- Three forest rangers were shot dead and a fourth injured near the slopes of the Iztaxihuatl volcano in central Mexico.
- The incident occurred while the rangers were carrying out their mission, and the attackers appear to be illegal loggers.
- The area around the volcano has been targeted by loggers and there have been previous incidents of violence against environmental activists.
Illegal logging suspects shot dead three forest guards on patrol and injured a fourth near the slopes of the Iztaxihuatl volcano in central Mexico.
Police in the central state of Puebla, east of Mexico City, said late Sunday that the killing occurred earlier in the day. Police said the injured man was being treated at a hospital.
Police said the four men were “performing forest guard duties” when they were shot. Mexico does not have a national forestry agency, so farmers from local collective farms often conduct patrols to protect local forests and combat forest fires and logging.
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Police said the attackers were “presumed to be illegal loggers” and a manhunt was underway.
The Iztaxihuatl volcano is visible from Ixta Popo National Park in the state of Puebla in central Mexico. Illegal logging suspects shot dead three forest guards on patrol near the volcano’s slopes and injured a fourth. (Ronaldo Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)
Loggers have long targeted the forested lower slopes of the Iztaxihuatl volcano, not far from the active Popocatepetl volcano.
Last year, Mexican researcher and environmental activist Alvaro Arviz was hacked to death at the environmental education center where he worked near Iztaxihuatl. His colleagues said the killing appeared to be in retaliation for his efforts to protect forests and water resources in the mountains surrounding Mexico City.
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And in early 2023, indigenous anti-logging activist Alfredo Cisneros was shot and killed in the Purépecha indigenous village of Chiquicho in the violent western state of Michoacán.
Cisneros was a local leader, anti-logging activist, and member of the local land council. Indigenous communities in Michoacán have long fought against mining and illegal logging that targets the region’s pine and fir forests. Loggers often cut down trees to make way for avocados, Michoacán’s highly lucrative export crop.
In 2021, Mexico was named the world’s deadliest country for environmental and land defenders in the non-governmental organization Global Witness’ annual report. That same year, around 200 activists were killed around the world, 54 of them in Mexico.
