Tarahumara Logging Opponent Freed
The Case of Isidro Baldenegro
Environmental Defenders Under Attack in Mexico
The connection between human rights violations and destruction of the environment has attracted growing international attention in recent years. One aspect of the problem is the flagrant misuse of criminal justice systems by governments that are intent on silencing those who advocate for the environment and for local people harmed by environmentally destructive projects and practices. The cases of Isidro Baldenegro, Felipe Arreaga, and Rodolfo Montiel are prime examples of this all too common abuse.
Isidro Baldenegro Imprisoned
Isidro Baldenegro is a Tarahumara Indian subsistence farmer and local leader who lives in a remote area near Mexico's Copper River canyon. The area features one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world. The Tarahumara sought refuge there long ago, but loggers and ranchers today seek lumber and the Tarahumara's land at any cost, forcing many to flee, and destroying the vast majority of the old-growth pine forest.
Baldenegro was imprisoned in Chihuahua in 2003 on trumped up criminal charges filed immediately after 
he had obtained a court injunction to halt logging of his community's forests. He had spent much of his life defending the forests in a region torn by violence, corruption and drug trafficking. As a boy, Baldenegro witnessed the murder of his father, killed for taking a similar leadership position fighting the destruction of the community's lands.
The Case
When EDLC first learned of the case from the Sierra Madre Alliance in early 2004, Baldenegro had already been in jail for nearly a year. On more than a half dozen occasions, the arresting officers in the case had defied court orders to appear and testify at trial.
Amnesty International had declared Baldenegro a "prisoner of conscience," and his situation had received some attention from the Sierra Club, but the legal case was languishing. Conversations with the local attorneys and organizations working on Baldenegro's behalf made it clear that assistance from American lawyers would be very welcome, and could be crucial in helping to obtain his release.
Isidro Baldenegro
Our territories are not recognized, logging companies invade our lands, and those involved in illegal activities control our lives.
- Isidro Baldenegro, accepting the Goldman
Environmental Prize.