Crime campaigner killed in Mexico

Murdered Benjamin LeBaron had campaigned against crime

An anti-crime activist and his brother-in-law have been murdered in a village in northern Mexico.

Benjamin LeBaron, 32 and Luis Widmar, 29, were beaten and shot after armed men stormed into their house in Galeana in Chihuahua state on Tuesday.

Public safety groups said Mr LeBaron had been killed in retaliation for his stance against organised crime.

He led protests against the kidnapping in May of his brother Eric, who was released without a ransom being paid.

Mr LeBaron, who was a US citizen, continued to lead protests demanding more law enforcement in the rural area, and police and the army increased their presence.

Retribution

Last month soldiers detained 25 suspected hitmen from a drug cartel in a neighbouring town.

Reports indicate that a message left with the bodies of the two men said the killings were retribution for the capture of those suspects.

It is essential that those responsible ... be punished Mexico United Against Crime

The murdered men belonged to Colonia LeBaron, a community founded in the first half of the 20th Century by breakaway Mormons after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the US starting cracking down on polygamy.

Nowadays few of the families still practice polygamy, and some are no longer active Mormons.

Mexico reacted to the killings with outrage. On Wednesday Congress called for a minute of silence, television commentators demanded justice and activists pledged to step up their fight against crime despite persistent threats.

"It is essential that those responsible... be punished," the non-governmental group Mexico United Against Crime said in a statement.

"We cannot allow organized crime to intimidate, threaten and kill those brave enough to denounce them."

The lower house of Congress held a minute of silence and proposed a resolution condemning the killings.