A member of the Fundacion para el Ecodesarrollo (FUNDAECO), Adolfo Suchite, was murdered on May 22nd in eastern Guatemala\’s Izabal department. FUNDAECO is the organization that manages the protected area of Cerro de San Gil, a tropical forest of great importance in the system of protected areas in Guatemala. This is the fifth ecologist murdered in Guatemala in less than four years, and police investigations have yielded no results. The previous four murders remain unsolved, and it a serious concern that this case will remain unsolved as well.
(Top photo: View of the cloud forest of Cerro de San Gil. The arboreal ferns locally called chipe (Cyathea alsophila) can be observed.)
ParksWatch: June 2001.