She said she expected preliminary results in a few months if her inspectors can get there and work safely. Every time we send inspectors there, death threats are made. I have had to change my personnel there several times because of death threats. The problem is of such a magnitude that a person like Montiel becomes an expression of the broader problem. The problem is indeed far broader than Guerrero.
Deforestation affects much of Mexico.
To be sure, the major source of the deforestation is not logging but the clearing of land for farming. This was the main cause in the Lacandon forest in Chiapas state, Mexico's only tropical rain forest. In Chihuahua state, the Sierra Taruhumara region is Mexico's largest forested area. A report issued last month by researchers from the state human rights commission and the Center for Policy Studies at the University of Texas found that 411 complaints of improper use of forest resources were filed from 1996 to 1999 but that none has resulted in prosecution. To the contrary, the voracious, anarchic and corrupt exploitation of forest resources has been encouraged to satisfy the demands of the market and the interests of the companies.