MEXICO CITY — The body of a Mexican conservationist devoted to the protection of the monarch butterfly in Mexico was found on Wednesday, two weeks after he went missing, the authorities said. Homero Gómez González managed a butterfly sanctuary in the state of Michoacán, a violence-ravaged region but also the location of mountain forests where the butterflies settle every winter following a long and extraordinary migration from Canada and the United States. Mr. Gómez’s disappearance was reported on Jan. 14, spurring a robust search involving several government agencies. The circumstances of his disappearance and death remain unclear, though an official with Michoacán’s human rights commission told Reuters in the days after he vanished that he may have run afoul of illegal loggers working in the area. Criminal groups in Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America have often threatened or attacked environmentalists whose work impedes their interests.

Source: New York Times January 30, 2020 01:52 UTC