Carlos Escaleras Mejía (10 August 1958 – 17 October 1997) was a Honduran politician and

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advoc ...

Biography

Escaleras was son of José Andrés Escaleras and Ofelia Mejía, during the mid-1990s he began to coordinate actions against the famous businessman

Miguel Facussé Barjum Miguel Facussé Barjum (August 14, 1924 – June 23, 2015) was a Honduran businessman and landowner. He was Executive President of Corporación Dinant, a consumer products manufacturing company he founded in Honduras in 1960. Dinant sells its ...

which sought to install an palm oil extraction plant near Guapinol river, which would be an enormous burden for at least five communities plus some Tocoa neighborhoods. Also in 1997 led the protests against Colonel Aldana, commander of Infantry Battalion XV, who, by personal interests, prevented access to water to the inhabitants of Chapagua, Agua Amarilla, Honduras Aguan and other populations. In August of that year was threatened by Colonel Aldana. By that time Escaleras was nominated to be candidate for Mayor of Tocoa representing the

Democratic Unification Party The Democratic Unification Party ( es, Partido Unificación Democrática; PUD) is a centre-left political party in Honduras. PUD was founded on 29 September 1992 by the merger of four leftist clandestine or semiclandestine political parties, in th ...

for the elections of that year.

Murder

In the afternoon of October 18, 1997 Escaleras was shot two times while attending his car wash business in downtown Tocoa.

Aftermath

Between the primary suspects in the murder were Orlando Martínez, Lucas García Alfaro and Oscar Sosa. Of them only Lucas García Alfaro was sentenced to 17 years in prison on 16 October 2002. Subsequently, the

Criminal Investigation General Department In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

(DGIC) got an affidavit from García Alfaro's notary public, in which he noted as masterminds to Salomón Martinez, Juan Ramón Salgado, Aldo Augusto Aldana and Miguel Facussé. But for Judge Rogelio Clara, aware of the case, this statement has no merit in the case. Nevertheless, Miguel Facussé and a business executive, Irene Castro, were charged and testified investigation, which denied involvement in the events. On October 14, 2003, the Civil Court of Tocoa issued them.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Escaleras, Carlos 1958 births 1997 deaths People from Colón Department (Honduras) Honduran activists Honduran politicians Honduran murder victims Democratic Unification Party politicians Deaths by firearm in Honduras