Mexico: Search for Missing Activists Intensifies in Cartel-Held Areas

Concerns are mounting in western Mexico as officials and civilians continue searching for two missing environmental and human rights activists. They are searching along the border between Michoacan and Colima, an area where Mexican cartels like the dreaded Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) continue to vie for territory.

Protests have erupted in the area, as farmers blocked roads on the border between the two states as they protest the disappearance of lawyer Ricardo Lagunes and schoolteacher Antonio Diaz.

The vehicle that the pair were riding was found last Sunday, but it was already riddled with bullets when it was found along a road where clashes between rival drug organizations usually happened.

According to the Associated Press, the government has already sent soldiers and members of the National Guard, as well as aircraft. to search for the two missing activists.

Two Missing Activists Believed to Be Abducted

Ricardo Lagunes is a human rights lawyer and environmental activist while Antonio Diaz was a leader of the Aquila Indigenous community in Michoacan. They were last seen on Sunday as they traveled to Colima after attending an anti-mining community meeting.

They were driving a white Honda pickup truck, but authorities found it abandoned on the side of a highway. It is now presumed that the two missing activists have been kidnapped as no bodies were found in the area.

Lagunes, 41, has become a high-profile environmental and land rights lawyer over the years as he represented the indigenous Aquila community against big mining companies. He has been receiving multiple death threats over the years, according to The Guardian.

Now, his colleagues and relatives are demanding authorities take action and find him and his elderly companion. A petition has also been launched to urge authorities to find the two men.

International Rights Group Concerned Over Activists' Disappearance in Mexico

The two activists were fighting a massive iron ore mine in the town of Aquila. Inhabitants in the town have complained that its open pit mine "caused pollution and drew violence to the area."

Several rights groups have now expressed their concern over their disappearance, including Front Line Defenders, which released an urgent appeal that stated that they are expressing their "concern regarding the disappearance of Antonio Díaz Valencia and Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca, as it is presumed to be linked to their legitimate activity in the defense of human rights."

The group then criticized Mexico's government as it had a "climate of impunity," as well as a "lack of protection of human rights defenders in Mexico."

The state of Michoacan has served as the battleground for several armed criminal organizations. The two most notorious are the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Familia Michoacana, the latter of which is known for "Rainbow Fentanyl." Other local gangs such as the Viagras Cartel are also fighting for territory in the Mexican state.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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