Human rights and environmental advocates are watching to see how Mexico’s new government will address violence and environmental degradation following last month’s murder of Julián Carrillo, an indigenous Rarámuri leader and forest-protection advocate in Chihuahua state’s Sierra Tarahumara region. A leader of the Coloradas de la Virgen community, Carrillo promoted sustainable forest management and was active in a successful campaign to force the cancellation of a logging permit. He was shot with a high-caliber weapon on the evening of Oct. 24 in Coloradas de la Virgen, apparently while trying to hide from his assailants, according to UN and local sources. No arrests or eyewitness accounts were reported. Amnesty International’s Garance Tardieu notes that Carrillo’s killing is only the latest evidence of violence against rural environmental advocates in the region. She cites last year’s murder of Goldman Environmental Prize winner and Rarámuri activist Isidro Baldenegro. Since 2016, four of... [Log in to read more]