Possibly due to this reason, Abarca was kidnapped on Monday in Chicomosuelo by several armed people in two unlicensed vehicles. Several international networks have started a campaign to denounce this arbitrary arrest, because they understand this is a way of criminalizing social protests.

They hold Juan Sabines, Chiapas´s Governor, responsible for the security of Abarcas, together with Canada´s government, with its transnational companies, particularly Black Fire, which is exploiting gold and antimony deposits, and that has filed legal actions against the activist.

REMA states that Chiapa´s authorities have granted over fifty licenses to Canadian companies such as Gold, Fronteer Development Group, New Gold and Radius Gold. In spite of this, they know that industrial mining is not an exclusive problem of the southern region of Mexico, but that it has extended “as a catastrophic epidemic” throughout all Latin America.

This is developing in a destructive and fierce way as in colonial times, and is going against the human rights of the populations living near the projects.
“Canadian mining companies are the most aggressive in terms of conflicts with the communities and have participated in multiple attacks and armed confrontations against communities in different parts of the continent”, according to REMA´s declaration to denounce the situation of Mariano Abarca.

More information on this issue and the protest measures being carried out (in Spanish): http://www.otrosmundoschiapas.org/index.php/mineria/86-mineria/517-la-resistencia-somos-todos-chicomuselo-resiste-ante-mineras-en-la-sierra-madre-de-chiapas.html

Photo: http://www.otrosmundoschiapas.org