Enrique Torres, leader of ejidatarios (communal farmers) who led protests against mining operations last year in Huizopa [2], Chihuahua [3], was arrested by state police May 24. He is charged with illegally blockading operations of the Minera Dolores company. The arrest comes days after the company gave six houses to relocated families, as well as 45,000 pesos (approx. $3,400) for a church and 50,000 for a community baseball team. Torres, minutes before his arrest, told El Diaro newspaper that more than half the Huizopa ejidatarios (120 of 220) rejected the deal with the company. (El Diario [4], Ciudad Juárez, May 25)
See our last posts on Mexico [5] and the mineral cartel in Latin America [6].
