Environmental activist Marco Antonio Suastegui Muñoz murdered on Acapulco beach

ACAPULCO, GRO. (apro).- Three bullets fired by a lone gunman ended a man's 22-year struggle to defend the water and land of 21 Guerrero communities, which the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) has been seeking to exploit since the beginning of this century to generate electricity and supply water to the port of Acapulco.

Marco Antonio Suastegui Muñoz, leader of the Council of Ejidos and Communities Opposed to the La Parota Dam (Cecop), was killed by a man who approached him on the night of Friday, April 18, 2024, and shot him eight times on a dark street near Icacos Beach in Acapulco, where he was providing tourism services.

He lay in agony for eight days in a private hospital while security forces guarded him, already mortally wounded. He underwent two surgeries for injuries to his abdomen, chest, and neck.

At 2:20 p.m. this Friday, April 25, the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Center reported his death.

The leader was 49 years old. More than two decades of social struggle cost him three prison terms, the disappearance of his brother Vicente, and ultimately his life.

The construction of the La Parota dam by the Federal Electricity Commission was planned in 1976 with the first technical studies.

Over the years, socio-environmental, geological, and economic feasibility studies were conducted. In 2003, heavy machinery entered the communities to begin construction.

The CFE mega-project has since sought, without success, to exploit the waters of the Papagayo and Omitlán rivers, affecting five municipalities in the state.

However, the Tlachinollan Center documented that the project would flood the lands and territories of 21 communities, forcing the displacement of more than 20,000 people and impacting some 70,000 residents of the region.

A total of 17,000 hectares would be directly and indirectly affected.

The project, according to its promoters, would generate electricity for the central region of the country and guarantee the supply of drinking water for Acapulco for 50 years.

In that process, there was never adequate consultation with the communities who would be affected by the project, according to the study "Right to Territory and Consultation. La Parota Hydroelectric Project," by the Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Defense Center, published in June 2011.

Marco Antonio Suástegui Muñoz sacrificed his profession as an architect for the Acapulco Technological Institute to defend their lands and rivers alongside hundreds of other ejidatarios.

In 2003, when Marco Antonio Suástegui was 23 years old, hostilities against him began. That year, he was imprisoned by the now former PRI governor Rene Juárez Cisneros in the Las Cruces prison in Acapulco. In June 2014, during the PRD administration of Ángel Aguirre, he was imprisoned on charges of aggravated robbery against a gravel mining entrepreneur.

And during the administration of PRI member Héctor Astudillo, in January 2017, he and his brother Vicente Iván were imprisoned on charges of multiple homicide after a confrontation between community police officers from the town of La Concepción and municipal police authorities.

In all cases, Marco Antonio was declared innocent by the judges due to a lack of solid evidence.

In the early hours of January 7, 2018, in La Concepción, in the Cacahutepec Communal Property, a confrontation occurred that left members of the CECOP dead.

When reporters arrived, they found the bodies already wrapped in sheets.

Later, 200 state and ministerial police, as well as Navy and Army personnel, supported by a helicopter, surrounded 30 community police officers and residents who offered no resistance. And they massacred them.

The state government of PRI member Héctor Astudillo claimed that 11 people died and accused the detained community police officers of carrying marijuana and restricted-use weapons.

In a statement, the CRAC Community Police reported that the massacre on communal property in Cacahuatepec was a provocation to "release two dangerous criminals" who had been arrested.

One of them, Iván Soriano Leal, a former military officer, was arrested by the Community Police in La Concepción for leading a group of hitmen who were aiming to assassinate the leader of the CECOP, Marco Antonio Suástegui.

Another of their struggles was to seek food aid and rehabilitation for families and ejidatarios affected by the damage to communal property in Cacahuatepec caused by hurricanes Ingrid, Manuel, Otis, and John.

On August 5, 2021, his brother, Vicente Iván Suástegui Muñoz, was disappeared by alleged criminals, and his whereabouts remain unknown to this day. Marco Antonio led the search for his brother. He repeatedly denounced the authorities' failure to investigate and search for him.

Since 2024, she has reported threats against her on Acapulco beach, where she provided tourism services and was a representative of United Tourists in Defense of Icacos Beach.

Due to harassment following his brother's disappearance, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) granted precautionary measures to him and his family.

During the election campaign, Marco Antonio Suastegui was sought out by candidates. He supported those who promised to support the community members' struggle, although they backed out once in power, such as Ángel Aguirre, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Abelina López Rodríguez, Evelyn Salgado, and Félix Salgado Macedonio.

Local and federal authorities, activists, academics, and national and international social organizations mourned his death and demanded punishment for those responsible.

The Tlachinollan Mountain Human Rights Defense Center, which broke the news, demanded a thorough investigation and punishment for those responsible for the crime against one of the state's most prominent fighters.

Amnesty International called on the Attorney General's Office (FGE) to conduct an effective investigation, taking into account his work, and on the Federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists to urgently protect his family.

Meanwhile, the Undersecretary of Human Rights of the Ministry of the Interior, Arturo Medina Padilla, asked ministerial authorities not to rule out any line of investigation.

For its part, the Mexican office of the United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Human Rights demanded that authorities conduct a prompt, thorough, and effective investigation that takes into account Marco Antonio Suástegui's work defending land and territory.