Activist’s murder raises controversy for Canadian mining firm

Murder and extortion are revealed as a murder probe into the slaying of a Mexican activist raise questions regarding Canadian mining practices abroad.

An employee, a former employee and a one-time company contractor of Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration Ltd. have been arrested for the Nov. 27 murder of Mexican activist Mariano Abarca Robledo, 51. Abarca was a leader of the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA), an organization opposed to Blackfire’s barite mine in Chicomuselo, Chiapas. Abarca had been receiving death threats and friends say he was sure his activism would lead to his death. REMA accused Blackfire of contaminating a local river and otherwise damaging the environment. Abarca was killed in a drive-by motorcycle shooting outside his home. A spokesperson for Blackfire has said the company had no involvement in the crime and is fully cooperating with the police. In a document filed with the Congress of Chiapas on June 15, 2009, Blackfire accuses the mayor of Chicomuselo, Julio Cesar Velazquez Calderon of “extortion”, requesting money, airline tickets and a rendezvous-vous with a TV star and nude model in return for protection from protests and vandalism of the mine. The document reads, “We have been extorted by the mayor of Chicomuselo, who since we began operations has asked us for the amount of 10,000 pesos per month to prevent the Mexican co-operative farm near where we mine from taking up arms.” Total Blackfire funds paid to the Chicomuselo mayor add up to about 214,000 pesos ($16,613 US). Blackfire’s complaint states that the mayor’s demands became “absurd” when he asked for 100,000 pesos for a Chicomuselo fair, airline tickets to Mexico City for his family and a colleague, and that TV star and nude model named Niurka Marcos perform at the Chicomuselo fair and spend a “sexual evening” with the mayor. Blackfire paid the mayor 200,000 pesos to fund the fair which they say was meant as a donation to the village, not as a personal payout to the mayor. Blackfire also complied with the request for airline tickets but stopped short of the requests involving Ms. Marcos. Blackfire’s complaint states that the mayor then began a smear campaign, making allegations against the company to the region’s priest and leading to violent protests of the mine on June 10, 2009. On Dec. 8, one day after the arrests were reported, the Blackfire mine was temporarily shut down by Mexican authorities citing numerous environmental infractions. A spokesperson for the Ministry of the Environment for the state of Chiapas, Carolina Ochoa, denied that the mine closure was related to the killing. The unfolding of this murder probe and mine closure comes at a time when Mexico-Canada relations are particularly strained following the introduction of visa requirements on Mexican visitors to Canada this past July. Canada claimed too many Mexican visitors were claiming refugee status upon arriving in Canada; an action that Canada’s Prime Minister Stephen Harper claimed was needed due to Canada’s ineffective refugee system. The murder of Mariano Abarca Robledo by men with ties to Blackfire has also heated up a debate in Canada over the proposed Bill C-300. Bill C-300 would stop government funding to mining, gas and oil companies that do not adhere to human rights and environmental standards in other countries.