Homero Gómez González

Homero Gómez González grew up in El Rosario in western Michoacán.[2] He came from a logging family and was a logger before becoming an environmental and anti-logging activist. He was a skeptic of conservation efforts, fearful that ending logging activities would lead to poverty.[3] He studied at Chapingo Autonomous University and became an agricultural engineer.[4] Gómez later saw the potential for tourism and formulated the idea of a sanctuary. He collaborated with conservationists at the World Wildlife Fund and scientists.[3]

By the early 2000s, Gómez stopped logging and convinced others when the impacts of deforestation became apparent. Logging is now illegal in Rosario.[5] He became the municipal president and commissioner of El Rosario and was succeeded by Miguel Angel Cruz.[3][5] Gómez managed and served as spokesperson of the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve, a component of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.[3][6][7]

He used social media to share images of monarch butterflies.[3] Gómez was a prominent butterfly activist. He led efforts to keep loggers out of the reserve and organized marches, demonstrations, and anti-logging patrols.[8] He worked with the government to increase the stipend local farmers could receive for preserving trees. Gómez managed 150 hectares of reforested land. He encouraged 260 communal land owners to reforest corn fields.[8] He was a representative of the ejido in El Rosario.[9]

Gómez resided in Ocampo, Michoacán, with his wife, Rebeca Valencia González.[10] They had at least one son.[11]

Gómez was last seen alive on 13 January 2020 attending a meeting in the village of El Soldado.[12] His brother stated he was last seen on 13 January at a fair with Ocampo mayor, Roberto Arriaga Colín and other municipal officials.[13] His family reported him missing the next day.[12] They received phone calls from individuals claiming to have kidnapped him, asking for ransom payments,[3] which human rights activist Mayte Cardona said the family paid.[14] Over 200 volunteers joined the search for Gómez. The entire police force of Ocampo and Angangueo were detained for questioning.[12] More than two weeks after his disappearance, his body was found in an agricultural reservoir in Ocampo.[8] He was 50 years old at the time of his death.[1] Because of his work combating illegal logging, and because Raúl Hernández Romero—another activist connected to the butterfly sanctuary—was also found dead a few days later, it has been speculated that he was targeted by organized criminals.[12] Gloria Tavera, an official with the National Commission of Protected Natural Areas stated they believe Gómez's death was not related to his activism.[3] Michoacán state prosecutors initially found no signs of violence on the body, but a later autopsy revealed that Gómez had suffered a head injury before drowning.[15][16][17] State prosecutor, Adrián López Solís reported that robbery does not appear to be a motive as nearly US$500 (more than 10,000 pesos) in cash was found on Gómez's body.[11]

Shortly after Gómez's body was recovered, the body of Raúl Hernández Romero was found. Hernández was a tour guide at the same reserve as Gómez; it is unknown if the two deaths are connected.[11]