The company has now been forced by a legal order to cease their operations due to the fact that there is strong evidence that Blackfire was involved in the murder of Don Mariano Abarca, from Chicomuselo, a important leader of the struggle.

The murder took place in November, 2009, and the victim had been previously chosen. Don Mariano had been the voice of the resistance movement, denouncing to the Mexican Congress itself the attacks of the company against his community and other places near the border with Guatemala, another country which suffers the devastating effects of mining.

Before murdering Abarca they tried with threats, bribes, and criminal cases against him that caused Don Mariano to spend some time in prison. But they couldn´t undermine his struggle.

The material authors of the murder have been prosecuted already. They work for Blackfire. Don Mariano´s son, Jose Luis, lawyer, said to Real World Radio that “only the company could have paid for this murder”. The Mexican authorities are now investigating who the intellectual author of the murder was. In fact, a delegation of Canadian organizations, unions and journalists is expected to arrive to Chicomuselo, in the framework of a tour organized by the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA).

José Luis also talked about the negative effects caused by the arrival of mining to the region, violating environmental and human rights. “The situation gets worse with the arrival of heavy trucks with toxic products that poison schools, homes and cattle”, said Jose Luis Abarca.