokesman, said the president "was very busy" and had no comment on the case.
Upon taking office last year, Zelaya, who is from Catacamas in Olancho province, vowed to put an end to illegal logging.
About 50 percent of timber in Honduras is illegally harvested; the U.S. is the primary market for its pine and mahogany products, the letter said.
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Source: Associated Press
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