Antonio Díaz Valencia and Ricardo Lagunes. Composite: Suppied.  

México currently rates, the Guardian notes, “as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for environmental and land rights defenders.” Both criminal groups and corrupt government officials “threaten and attack communities with almost total impunity.” The international watchdog group Global Witness, in a 2021 tally, found 54 land rights defenders murdered and 19 others disappeared. Guardian correspondents Analy Nuño and Nina Lakhani have just covered the latest deadly assault. We excerpt their reporting here.

Relatives of two missing Mexican environmentalists are pointing the finger at a transnational mining company which they claim is responsible for environmental destruction and violence in the rural community and may have links to the criminals who abducted their loved ones.

Ricardo Arturo Lagunes Gasca, a renowned human rights lawyer, and Antonio Díaz Valencia, leader of the Aquila Indigenous community in the state of Michoacán, were last seen on Sunday evening after attending an anti-mining community meeting.

According to witnesses, the two activists were threatened and followed by several men in cars and motorbikes after they left the meeting in Aquila. Lagunes, 41, and Díaz, 71, were traveling in a white Honda pickup truck that was later found abandoned on the side of a highway riddled with bullets but no blood.

“The hitmen were waiting for the right moment. They had threatened the teacher [Díaz] and the lawyer [Lagunes] in the past, and told us that there were five of us on their list. The hitmen were there watching on Sunday, they followed them on motorcycles and in cars and took them away,” said Miguel Jiménez a community member.

The sister of the missing lawyer said: “We want to emphasize the possible responsibility of the mining company Ternium in ensuring that my brother Ricardo Lagunes and Professor Antonio Díaz reappear alive.

“The company is one of the most powerful actors in the region, and its operations have not only affected the environment but also the social fabric, generating conflicts and violence. The company has relations with different local groups and possibly with the perpetrators of this disappearance. We call for a full investigation, and for the company to support us to find my brother and Antonio alive,” said Lucía Lagunes Gasca...

Despite the conflicts and violence, anti-mining community activists have vowed to continue their struggle amid a surge in childhood diseases, water shortages, land erosion and deforestation. Jiménez said: “We are scared in this struggle, with fear that at any time another of us could be next. We need the government to get our colleagues back, otherwise the community groups will have to act.”