PBI-Mexico amplifies Red Solidaria DH concern about disappeared environmental defender José Gabriel Pelayo Zalgado
Photo: Heriberto Paredes/ Pie de Página.
PBI-Mexico has posted on Facebook:
“The Human Rights Solidarity Network draws attention to the situation of insecurity in the community of Coahuayula, community of human rights defender José Gabriel Pelayo Zalgado, missing since March 19, 2024, and whose family is accompanied in the process of accessing justice by the Human Rights Solidarity Network. The population of Coahuayula is at high risk due to violence caused by the presence of criminal groups in the territory. From Peace Brigades International we join this concern to ensure the safety and protection of human rights defenders fighting to defend their territory against mining.”
On January 21, Changoonga.com reported: “Relatives of environmentalist José Gabriel Pelayo Zalgado demand his return alive, pointing out that there is no progress in the investigations. Gabriel Pelayo is a founding activist of the Popular Council of Chinicuila, an organization that defends land dispossession and was last seen in Coacolmán on March 19, 2024. …Yulissa Pelayo confessed that both she and the rest of her relatives feel constantly threatened, after the event with the environmentalist.”
Animal Politico has reported that Pelayo was threatened by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) before being disappeared in Michoacán.
Cambio de Michoacán adds: “Almost a year after his disappearance, the collective Buscando a Pelayo [Searching for Pelayo] held a press conference to demand the location alive of rural teacher and environmentalist José Gabriel Pelayo Salgado… The activists denounced the systematic violence faced by communities in the Sierra Costa region of Michoacán, affected by armed groups that they claim operate with impunity.”
That article further notes: “The acts of insecurity, [the Buscando a Pelayo collective said at the press conference] are taken advantage of by companies for extractivist purposes, such as mining companies that operate in the area, which generates a context of dispossession and forced displacement.”
Canadian mining in Michoacán
In October 2024, El Pais reported: “The indigenous peoples of Michoacán have faced collusion between companies, organized crime and the government, according to the organization Peace Brigades International (PBI), organizer of the meeting in Madrid in which [María Eugenia Gabriel Ruiz is an Indigenous Purhépecha lawyer and member of the Human Rights Solidarity Network] participated.”
Official figures from a report published in 2018 lists addresses in Canada for five of the six foreign mining companies operating in Michoacán. The sixth company listed in that report is also Canadian.
Accompaniment
The Human Rights Solidarity Network (Red Solidaria DH) is accompanied by the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project.
Further reading: “Chinicuila, asedio de la minería y el crimen Organizado” by Gilbert Gil Yáñez (15dias.com, April 2024).
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