• DEAD: Prosecutors confirmed they have found the body of Homero Gómez, a local leader who was known for his labor as an active protector of the monarch butterfly wintering grounds in the western state of Michoacán after him missing for two weeks.
• MICHOACAN: Known for his conservation efforts at the El Rosario butterfly sanctuary in the Angangueo municipality (pop. 11,100), Gómez was reported missing by his family on January 14. Local human rights defenders have said he received threats from illegal loggers.
• TANK: “This prosecutor’s office was notified about the finding of a lifeless body in an artesian rainwater tank for agricultural use in a site adjacent to where (Homero Gómez) was last seen”, said Adrián López, Michoacán’s state prosecutor on Wednesday, adding that autopsy results were pending.
• HERITAGE: In 2008, the UN declared Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site, covering 139,000 acres (56,000 hectares) located right in the pine-oak forests of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. Around 33,000 acres (13,000 hectares) are the reserve’s core zone.
