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 Editorials | Environmental | September 2005 
Environmental Activist Released From Prison
 Natalia Parra - El Universal
Acapulco - A judge in Guerrero on Thursday ruled there was insufficient evidence and dismissed all charges against a Mexican environmentalist whose dubious imprisonment for murder sparked international outcry.
In the resort city of Zihuatanejo, Judge Ricardo Salinas freed Felipe Arreaga, who was arrested last year on what his supporters say was falsified evidence linking him to the killing of a rancher's son, Abel Bautista, on May 30, 1998.
The decision was met with cheers from Celsa Valdovinos, Arreaga's wife and the head of his defense team, as well as about 20 of his friends and family members, who had gathered in the court room.
Eduardo Murueta, attorney general for Guerrero state, said Arreaga left the Zihuatanejo prison where he had been held around 5 p.m.
"I'm not resentful, I don't have any enemies," he told reporters. "My fight is for the forests and so that there's never a lack of water."
A member of the Organization of Peasant Ecologists, Arreaga was a leading anti-logging activist in Guerrero, which includes Zihuatanejo and Acapulco, 180 miles (290 kilometers) south of Mexico City.
The evidence in his case was examined anew at the urging of new Guerrero Gov. Zeferino Torreblanca who took office April 1.
Last month, the U.S. group the Sierra Club awarded Arreaga, his wife and Albertano Peñalosa, who was injured in a recent ambush that killed two of his sons, for risking their lives and liberty to battle rampant logging in the mountains of Guerrero.
Environmentalists around the globe said Arreaga's arrest was little more than a smear campaign against anti-logging efforts.
In a statement, the Washington Office on Latin America applauded the ruling, but called it "only a first step toward resolving a situation in which grave human rights violations are being committed against those defending the environment in Guerrero."
It called on Torreblanca to ensure Salinas' ruling is not appealed, guarantee the continuing safety of Arreaga and his family and direct authorities to exonerate 14 other members of the Organization of Peasant Ecologists, who are facing arrest warrants in the same slaying. |
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