Canadian mine staff questioned in activist's slaying

[Judi Lynn]

Canadian mine staff questioned in activist's slaying
Last Updated: Thursday, December 3, 2009 | 5:59 PM ET
The Associated Press

The killing of an anti-mining activist by a motorcycle gunman has led investigators to question staff at a Canadian-owned mine in southern Mexico, a spokesman for the company said Wednesday.

Mariano Abarca Robledo was shot in the head and chest on Friday in the town of Chicomuselo, near the Guatemalan border, said Gustavo Castro, an activist who worked with Abarca Robledo organizing opposition to barite mining in the region.

A spokesman for Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration Ltd. said the company had no involvement in the death. He spoke on condition of anonymity, citing advice from his attorney. The spokesman said Blackfire has asked the Canadian Embassy in Mexico to intervene after receiving allegations that their Chiapas mine employees were being attacked and beaten in response to the killing.

Canadian Embassy spokeswoman Gabriela Hernandez in Mexico City said that Canada "regrets this act of violence but the Embassy of Canada is not involved in the investigation. It is a matter for Mexican officials."

Robledo feared for his life
Activists said that Abarca Robledo feared for his life and recently told police that Blackfire mine officials had threatened him.

More:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/12/03/activist-slain-mining.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. Mexico group protests anti-mine activist's death

Mexico group protests anti-mine activist's death
By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press
2009-12-04 09:38 AM

Dozens of people protesting the killing of an anti-mining activist demonstrated outside the Canadian embassy on Thursday, blaming the death on a Canadian-owned mining company operating in southern Chiapas state.
Supporters of the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mines claim employees of a mine owned by Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration Ltd. were involved in the shooting death of activist Mariano Abarca Friday.

Blackfire has denied the company had any involvement in the killing.

Fellow activists said Abarca's death had been foretold.

"They had threatened him, they had beaten him, and the only thing left for them was to kill Mariano, they had said that, and the authorities knew it," said Gustavo Castro.

Abarca long opposed the mine. But in September he upped the stakes in the battle when he led other residents of the township of Chicomuselo, near the Guatemalan border, in blocking an access road to the open-pit mine where Blackfire extracts barite, a nonmetallic mineral used in oil drilling projects.

The blockade was intended to press demands for 3 million pesos ($235,000) that residents of a nearby hamlet say they were owed for ore taken from land outside the company's concession area.

With jobs at stake, the conflict grew heated.

Castro alleged that mine employees had come to Abarca's house, beaten him and his children, and threatened to kill him.

Requests for comment from the company Thursday were not immediately answered.

Police in Chiapas are still investigating the drive-by shooting, in which a man on a motorcycle riddled Abarca with bullets as he sat in a vehicle near his home in Chicomuselo.

More:
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1124263&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_world&cate_rss=WORLD_eng

http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_qBeyjBMYE70/Sotwafvx9CI/AAAAAAAAAE4/vfr9TzK2IDQ/s320/MarianoAbarcaChicomuselo.jpg

http://www.dominionpaper.ca.nyud.net:8090/files/imagecache/weblog/weblogs-img/Picture%2016.png

The beaten, then assassinated Mariano Abarca

http://www.dominionpaper.ca.nyud.net:8090/files/imagecache/weblog/weblogs-img/Mariano%20Abarca.jpg

[Judi Lynn]

2. Photos of the area:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_DnWhCGFrluI/SRtU7D-QeoI/AAAAAAAAEW4/ozPnfl3hdHY/s400/mineria,+chiapas+-+mart%C3%ADn+vargas+%287%29.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_DnWhCGFrluI/SRtU8aeMJiI/AAAAAAAAEXI/4iPJfuV5nrI/s400/mineria,+chiapas+-+mart%C3%ADn+vargas+%2826%29.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_DnWhCGFrluI/SRtU75DLb4I/AAAAAAAAEXA/lTA0g_u9Qho/s400/mineria,+chiapas+-+mart%C3%ADn+vargas+%2825%29.jpg http://www.ciepac.org.nyud.net:8090/photos/images/chicomuselo-barita1.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_xXJZsu1szao/SsUINdsdbFI/AAAAAAAADo8/sYswKdLnG18/s400/chicomuselo-1-web-150x150.jpg http://mw2.google.com.nyud.net:8090/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/1810465.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8090/_xXJZsu1szao/SorxqSP2LLI/AAAAAAAAC-E/S9M3SHr-mhA/s400/SDC10089.JPG

[Judi Lynn]

3. Video of Mariano Abarca which Spanish speakers might want to see:

http://otrosmundoschiapas.org.nyud.net:8090/images/banners/abarca_ban.jpg

Video, a You Tube, linked here:
http://otrosmundoschiapas.org/index.php/mineria/99-mariano-abarca.html

[Judi Lynn]

4. Mexicans protest activist's death

Mexicans protest activist's death
Rally urges Ottawa to regulate mining firms in the developing world
Published On Fri Dec 4 2009

Inspired by grief and driven by anger, about 250 Mexicans descended on the Canadian embassy in Mexico City on Thursday to protest the recent murder of a Mexican activist who opposed a Canadian mine in the south. The protesters, mostly local farmers and activists who travelled overnight from the province of Chiapas, approached the embassy around 11:30 a.m. to call on the Canadian government to investigate the recent murder of Mariano Abarca Roblero, an anti-mining activist who was shot and killed on his doorstep last week.

Abarca was standing outside his house in the town of Chicomuselo near Mexico's border with Guatemala when an unknown gunman approached him and shot him in the head and chest, before fleeing on a motorcycle driven by a second man. He had asked for police protection days before the attack, alleging that he had been threatened by a Mexican employee of a nearby Canadian-owned mine.

Waving Mexican flags and placards denouncing Canadian mining companies in their country the protesters, who have urged the government in Chiapas to investigate Abarca's death, called on the Canadian government to enact legislation to hold the mining sector accountable in the developing world.

Abarca's murder and the subsequent protest come at a time when MPs in Ottawa continue to hear evidence in a Commons foreign affairs committee examining a Liberal private member's bill designed to regulate the actions of Canadian mining companies abroad.

More:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/734388--mexicans-protest-activist-s-death