Heras Cruz was shot to death near the town of Jamiltepec, Oaxaca, near Puerto Escondido. The office said that seven rights activists were killed in Mexico in 2020, and the lack of punishment makes activists more vulnerable. 

“The perception that the defense of human rights or the defence of land can be weakened by killing them (activists), is strengthened every time a killing goes unpunished,” the UN human rights representative, Guillermo Fernandez-Maldonado, wrote in a statement. 

Heras Cruz had also reportedly opposed gravel, rock and sand extraction from the river bed, a lucrative but damaging industry. 

In September, Mireya Rodriguez Lemus was found dead with marks of violence in the northern state of Chihuahua. Rodriguez Lemus was a founder of a transgender advocacy group and a promoter of AIDS education and prevention campaigns.

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