In Memoriam: Don Luis
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With great sadness, USC has received news of the death of a great friend and Honduran master-farmer, Luis Alonzo Meza Pacheco. Don Luis, as he was fondly called by his friends and colleagues, was president of the Honduran Association of CIALs (ASOHCIAL), which brings together farmer research committees (CIALs) dedicated to research and action for food sovereignty in some of the most marginalized areas of Honduras.
Don Luis’s enthusiasm and commitment to both farmers’ rights and agrobiodiversity-based agriculture were deeply respected, not only at home, but internationally. Of special significance to USC, we were privileged to have Don Luis speak at the SoS gathering in Ethiopia in 2006 and participate with USC’ delegation to the UN conference on Biological Diversity, in Bonn, Germany in 2008.
Words of Remembrance
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“I received the death of Luis Alonzo Meza with shock and sadness. I learned a lot from Luis while travelling with him in Honduras, Ethiopia, and Germany. Luis’s contributions…are vivid and brilliant.” |
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Awegechew Teshome |
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“I would like to express my sentiments about the death of Don Luis. His loss to FIPAH and the Honduran CIAL program is incalculable. His capacity for analysis and oratory and his political perspective and incisive philosophy have helped enormously with participatory research and its spread. But more than anything I think it is the dignity which he gave the small Honduran farmer that will be his strongest legacy. Each and every time that he stood up to speak, whether it was in Bonn, in Tunisia, or at the National University’s agricultural school, he opened the eyes of the scientific world to the enormous capacity of the Honduran farmer for conducting research, providing farmers with a level of dignity normally denied them by society. For me, this is Don Luis’s most important legacy that I will always remember.” |
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Sally Humphries |
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“Rest in peace Don Luis. Thank you for sharing your laughter, wisdom and the warmth of friendship with all of us. Thank you for infecting us with the passion to work with and for farmers and for continually inspiring us, to make this place a better world, if not for us, at least for the future generation. We are blessed to have known you. And may you continue to smile on us, as we continue to thread the path you have started.” |
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The Staff of SEARICE, |
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“He presented the perspective of the farmers of his region with a passion and clarity that I will never forget. Much love and strength to Don Luis’ family and my FIPAH colleagues in this difficult period.” |
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Susan Walsh |
2 Responses to “In Memoriam: Don Luis”
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I met him in Ethiopia. He had deep knowledge and experience of agro-biodiversity works. I learned a lot from all the agro-biodiversity works that he had done and shared with us in Ethiopia.His works will always remain with us even he is not with us at this earth.
Shree Ram Shrestha
Representative -USC Canada Asia, Nepal
Los que tuvimos la buena suerte de conocer a Don Luis, sabemos que gente como el es muy necesaria e importante para el desarrollo agricola rural de paises de desarrollo lento, sus enseñanzas y su fe en la conservacion de los recursos fitogeneticos y la agroecologia permiten que, quienes lo escucharon en alguna presentacion magistral, nos dieramos cuenta, o creamos mas firmemente que hay valores mas importantes que las utilidades financieras derivadas de la produccion agricola. Que Dios lo reciba en su seno y, para quienes trabajaron con el en FIPAH, resignacion por su irreparable perdida.
R. Galeano.
Fitomejorador/ consultor independiente.