JALAPA, Mexico – A Mexican man who doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire as a political protest has died.
Hospital director Meliton Toledo says 65-year-old Ramiro Guillen Tapia died Wednesday of heart failure after suffering third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body.
Tapia was the leader of a farmers' group seeking government mediation in a dispute over 620 acres of land in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz.
He set himself ablaze Tuesday in the state capital of Jalapa, outside the office of Gov. Fidel Herrera.
Tapia told reporters beforehand that Herrera had refused to meet with his group and canceled more than 100 appointments in the last four years.
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