Article by PBI-Canada

On April 15, Animal Politico reported: “In the first two years of [Mexican President Andrés Manuel] López Obrador’s government, a total of 45 human rights defenders have been killed in Mexico, nearly two activists dead each month.”

That article adds: “This is documented by the All Rights for All Network (Red TDT) – made up of 85 civil society organizations in 23 states – in an annual report it presented on Thursday on the situation of human rights defenders in Mexico.”

The report published by Red TDT is titled: Seeds of Dignity and Struggle. The Situation of Defenders in Mexico 2019-2020.

Marianna Mendoza of Red TDT says: “It must be acknowledged that there is a human rights crisis in the country and that aggressions against activists have not ceased. Human rights advocacy remains a very high-risk activity in Mexico.”

The article further notes: “Of the 45 defenders killed during the time of this government, 10 were environmental activists, 6 were defenders of the land and community, and 6 others defending the rights of sexual diversity.”

It highlights that among these deaths, 11 were murdered in the state of Oaxaca, 5 in Chiapas, 5 in Chihuahua, 4 in Guerrero, and 4 in Morelos.

Animal Politico notes: “The Red TDT report highlights that there is a pattern of aggression against activists and defenders who oppose the new government’s infrastructure megaprojects and state governments. An example, the document raises, is the case of the Integral Morelos Project and the Huexca thermoelectric plant.”

“The report also recalls that activist Samir Flores, one of the fierce opponents of this project for its impact on the environment, was shot dead on February 20, 2019, while aggressions against the Peoples’ Front (FPDTA) ‘multiply day by day’.”

The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project has accompanied the Peoples’ Front in Defense of Land and Water (FPDTA) since early 2020.

To read the full article, click here.

To read the full report by Red TDT, click here.