The Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project is one of fourteen organizations participating in the Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC).
Following the killing of Jalisco cartel leader El Mencho, Espacio OSC posted on social media: “In light of the violence recorded since yesterday in various federal entities, organizations are documenting and supporting risk situations for #human rights defenders and journalists. To contact and activate support: @article19mxca @prensacimac @RedDefensorasMx.”
On the day that El Mencho was killed, Article 19, which is a member of the Espacio OSC, documented: “8 attacks against the press during today’s day of blockades and violent incidents in various states of Mexico. The attacks committed in Guanajuato (2), Jalisco (2), Tamaulipas (2), Michoacán (1), and Sinaloa (1) are linked to organized crime groups or unidentified individuals. One additional attack, which occurred in Nayarit, is currently in the process of being documented.”
A “more normalized” situation
On February 23, Cameron MacKay, the Canadian ambassador to Mexico, told CBC News: “We’re absolutely going in the right direction of stabilization after yesterday’s obviously very dramatic events.”
And yesterday, February 24, Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand stated: “The long and the short of it is the situation is becoming more normalized. We should continue to see this trajectory unfolding. The situation needs to be closely monitored as we are doing with our consular officials on the ground in Mexico.”
40 human rights defenders killed in 2025
La Jornada quoted Amnesty International Mexico stating: “These events occur in a context where human rights defenders, journalists and women searchers face alarming levels of aggressions, disappearances and murders.”
This week the National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations ‘All Rights for All’ (Red TDT), which is also a member of Espacio OSC, stated that 40 human rights defenders had been killed in 2025.
Red TDT further noted that 12 of those killed were searchers searching for their missing relatives. They noted that most of the cases of those killed happened in Jalisco, Guerrero, Oaxaca and Michoacán.
Espacio OSC has also documented that 205 human rights defenders and journalists have been killed in Mexico between 2016 and 2025.
Canada in Mexico
The context also includes the abduction on January 23 of ten Mexican national employees of the Vancouver-based Vizsla Silver Corp. Panuco mining project in Sinaloa. By February 9, five of those workers were identified among ten bodies found in a clandestine grave in a community near the mine.
Less than a week after that a “Team Canada Trade Mission” with more than 370 delegates, including two cabinet ministers, began in Mexico City. And only two days after the trade mission visited Monterrey and Guadalajara, Global Affairs Canada advised Canadians to “exercise a high degree of caution” in those states.
After the killing of the workers at the Canadian mine in Sinaloa, Agence France-Presse reported: “[The Canadian minister responsible for North American trade, Dominic] LeBlanc said that security should be a priority and announced that the Canadian Royal Mounted Police plans to double the number of officials who work in the Canadian Embassy in Mexico this year.”
But The Los Angeles Times also reported on insecurity for communities and environmental defenders. It noted: “The mine workers’ disappearance in late January brought more troops into the mountains as they searched by air and on the ground for signs of them. …Roque Vargas, a human rights activist for people displaced by violence in the area, said that ‘all of the hubbub has scattered the organized crime guys’ but he worries they could return. He and others are also concerned about being mistaken for bad guys and attacked by security forces when they leave their town, because it has happened elsewhere in the state. ‘We’ve practically been abandoned’, he said.”
Extortion against companies, armed groups silence opponents
Significantly, the LA Times article further highlighted: “Mines, along with other businesses like avocado groves and pipelines carrying gasoline, have long attracted organized crime’s attention in Mexico as a source of extortion payments or to steal the extracted material. [Security analyst David] Saucedo, who has researched cases in Guanajuato, Sinaloa and Sonora, said he has also seen cases where mines take advantage of armed groups to control mine opponents.”
That article also notes: “The Mexican government has said it has no reports that Vizsla was extorted. [Mexican president Claudia] Sheinbaum said that her administration would talk with all mining companies in Mexico ‘to offer the support they require.’”
El Sol de Hermosillo columnist Gustavo Álvarez has also noted: “President Sheinbaum has been emphatic in pointing out that, during the meeting with the Canadian delegation, no business representative formally denounced extortion, rent collection or pressure from organized crime…”
But Álvarez comments: “Many companies choose to handle these situations [of extortion by organized crime] discreetly, working with local authorities and private security, absorbing minor losses and avoiding exposing their vulnerabilities to the public or the markets.”
Looking ahead
Two days after the killing of El Mencho and security concerns across Mexico, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce statement on the Team Canada Trade Mission made no reference to this context of instability and violence.
Mexico and Canada will reportedly present a joint action plan on minerals, infrastructure and supply chains in the second half of this year; it has also been reported that more than 35 Canadian companies will soon visit the state of Chihuahua to pursue strategic projects and investment opportunities.
With $46 billion of Canadian investment in Mexico including nearly 140 mining companies, 60 auto parts companies, and more than USD $11 billion invested in 3,600 kilometres of pipelines, there does not yet seem to be a fully developed Canadian strategy to address the security of Canadian businesses, the 55,000 Canadians currently in Mexico as tourists or on business (two of whom were injured in Jalisco cartel attacks on Sunday February 22), threats against Mexican communities, and the safety of human rights defenders, journalists and searchers.
Strengthening the Protection Mechanism
One strategy includes strengthening the existing Protection Mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists.
At the United Nations Universal Periodic Review session held on January 24, 2024, Canada recommended that Mexico: “Strengthen, from an intersectional and gender perspective, the federal Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, specifically in the areas of prevention, protection, investigation, and reparation.”
PBI-Canada is working with PBI-Mexico and Espacio OSC to develop strategies to help materialize this recommendation from Canada.
Further reading: Integrated protection policies needed for human rights defenders and journalists with Canadian megaprojects in Mexico: Espacio OSC (PBI-Canada article, February 16, 2026).
