Attacks on human rights defenders and journalists on the rise.
While last year the perpetrators were identified as being part of organised crime, in 2025, the main aggressors are unknown actors and state actors
While the governor of Chiapas, Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar, boasts that it is the “second safest state in the country,” attacks against human rights defenders, journalists, and activists have increased by 29% so far in 2025, according to a report prepared by the Observatory of Human Rights Defenders in Chiapas (OHRD)
Last Friday (31 October), OHRD released a report documenting 79 attacks against human rights activists and journalists that occurred in the southern Mexican state during the first half of 2025. According to the organisation, the data is alarming because, compared to the same period in 2024, it shows a clear upward trend in violence against human rights activists.
The records of the OHRD demonstrate that the documented types of attacks aim to obstruct or halt human rights activists’ work in Chiapas, as evidenced by the pattern of violence and harassment recorded. Among the documented cases, 85% were direct attacks on activists and journalists, and only 15% were related to contextual risks. Of all the violence, 62% was physical attacks and 38% was digital.
The most frequent types of aggression include intimidation, defamation, surveillance, criminalisation, verbal abuse, and abuse of power. Digital attacks manifested as hateful, aggressive, intimidating, or sexually explicit messages.
Click here to read the complete, original article by ~ Aldo Santiago, Avispa Midia ~ on Freedom News UK
Source: Freedom News UK
