Today the Organism of Judicial Investigation (OIJ) and the district attorney’s office affirmed that the murder of ecologist was because of an assault in an attempt to rob his belongings.
Two months after the murder of the environmentalist Jairo Mora, six suspects implicated in the crime were detained by OIJ.
The suspects, for men and two women linked to contraband turtle sets, were captured in downtown Limon and in Guapiles after several telephone interventions and raids.
The motive was an assault according to evidence collected, assured the director OIJ, but in addition they verified a context that indicated that the tense environment of guarding the nests of turtles eggs propitiated the murder of the environmentalist within the situation.
The non-governmental organization (NGO), Wide Cast, fir which Mora worked, had come to two agreements with the “hueveros” (egg hunters). The first one consisted of designating a fund to pay an amount around $300 per month to people rescuing the nests. When the amount of eggs surpassed the organization’s ability to pay for the eggs’ protection, they came to a second agreement.
This second agreement was that whoever got to the nests first had a right to them. The “hueveros” obtained a microbus to track the nests, which put the NGO at a disadvantage to literally compete to preserve the turtles.
Facing these conditions, Mora had resorted to denouncing the egg trafficking several times to the Public Force, which had generated the clear annoyance of people who benefit from the turtle eggs black market.
The suspects are also linked to the assault of a couple with two children on May 18 in a nearby area, during which the man was beat up and the woman raped.
“Due to the lack of vigilance that exists, they have to come to this type of agreement with people that commit unlawful acts to protect wildlife,” explained the director of OIJ.
The attorney general, Jorge Chavarría, assured that evidence archive that they have will allow them to take the case to trial.
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