Guerrero: Environmental Activist Juan Aquino Gonzalez Murdered in Copalillo

@ La Jornada

On November 5th, the murder of environmental activist Juan Aquino Gonzalez, a resident of the community of Papalutla, municipality of Copalillo between the North and Mountain regions of Guerrero, where he administered an ecotourism park owned by indigenous people, was announced.

The events took place on October 29th around 9:00 at night when he was driving his vehicle in the Plan de Ayala neighborhood. “Two nine-millimeter caliber percussion caps were found at the site. The body was identified by his son, Juan Aquino Rendon”, the local Prosecutor’s Office said.

During the last 20 years, Aquino Gonzalez supported various productive projects in the towns of Copalillo and managed the Papalutla hot springs spa and an indigenous cooperative. In addition, in a subsequent statement, environmental groups reported that he was an activist and legal representative of the ecotourism park in the Alto Balsas indigenous area of the La Guacamaya Sanctuary, as well as conservation areas in towns such as Oztutla, Mezquitlan and Zicapa and managed to make Tecaballo Hill, in Copalillo, a Protected Natural Area. They added that he was a representative of the Indigenous Sector of the Guerrero Nucleus Consultative Council, of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

According to data from Educa Oaxaca, with Juan Aquino Gonzalez, 19 defenders have been killed so far in 2020.

For more information from SIPAZ:

Guerrero: Demand for End to Violence against Women after Murder of 13-year-old Ayelin Icaze (October 21, 2020)

Guerrero: Familiares de activistas sociales asesinados protestan frente a las instalaciones de la fiscalía