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x-post from E&E: Mexico: Forest guardian suffered head trauma and drowning
DU thread in Environment & Energy: Mexican Forest Guardian May Have Been Murdered
• Mexican Forest Guardian May Have Been Murdered (Associated Press via Courthouse News)
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Source: Associated Press
Mexico: Forest guardian suffered head trauma and drowning
By MARK STEVENSON
January 31, 2020
OCAMPO, Mexico (AP) — An anti-logging activist prominent in efforts to protect a Mexican forest where monarch butterflies spend the winter suffered a head trauma as well as drowning, authorities announced Thursday night, potentially adding weight to the fears of family and other activists that he was murdered.
Even before the announcement, relatives of Homero Gómez González speculated his death wasn’t accidental and said bad things are happening to human rights and environmental activists in Mexico, and people are afraid.
“Something strange is happening, because they’re finishing off all the activists, the people who are doing something for society,” the dead man’s brother, Amado Gomez, said Thursday at the funeral.
The body was discovered Wednesday in a holding pond near the mountain forest reserve that Gómez González long protected. Michoacan state prosecutors had said a few hours later that an initial review indicated a drowning and found no signs of trauma, but their latest statement said more detailed autopsy results produced evidence of a head injury.
Authorities gave no other information on the injury and did not say how it might have been inflicted. They said an investigation continued, suggesting the case wasn’t considered an accident.
-snip-
By MARK STEVENSON
January 31, 2020
OCAMPO, Mexico (AP) — An anti-logging activist prominent in efforts to protect a Mexican forest where monarch butterflies spend the winter suffered a head trauma as well as drowning, authorities announced Thursday night, potentially adding weight to the fears of family and other activists that he was murdered.
Even before the announcement, relatives of Homero Gómez González speculated his death wasn’t accidental and said bad things are happening to human rights and environmental activists in Mexico, and people are afraid.
“Something strange is happening, because they’re finishing off all the activists, the people who are doing something for society,” the dead man’s brother, Amado Gomez, said Thursday at the funeral.
The body was discovered Wednesday in a holding pond near the mountain forest reserve that Gómez González long protected. Michoacan state prosecutors had said a few hours later that an initial review indicated a drowning and found no signs of trauma, but their latest statement said more detailed autopsy results produced evidence of a head injury.
Authorities gave no other information on the injury and did not say how it might have been inflicted. They said an investigation continued, suggesting the case wasn’t considered an accident.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/4d36c5969fcfee294f6cf434db4a015b
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Source: BBC
Homero Gómez: Missing Mexican butterfly activist found dead
30 January 2020
The body of a renowned environmental activist has been found in a well in central Mexico two weeks after he went missing, officials say.
Homero Gómez, 50, managed a butterfly sanctuary in the town of Ocampo in Michoacán state, a region notorious for its violent criminal gangs.
His body was found with no apparent signs of violence near where he was seen for the last time.
Prosecutors are still investigating the case.
Rights groups had earlier said they feared that Gómez might have been targeted because of his fight against illegal logging, one of the activities that criminal gangs in the area are involved in.
-snip-
30 January 2020
The body of a renowned environmental activist has been found in a well in central Mexico two weeks after he went missing, officials say.
Homero Gómez, 50, managed a butterfly sanctuary in the town of Ocampo in Michoacán state, a region notorious for its violent criminal gangs.
His body was found with no apparent signs of violence near where he was seen for the last time.
Prosecutors are still investigating the case.
Rights groups had earlier said they feared that Gómez might have been targeted because of his fight against illegal logging, one of the activities that criminal gangs in the area are involved in.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-51304857
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Environmentalist Homero Gómez González
Flower petals fall as family and friends grieve around the grave of community activist Homero Gomez Gonzalez in Ocampo, Michoacan state, Mexico, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. Hundreds of farmers and agricultural workers thronged the funeral on Friday, and the homage to the anti-logging activist was like a tribute to the monarch butterfly he so staunchly defended. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press)
Rest in peace, Homero Gómez González.
