Why is Mexico such a deadly spot for environmental activists?
- The nation is the deadliest place on the planet for those people trying to protect it, according to a new survey
- 54 such activists, often among most respected in their communities, were murdered in Mexico in 2021, more than in Colombia and Brazil
Mexico has become the deadliest place in the world for environmental and land defence activists, according to a global survey released Wednesday, and the Yaqui Indigenous people in the north of the country are still mourning the killing of water defence leader Tomás Rojo, found dead in June 2021.
The murder of Indigenous land defenders often conjures up images of Amazon activists killed deep in the jungle, and Colombia and Brazil still account for many of the deaths.
But according to a report by the non-governmental group Global Witness, Mexico saw 54 activists killed in 2021, compared to 33 in Colombia and 26 in Brazil. The group recorded the deaths of 200 activists worldwide in 2021.
Latin America accounted for over two-thirds of those slayings, often of the bravest and most well-respected people in their communities.
That was the case with Tomás Rojo, who authorities claim was killed by a local drug gang that wanted the money the Yaquis sometimes earn by collecting tolls at informal highway checkpoints.
Between 2010, when state authorities built a pipeline to siphon off the Yaquis’ water for use in the state capital, Hermosillo, to 2020, Rojo led a series of demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience, including a months-long intermittent blockade of the state’s main highway, which caused millions in losses for businesses and industry.
