In this week’s edition of Earth Minute on the Sojourner Truth Radio Show, GJEP Executive Director Anne Petermann discussed Ildefonso Zamora, a leader of the “guardian of the forests” movement in Mexico.
Organizations are demanding the immediate release of activist Ildefonso Zamora, a leader of the “guardian of the forests” movement in Mexico. The groups assert that his arrest is due to his 20 years of campaigning to stop illegal logging.
Activist Erika Guevara-Rosas states, “Ildefonso Zamora is being punished for speaking out against the damage being done to his community’s territory and environment. Protecting the environment and defending human rights are not crimes.”
In 2004 Zamora gave video and photographic evidence of the illegal logging to Mexican officials. Two years later arrest warrants were issued for the loggers involved. In 2007, a group of men shot and killed Zamora’s son Aldo and wounded his son Misael. While the assailants were arrested, they were never tried.
Speaking from prison, Zamora said, “I work to stop illegal logging, and that has cost me dearly: my son’s life and my freedom. I want to continue working for my community because illegal logging is destroying large parts of the planet earth.”
For the Earth Minute and the Sojourner Truth show, this is Anne Petermann, from Global Justice Ecology Project.
The Earth Minute segment begins at about the 25:06 mark. Listen to Earth Minute on the Sojourner Truth Show on KPFK Radio.
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