Homero Gómez González facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Homero Gómez González
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Municipal president of El Rosario | |
| Succeeded by | Miguel Angel Cruz |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1970 |
| Died | January 2020 (aged 50) Ocampo, Michoacán, Mexico |
| Residences | El Rosario, Michoacán, Mexico |
| Alma mater | Chapingo Autonomous University |
| Occupation | Environmental activist, agricultural engineer, politician |
Homero Gómez González (born around 1970 – died January 2020) was a brave Mexican environmental activist. He was also an agricultural engineer and a politician. Homero Gómez was best known for managing the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve. This special place is part of the larger Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve. He also served as the leader, or municipal president, of El Rosario in Michoacán, Mexico.
Contents
Homero Gómez González: A Champion for Butterflies
Homero Gómez González was a true hero for nature. He worked tirelessly to protect the amazing monarch butterfly and its home in Mexico. His efforts helped save millions of butterflies that travel thousands of miles each year.
His Early Life and Career
Homero Gómez grew up in a town called El Rosario, in Michoacán. His family had been involved in logging (cutting down trees) for a long time. Homero himself was a logger at first. However, he later became a strong voice for the environment.
He worried that stopping logging would make people poor. So, he went to Chapingo Autonomous University and became an agricultural engineer. This helped him understand how to grow things and manage land.
From Logger to Protector
By the early 2000s, Homero Gómez saw how much damage deforestation (cutting down too many trees) was causing. He decided to stop logging and convinced many others to do the same. Today, logging is against the law in the Rosario area.
Homero realized that tourism could help his community. He came up with the idea of a butterfly sanctuary. He worked with groups like the World Wildlife Fund and scientists.
Protecting the Monarchs
Homero Gómez became the manager and main spokesperson for the El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Preserve. This preserve is a very important part of the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve.
He used social media to share beautiful pictures of monarch butterflies. He was a very important activist for these insects. He worked hard to keep illegal loggers out of the reserve. He also organized marches, protests, and patrols to stop illegal tree cutting.
Homero worked with the government to give local farmers more money for protecting trees. He managed a huge area of land (150 hectares) that had been replanted with trees. He also encouraged 260 local landowners to reforest their corn fields. He was a representative for the ejido, which is a type of community land ownership, in El Rosario.
His Family Life
Homero Gómez lived in Ocampo, Michoacán, with his wife, Rebeca Valencia González. They had at least one son.
His Disappearance and Sad Passing
Homero Gómez was last seen on January 13, 2020, at a meeting. His family reported him missing the next day. They received calls from people asking for money, which his family paid. Many volunteers helped search for him.
More than two weeks later, his body was found in a water reservoir in Ocampo. He was 50 years old. Because of his important work against illegal logging, some people thought he might have been targeted by criminal groups. Another activist from the butterfly sanctuary, Raúl Hernández Romero, was also found dead a few days later.
However, officials initially said there were no signs of violence on Homero's body. Later, an autopsy showed he had a head injury before he drowned. Police found money on his body, so robbery did not seem to be the reason for his death.
It is still not known if the deaths of Homero Gómez and Raúl Hernández Romero are connected.
Reactions to His Death
Many people were very sad about Homero Gómez's death. The governor of Michoacán, Silvano Aureoles Conejo, and the Mexican President, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, both expressed their sorrow.
Poet and environmentalist Homero Aridjis wondered who would protect Mexico's environment if activists could be harmed. Leaders from the World Heritage Centre and the Man and the Biosphere Programme also shared their sadness.
In Germany, a special flower field was named "González Romero Blühwiesenkorridor" to honor both Homero Gómez and Raúl Hernández Romero. Their deaths led to many calls for better protection for environmental defenders around the world.
See also
In Spanish: Homero Gómez González para niños
