From EFE Agency
San Cristobal de Las Casas (Mexico), November 27 (EFE) – NGOs reported that an indigenous leader from the municipality of Chicomuselo, located in the mountains of the southern state of Chiapas, was shot and killed today by an unidentified person who attacked him in the doorway of his home.
Activist Mariano Abarca Robledo belonged to the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA) in Chiapas and was the head of organizing the communities in the border region of Guatemala who demanded the shutting down of the Canadian mining company Blackfire.
REMA member Gustavo Castro reported the assassination took place Friday night when the leader was outside of his house talking with another REMA member named Orlando Velasquez, who was also injured in the attack.
According to statements by family, an individual riding a motorcycle opened fire on Abarca, hitting him in the head and chest.
The indigenous leader had been jailed for one week last August for a roadblock set up with his followers to impede the transfer of mining materials to an open pit barite mine operated by Blackfire in the community of Grecia.
For more information from SIPAZ:
Mining in Chiapas: A New threat for the survival of indigenous peoples (december 2008)
sipazen.wordpress.com 