Mexico is world’s deadliest spot for environmental activists

By MARK STEVENSON
Associated Press

VICAM, Mexico (AP) — Mexico has become the deadliest place in the world for environmental and land defense activists, and the Yaqui Indigenous people of northern Mexico are still mourning the killing of water-defense leader Tomás Rojo found in June 2021. The murder of Indigenous land defenders often conjures up images of Amazon activists killed deep in the jungle. But while Colombia and Brazil still account for many of the deaths, according to a report by the nongovernmental group Global Witness, Mexico saw 54 activists killed in 2021, compared to 33 in Colombia and 26 in Brazil. Two hundred activists were killed worldwide in 2021. Latin America accounted for over two-thirds of the murders in 2021.