Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center calls for the release of Indigenous Amuzga rights defender Kenia Hérnandez
The Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center (CDHZL) “accompanies processes of struggle of different Indigenous communities, peoples and collectives that seek a dignified life through the exercise of the demand of their human rights.” Zeferino Ladrillero is based in the municipality of Atizapán, in the state of Mexico, Mexico.
As one of fifteen member groups within the Civil Society Organizations’ Space for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC) it is accompanied by Peace Brigades International-Mexico.
Fabiola Vite is a lawyer and the national coordinator of Zeferino Ladrillero.
Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván
Fabiola Vite represents Kenia Inés Hernández Montalván.
The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) explains: “Kenia Hérnandez is a speaker of the Amuzga language, she graduated with a degree in law to defend the human rights of her community, dedicating herself to the defense of the territory in Guerrero, defending women victims of gender violence, and supporting the cause of political prisoners, for which she is co-founder of the Movement for the Freedom of Political Prisoners of Guerrero (MOLPPEG). In addition, she founded the Zapata Vive Libertarian Collective, which focused on carrying out work with young people from the Guerrero coast.”
Hérnandez is also a beneficiary of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
Hérnandez was arrested on October 18, 2020, for the alleged crime of “robbery with violence” at a demonstration at the La Hortaliza highway tollbooth. She has been held in at least three different prisons over the past 4+ years. She is now being held in the Neza Sur Prison in Nezahualcóyotl, in the state of Mexico.
Front Line Defenders has documented that Hernández was sentenced on February 19, 2022, to ten years and six months in prison. It further notes that Hernández was then sentenced on March 10, 2022, to 11 years and 3 months.
On January 27, 2025, it was reported that Hernández could be released from prison after a possible “reparation agreement” with the Federal Roads and Bridges Police (CAPUFE, an entity of the Ministry of Communications and Transportation).
The role of Aléatica
Cambio 22 has reported: “Hernández faces two convictions promoted by the OHL company, which later changed its name to Aléatica.”
Aleatica SAB de CV “is a Mexico-based company engaged in the management of transportation and airport infrastructure. The Company’s concessions portfolio comprises a number of toll roads, which interconnect the urban zones of the Federal District and the states of Mexico and Puebla. Furthermore, it is also involved in the integral management of Toluca International Airport. Aleatica SAB de CV operates in Mexico through a number of subsidiaries.”
Fabiola Vite from Zeferino Ladrillero says: “It is clear to us that, as long as there is no will from Aleatica and subsequently from CAPUFE and the Attorney General’s Office not to stop, Kenia will continue to have up to 50 cases against her.”
And José Antonio Lara Duque from Zeferino Ladrillero has denounced that an investigation of Hernández was carried out by Concesionaria Mexiquense (Conmex), operator of the Circuito Exterior Mexiquense (concessioned to OHL, now Aleatica).
US, Canadian funds invested in IFM
Empower has reported: “Aleatica, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV:ALEATIC) operates in Mexico through various subsidiaries generally associated with a concession awarded to each firm. It currently has interests in seven federal and state highways, and receives investment from U.S. and Mexican pension funds.”
Empower highlights: “IFM GIF, Aleatica’s parent company and owner of its controlling shareholder, [the Madrid-based] Magenta Infraestructura, S.L., receives investment from future U.S. retirees.”
This IFM Investors media release notes: “IFM GIF’s investors include a diverse range of pension funds and institutional investors across Australia, the United States, Canada, Asia, the United Kingdom and Europe.”
In this November 26, 2024 report, the University of Windsor (located in southern Ontario, Canada) disclosed that it had CAD $59.9 million invested with IFM. It also appears that IFM subsidiary Atlas Arteria and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP) co-own the Chicago Skyway Toll Road (“a 7.8-mile-long toll road that connects the Indiana Toll Road to the Dan Ryan Expressway on Chicago’s South Side”).
Criticism of the Sheinbaum government
As a member of Espacio OSC, Zeferino Ladrillero has also signed a letter that, as La Prensa reports, says that: “A little more than 100 days into the new government [of Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum], there is a lack of a clear strategy to address the risks faced by human rights defenders and journalists, ranging from homicides, criminalization, smear campaigns, forced displacement, judicial harassment, [and] digital violence…”
The SEMARNAT proposal for the protection of environmental defenders
Zeferino Ladrillero has also spoken about “the murders of environmental human rights defenders Homero Gómez González and Raúl Hernández Romero [in January 2020], who were working for the protection of the Monarch butterfly” and commented that “the recent measure proposed by SEMARNAT [the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources], to create a special body for the protection of environmental defenders, with the participation of the National Guard, is a reactive and insufficient measure.”
Photo: The deaths of Hernández and Gómez González have been linked to illegal logging and the illegal clearcutting associated with avocado orchards. Canada is the second largest market for avocados exported from Mexico.
The Espacio OSC collective statement issued at that time highlighted: “This proposed measure does not delve into the structural problems generated by policies in relation to megaprojects and that result in serious human rights violations. On the contrary, it is a reactive and limited measure. In addition, it is not focused on generating better conditions for the defense of human rights, but rather consolidates the militarization of territories, thus privileging a development model that prioritizes the overexploitation of natural and cultural heritage, putting these elements above the human rights of people, such as the right to land and territory. water and a healthy environment, among others.”
Militarization
In September 2022, Sociedad Noticias reported that José Antonio Lara, a member and co-founder of Zeferino Ladrillero, recalled that human rights mechanisms around the world clearly state that “the armed forces should only intervene in public security temporarily, in exceptional circumstances, as a last resort, and always under the effective supervision of independent civilian bodies.”
Photo: Since the “War on Drugs” was declared in 2006, Canada has exported $28.8 million of military goods to Mexico ($16.9 million in just the last 5 years). This includes the Newmarket, Ontario-based Terradyne-manufactured armoured vehicles used by the Saltillo Operational Reaction Group (GROMS).
To follow Zeferino Ladrillero
For more on the work of the Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Center, you can visit their website and them on Facebook, X and Instagram. We draw particular attention to their work with The Popular Front of the Mountain, the “Make My Freedom Count” and “Together for Freedom” collectives against unjust imprisonment, and the Otomi Indigenous People of San Francisco Magú (who are situated in the municipality of Nicolás Romero) and their struggle to defend their forests against real estate interests.
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