The newspaper El Universal reports today that police have arrested two employees of the Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration Ltd. in the murder of Mexican activist Mariano Abarca Roblero.
The newspaper reports, “La Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (PGJE) arrestó a los presuntos implicados en el homicidio del dirigente comunitario e integrante de la Red Mexicana de Afectados por la Minería (Rema), Mariano Abarca Roblero… La PGJE informó que fueron detenidos Caralampio López Vázquez y Jorge Carlos Sepúlveda Calvo empleados de la empresa minera de origen canadiense, Black Fire Exploration México, además de Ricardo Antonio Coutiño Velasco.”
The Council of Canadians recently raised concerns about the murder of Mariano Abarca Roblero, a critic of the mining company, which has contaminated rivers in southern Mexico through their mining operations.
Earlier this week, Maude Barlow criticized the Harper government’s opposition to Bill C-300 and linked the lack of legislative protections to this killing. Bill C-300 would put in place human rights, labour, and environmental standards that Canadian extractive companies receiving government support must live up to when they operate in developing countries.
To respond to ‘ACTION ALERT: Support Bill C-300 to hold Canadian mining companies accountable’, please go to http://canadians.org/campaignblog/?p=2378.
The El Universal newspaper article is at http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/73755.html.
