"La crisis ecológica actual pone en evidencia la urgente necesidad moral de una nueva solidaridad".

Juan Pablo II

[The real ecological crisis proves the urgent, moral necessity of a new solidarity.]

Definition

The National March for Life to the capital, originally, like a collective expression of unanimous repossession against the national politics of plundering and depreciating the natural resources.

Date

With this news conference, we declare the date of the march to be the 24th through the 30th of June, in a staggered form, in four key locations in the country.

Route

The city of Siguatepeque will be the meeting point for the region Nor-Occidental (Occidente y Costa Norte); Juticalpa will be the point for Olancho; Choluteca will be the point for the South; and Danlí will begin the advance through the Oriente.

Objective

To show the neoliberal conspiracy against the basins and wetlands, the seacoasts and the beaches, the pine and mangrove forests, the gold and silver deposits, and the wild fauna across the nation; in addition, to affirm the popular compromise for their defense, use, and conservation. Honduras is not booty or plunder, it is our home.

Declaration

This is not a procession of romantic environmentalists or a pilgrimage of green tourists who are heading to the Capital: it is a popular mobilization which reflects the diversity of a civic, national resistance, facing the local but foreign capital, which has tried its hardest to impoverish the rich peoples of Honduras.

The National March for Life will not stop or detain transit on the highways of Honduras, but it will impede the progress of any vehicle with brushwood, products or subproducts of wood, shellfish and wild fauna.

Themes:

*The 7 points contained in the proclamation of 2003 in Olancho, including the coveted new Forest and Wildlife Law;

*The destruction of the mangrove forest, lagoons, biodiversity and violation of human rights by the aggression of the destructive culture of the South;

*The mining in open air, with cyanide and other chemicals, by means of corrupt concessions to foreign companies and a Law of gold and silver which destroys the insides of the poor;

*The opening of extreme dams in zones for forest reserves and the habitat of culturally different peoples;

*The privatization of the Atlantic and Pacific seacoasts in violation of the Constitution of the Republic;

*The terminal production of energy on a large scale;

*The "exportation" of wild fauna.

Results:

To continue to raise the conscience of the population for the defense of their natural resources on a local level, in coordination with the national defense.

To declare unconstitutional the sale of the Bay of Tela and of any other similar coastal project which acts against the native populations.

Resistance organized against the ratification of the TLC in the National Congress, which would place the natural resources at the service of transnational capital.

Remake the Mining Law (the Mitch part of 1998)

Public diffusion of the new Forest and Wildlife Law, before its final approval.

Retake the forest agenda of Olancho, pending solution.

Denunciation

There have been communications to the whole hierarchy of the Catholic Church, which participates in the objectives of this national mobilization, induced versions from the Government, to make people believe that the President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, finances the costs of this protest.

A dissuasive and perverse recourse was utilized recently by the Secretary of Security against the Coordinator of Popular Resistance, insinuating that his actions were financed by narcotrafficking.

Moreover, there currently exists an official strategy of manipulation of public opinion, similar to that which was imposed against the 'listón amarillo' of the Coalition against the high prices of combustibles, to discredit the legitimacy of the March for Life.

Also, we add to this denunciation the crime against humanity perpetrated on Priest Juan Alonso Pagoada, of Campamento, Olancho. He survived an ambush on the highway from the municipality of Salamá to that of Rosario in the department of Olancho on June 6, 2004. Additionally, Father Fernando Velásquez Cárcamo of the parroquia of Gualaco received anonymous death threats last Monday, the 31st of May.

In consequence, we demand that the Government not interfere with the execution of the March, and that the Government be attentive to the demands of the people regarding the natural resources and the environment, and that the Government guarantee the security and the life of the protestors.

Ruego

A Dios que nos acompañe, a la gente que salga a caminar con nosotros a través de pueblos y ciudades; a los Medios de Comunicación, que titulen la defensa de la vida como una Buena Noticia, y a los funcionarios honestos, que paren la barbarie.

Call to the People The March is not a joint activity to break the Government into pieces, nor to yell complaints about the battered governability of the country. It is only the continuation of a nationl resistance movement to the destruction of the natural resources, which are life, which belong to all, although some people have particular titles or plots of land.

A Prayer

To God who accompanies us, to the people who come out to walk with us across towns and cities, to the media, who entitle the defense of life like good news, and to the honest government officials, who stop the barbarism.

"If today we defend life, we will inherit life; if we consent to destruction, we will inherit death. You decide!

National Commission "National March for Life"

---Tegucigalpa, MDC., 8 July 2004