On the Road to Tegucigalpa with Father Andrés Tamayo

Catholic priest and environmental leader Father Andrés Tamayo counted with government protection prior to the June 28 coup d’etat in Honduras. Now he walks 130 miles to the capital, escorted only by the people, in opposition to the coup.Father Andrés Tamayo, leading the march originating in the department of Olancho, speculated to me on Saturday that the planned simultaneous convergence on Honduras of a delegation from the Organization of American States would lessen the chances of the Honduran military firing on the crowd.

Chances have since returned to normal, however, with coup President Roberto Micheletti’s decision to revoke and then merely postpone the OAS invitation. These maneuvers are apparently due to the fact that OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza has insisted on including himself in the delegation and denying the spot to someone more open to reconsidering Honduras’ suspension from the organization, which was enacted when the country expatriated its legitimate president, Mel Zelaya.

As for the practice of firing on crowds, the Zelaya administration had previously recognized the likelihood that Padre Tamayo himself might be fired on due to his opposition to logging and general environmental destruction, and had facilitated the temporary acquisition of military bodyguards for the Salvadoran priest in addition to facilitating his acquisition of Honduran nationality. Tamayo’s personal security had therefore diminished when President Zelaya suddenly became non-President Zelaya and the Honduran military demonstrated that it, too, was capable of abrupt reorientation.

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