Isidro Baldenegro López

Isidro Baldenegro López was a subsistence farmer and community leader of the Indigenous Tarahumara (Rarámuri) people in the Sierra Madre of Chihuahua, Mexico. As a child he saw his father, Julio, killed for opposing logging; Sierra magazine reports that no one was arrested for that killing.

In 1993 he started a non-violent grassroots movement against logging. Sit-ins and marches in 2002 led the government to suspend logging temporarily, and in 2003 a large human blockade, joined mostly by women whose husbands had been murdered, led to a court order banning logging in the area, according to the Goldman Environmental Prize. After the blockade he was jailed on arms and drugs charges that were later shown to be false; Amnesty International named him a prisoner of conscience, and he was released in June 2004 after 15 months.

Illegal logging and deforestation of old-growth forests in the Sierra Madre; Indigenous land rights

He received the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2005 for his non-violent campaign to protect ancient forests. The court-ordered halt to logging that his community's blockade helped secure is the most concrete documented outcome of his campaigning.

Confirmed killing

On 15 January 2017 Isidro Baldenegro López was shot several times at a relative's home in Coloradas de la Virgen, in the municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo, Chihuahua; he had returned to visit a sick relative after a long period away because of threats (CNDH; Human Rights Defenders Memorial). He died of his wounds in the early hours of the following day (Sierra). Chihuahua state prosecutors said they had identified a suspect, a 25-year-old man, and were searching for him; a motive was not officially established. We were unable to confirm from reliable sources whether anyone has since been convicted. The CNDH and the UN Human Rights Office in Mexico called for the killing to be clarified and punished.

We use careful labels for deaths connected with environmental defence. How we classify them.

His death prompted a joint statement from Mexico's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) and the UN Human Rights Office in Mexico calling for protection of defenders in Coloradas de la Virgen and for the killing to be clarified and punished. His case is frequently cited in reporting on the dangers facing Indigenous forest defenders in Mexico.

1. 1986His father, Julio Baldenegro, is killed for opposing illegal logging.
2. 1993Starts a non-violent grassroots movement against logging.
3. 2002Sit-ins and marches lead to a temporary suspension of logging.
4. 2003Human blockade leads to a court order banning logging; he is jailed on charges later shown to be false.
5. 2004Released in June after 15 months; Amnesty International had named him a prisoner of conscience.
6. 2005Receives the Goldman Environmental Prize.
7. 2017Shot dead in Coloradas de la Virgen on 15 January.