Mexican Activist Gunned Down

In a story which has received very little attention in the English-speaking press and Internet, Armando Villareal Martha, a rural Mexican farmer and activist was assassinated last month in the town of Nueva Casas Grande in the northern state of Chihuahua. He was an important figure in Mexican agropolitics, leading several demonstrations and strikes protesting high prices for electricity for farmers and campaigning for modifications to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which would benefit smaller farmers. It is another instance of rising violence in Chihuahua, much of it drug-related. The killers are still at large, and it's difficult to guess which institution may have ordered the killing, as Villarreal had antagonized several powerful entities in the course of his protests. All in all, the whole episode is a sad commentary on the current state of Mexican politics: less than one hundred years after a successful revolution based on land reform, poor farmers who work for fair treatment are gunned down in the street. Hopefully the government will make a concerted effort to find and punish those responsible.