An environmental and indigenous rights activist has disappeared in Mexico's Oaxaca state after receiving death threats from illegal loggers in the area.

In the weeks before 36-year old Irma Galindo was last seen on 10 November in the town of Ndoyocoyo, she had reported the threats to the federal attorney for environmental protection (PROFEPA) in Oaxaca, and to the Mayor of San Esteban Atatlahuca.  There are some reports that her home had been set on fire.

"For days, my own neighbors told me they will come for me, who knows," Irma wrote on social media last month, "Anyway, I am not afraid."  On 8 November before she disappeared, she wrote of the climate of tension and violence in the area and the intention of some communities to defend the territory from the illegal loggers.

Latin America is one of the most dangerous places for earth defenders to live and work.  Criminal gangs often work hand in hand with corrupt local officials as well as agribusiness and other corporations to exploit resources in areas that are supposed to be protected, leaving earth defenders vulnerable to violence and murder. 

In the first nine months of 2019, Amnesty International has recorded the killing of at least 12 defenders of the land, territory and the environment in Mexico.  And the group Global Witness reported killings of 15 earth defenders in 2017 and 14 in 2018.