Chiapas: Court of Canada to Review Behavior of Embassy in Mariano Abarca Case

@ Chiapas Paralelo

The family of Mariano Abarca, community leader and opponent of the Canadian mining company Blackfire, murdered in Chicomuselo in 2009, announced that the Federal Court of Appeals of Canada has scheduled a hearing on November 8th where they will ask for an investigation of the diplomatic representation of that country in Mexico “for having put at greater risk the life” of the defender in the months before his murder.

The Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA) and Otros Mundos AC said in a statement that Abarca’s murder was caused “by political pressure in favor of the Canadian mining company Blackfire” from the embassy and stressed that it was aware of the complaints that Abarca had made about the damage that the barite mine was causing in this municipality.

They said that it is not an isolated case for which they asked the Canadian state to take responsibility since Canadian diplomacy “frequently ignores the calls of the communities affected by the damages of Canadian mining companies and their imposition on the territories.”

The organizations that have handled the case hope that the Federal Court will make its verdict in favor of the Abarca Montejo family, since if so, “the Commissioner for the Integrity of the Public Administration would resume the investigation of the embassy.” REMA said that this is the first case of its kind in Canada that seeks the accountability of the Canadian State “for its unconditional support to its mining companies that generate dispossession, environmental destruction, damage to health, violence and killings of environmental defenders.”

For more information in Spanish:

Comunicado REMA «Buscamos una investigación de la embajada canadiense en México con audiencia de noviembre en Canadá» (REMA, 18 de octubre de 2021)

Corte Federal de Apelaciones de Canadá aprueba audiencia para reconsiderar veredicto del caso Mariano Abarca (Chiapas Paralelo, 18 de octubre de 2021)

Asesinato de Mariano Abarca llega Corte de Canadá (Contralínea, 19 de octubre de 2021)

Corte de Canadá revisará actuación de su embajada en apoyo a mineras (La Jornada, 6 de octubre de 2021)

For more information from SIPAZ:

National: “Mining Out of Protected Natural Areas”, CSOs (March 19, 2021)

CHIAPAS: El Frente Popular en Defensa del Soconusco 20 de junio recibe el segundo premio a la defensa ambiental “Mariano Abarca” (November 27, 2020)

Chiapas/Internacional : Mariano Abarca, defensor de Chicomuselo “quizás no estuviera sido asesinado” si la embajada canadiense en México hubiese “actuado de otra manera”, falla juez de Canadá (August 2, 2019)

Chiapas: 5 years since the murder of mining critic Mariano Abarca (December 15, 2014)

Chiapas: Anti-Mining Activist Mariano Abarca Killed (December 1, 2019)