An award-winning Indigenous environmental activist who fought against deforestation in Mexico has been shot and killed.  It highlights the dangers faced by earth defenders in Central America, and echoes two previous killings.

Isidro Baldenegro Lopez was a leader of the Tarahumara people who live among the jagged peaks of the western Sierra Madre.  The 51-year old picked up where his father left off after he was assassinated in 1986, fighting to protect the region's old growth Pine-Oak forests from logging companies who are allied with local narcotics gangs and other organized crime strongmen.  For this, Baldenegro was awarded the 2005 Goldman Prize.

Goldman Environmental Foundation president Susan Gelman said Baldenegro Lopez "was a fearless leader and a source of inspiration to so many people fighting to protect our environment and indigenous peoples' rights.  Our hearts go out to Isidro's family, friends, and colleagues around the world during this difficult time."

Death threats forced Mr. Baldenegro to live outside his community in the remote southern part of Chihuahua State.  He was visiting an uncle in Coloradas de la Virgen village on Sunday when a gunman fired six shots, killing him.  Prosecutors claim they don't know the motive, however, witnesses say the murder suspects are linked with known assassins of other Indigenous environmental activists in the region.  Four other activists have been killed in the last year.

The murder of Mr. Baldenegro comes less than a year after the killing of his fellow Goldman Prize laureate Berta Caceres, the Honduran Indigenous activist who was shot and killed in her home amid her campaign to stop the construction of a hydroelectric dam that threatened to harm lands belonging to her native Lenca people.  Although some suspects were arrested, her family and fellow activists accuse Honduran authorities of dragging their feet.