Justice and Human Rights Mexico Project #54892

Support families fighting torture in Mexico

by Centro de Derechos Humanos Fray Bartolome de Las Casas, A.C. (Frayba)

Support families fighting torture in Mexico

Project Report | Jan 23, 2026
Experiences that are not only in the memory

By Nora Gonzalez | Fundraising area

2025 has been a challenging year due to the ongoing violence and insecurity in Chiapas, which has placed our work and our team at risk. Despite this, the solidarity and support we received have strengthened our hope and commitment.

At the same time, the year brought important achievements in the defense of human rights. We secured the release of two Zapatista support base members who were unjustly imprisoned; we carried out advocacy actions that ensured respect for the autonomy of the Zapatista community of Belén, whose territory had been threatened and violently invaded; progress was made in the reparation commitments ordered in the ruling on the case of the forced disappearance of Antonio González Méndez; and we celebrate the freedom of our five brothers from San Juan Cancuc, who had been unjustly imprisoned for three years and five months.

We close the year with the hope we learn from the peoples

We are deeply grateful to all who walk alongside the peoples and support this work.

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Oct 6, 2025
Stop Torture in Mexico

By Nora Gonzalez | Fundraising area

Encuentro Familias Unidas contra la Tortura

Dear friend:

In Chiapas, torture continues to be a systematic practice used by the State to fabricate guilt, repress, and punish especially targeting Indigenous peoples and peasant families. Through arbitrary detentions, physical and psychological violence, intimidation, threats, and the simulation of judicial processes, the justice system perpetuates pain and impunity.

Within the framework of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, we gathered with members of the organization Families United Against Torture and in Defense of Human Rights in San Cristóbal de Las Casas to reaffirm our commitment to sustain the collective struggle for justice and truth in the face of a State that has normalized impunity and violence against Indigenous people in Chiapas.

Cases such as those of Rigoberto Vázquez Méndez, the brothers Freddy and Jeison Martínez Jiménez, Yonny Ronay Chacón González, Pedro Pérez Jiménez, Versaín Velasco García, Jorge López Montoya, and Francisco Espinosa Hidalgo show that in Chiapas, torture and crimes against humanity are used as systemic tools to control, punish, degrade, and silence. In response, resistance has names and faces: mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, friends, and entire communities who refuse to let injustice become oblivion.

They are also the victims who have survived horror and now raise their voices to demand reparation, justice, and truth. We invite all individuals, communities, collectives, and organizations to join this urgent and vital cause. We cannot and must not remain silent. We believe in the power of the collective. Torture is a crime of the State. Impunity must not be the norm. Memory is our resistance, solidarity is our strength.

¡Ya BASTA!

¡ALTO A LA TORTURA!

#FamiliasUnidas

#LibertadYonny

#Libertad Freddy

#LibertadJeison

#JusticiaRigoberto

#LibertadyJusticia

Links:

Pronunciamiento conjunto

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Jun 9, 2025
Justice for Don Francisco: fighting torture

By Nora Gonzalez | Fundraising area

Don Francisco is 75 years old, he’s a Tsotsil land defender.

He was a victim of torture, arbitrary detention, and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by ministerial agents of the Attorney General's Office of the State of Chiapas.

He was arbitrarily deprived of his liberty for three years and four months.
As a result of the torture and imprisonment, he currently suffers from serious health problems, including Parkinson's disease, diabetes, hypertension, and progressive loss of vision and hearing.

Don Francisco's Story
Don Francisco was arrested on May 29, 2015, a block away from his home in Chiapas, when he was on his way to his milpa.

He was beaten, handcuffed, and arrested. Subsequently, he was taken to the Prosecutor's Office and interrogated about the organization to which he belonged. During the interrogation, he was subjected to severe torture. After being transferred to El Amate prison, Don Francisco did not receive medical attention, nor was he allowed access to medication. He was subsequently charged with the crime of aggravated robbery. During his trial, his due process rights were violated, including the lack of an adequate defense.

After being released for a crime he did not commit, in 2018 Don Francisco filed a complaint for torture, which was upheld by the State Human Rights Commission.

Eight years later, in 2025, the initial hearing was held, in which the Control Judge ordered the trial of the two police officers involved and imposed precautionary measures for the crime of torture. However, the two perpetrators continue to evade their legal responsibility, trying to justify and legitimize the acts of torture.

Today, with your tireless support, we continue in the struggle for justice for Don Francisco.
We demand that the judge maintain the indictment and the precautionary measures against one of the aggressors, and that the legal process continues until the persons responsible for the crime of torture are sentenced.

We say no to impunity! We will continue to accompany Don Francisco and his family in their search for justice and the eradication of torture in Mexico.

You are also part of this struggle, thanks to the support you give to Frayba.

Links:

Justicia para Don Francisco: sobreviviente de tortura

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