Blackfire

Joint news release with Common Frontiers, Council of Canadians, United Steelworkers, Comité pour les droits humains en Amérique latine, Atlantic Regional Solidarity Network, Sierra Club Canada, L’Entraide missionnaire, and the Social Justice Committee: A coalition of Canadian non-governmental groups today filed a memo with the RCMP asking it to investigate Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration Ltd. and its Mexican subsidiary under the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act.

Joint news release with Common Frontiers, United Steelworkers, Council of Canadians, and Sierra Club Canada: A coalition of Canadian organizations is condemning the threatened use of NAFTA by Blackfire Exploration to extract 800 million dollars from the impoverished Mexican state of Chiapas. The Calgary-based mining company is embroiled in accusations of corruption of Mexican public officials and the murder of a prominent environmental activist in the Mexican State of Chiapas.

Joint news release with Common Frontiers-Canada, the Council of Canadians, and the United Steelworkers: Documents recently filed by the Mexican Network of People Affected by Mining (REMA, from the Spanish) with the Chiapas Attorney General’s Office have exposed Blackfire’s involvement in the corruption of local officials for the purpose of intimidating opponents to the company's open pit barite mine. “We have obtained documents – which Blackfire admits are genuine – that clearly show payments of US$1,000 a month going directly into the Mayor of Chicomuselo’s bank account on the understanding that municipal authorities would keep community members opposed to the mine under control,” explained Rick Arnold, coordinator for Common Frontiers-Canada.

Joint news release with the Council of Canadians: The night of November 27th, Mariano Abarca Roblero, an activist against mining in Chicomuselo, Chiapas, was murdered. Mr. Abarca was an important member of the community who had suffered threats, prison and violence due to his opposition to the mining activities of Calgary-based Blackfire Exploration.

The night of November 27th, Mariano Abarca Roblero, an activist against mining in Chicomuselo, Chiapas, was murdered. Mr. Abarca was an important member of the community who had suffered threats, prison and violence due to his opposition to the environmentally harmful mining activities of Blackfire Exploration. Please use the draft letter below to send your own letter calling on the government of Chiapas to investigate this murder, protect all other activists, and suspend Blackfire Exploration’s mining permits.

Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, August 26th. - After eight days of detention, the State Judicial System's Attorney General's Office (PGJE, for its Spanish acronym) freed activist Mariano Abarca Roblero, who was accused by Canadian corporation Blackfire Exploration Ltd of affecting the company's economic interests, due to the highway blockades led by Abarca Roblero.

[Update (August 19, 2009): Mariano Abarca is safe and sound. Thank you to all who responded to the urgent action.] On Monday, August 17, 2009 at 12 noon, Mariano Abarca was kidnapped by armed individuals in unmarked cars as he left a primary public school at the municipal capital of Chicomuselo, Chiapas, Mexico. Mr. Abarca and other members of the community were preparing to host a meeting of the Network of Mexican Communities Affected by Mining (REMA), to be held on August 29 and 30. The meeting will bring together communities affected by mining corporations in Chiapas and throughout Mexico.