Adán Vez Lira shot dead while he rode his motorcycle in Actopan, Veracruz state

Environmental activist killed in Mexico – the third this year

A prominent environmental activist has been killed in Mexico, the third such death in the country this year.

The UN office of the high commissioner for human rights said Adán Vez Lira was shot on 8 April while he rode his motorcycle in the township of Actopan, in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.

Vez Lira was a longtime supporter and organiser at the La Manchaecological reserve on the sparsely populated stretch of coast north of the state capital.

He was a recognised environmental activist who had played a notable role in several environmental defence causes in Actopan, the office said.

Mourners who posted messages on the reserve’s Facebook page said he also was active in opposing mines and preserving wetlands. The area is noted for its tropical forest and coastal lagoons.

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Vez Lira was at least the third environmentalist killed in Mexico this year. The country’s human rights commission said at least two other activists have been killed in 2020.

In late March, unidentified gunmen killed Isaac Medardo Herrera Avilés, a lawyer and activist who defended a rural tract against development near the Mexican city of Cuernavaca.

His neighbourhood activist group in Jiutepec, in the state of Morelos, posted a statement saying the killers knocked on the door of his home and shot him, before fleeing.

Herrera Avilés had led a fight over at least four years to stop plans to build a housing development on the Los Venados tract, an environmentally sensitive woodland area in Jiutepec, just south of Cuernavaca. The development was halted and the area was supposed to be used as a nature reserve.

The Mexican Centre for Environmental Law reported that 15 land defenders were killed in Mexico in 2019. Morelos was ranked as the third most dangerous state for environmental activists in 2019.