Photo by Espacio OSC.
The Space of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists (Espacio OSC) has posted: “In the framework of the 25th anniversary of the murder of human rights defender Digna Ochoa y Plácido, family members and civil society organizations held a press conference and a symbolic act in front of the facilities of the Attorney General’s Office in Mexico City, to honor her memory and reiterate the demands for truth. justice and reparation.”
Digna Ochoa was a human rights lawyer who was killed on October 19, 2001, in her office in Mexico City. She was 37 years old. She had been a Dominican nun and her father had been a union leader in Veracruz.
Espacio OSC notes: “25 years after her murder, the organizations denounced the lack of substantive progress in the investigation that would clarify the facts, identify responsibilities and punish those responsible.”
“During the event, the organizations warned that the conditions of risk for human rights defenders continue in Mexico. Threats, criminalization, disappearances, and killings affect defenders, their families, organizations, and communities.”
“They pointed out that during 2025, 43 murders of human rights defenders were documented in the country.”
Espacio OSC also highlighted: “It is a matter of concern that the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists continues to lack the strengthening it requires to guarantee effective protection. Between 2024 and June 2026, it received 409 requests for protection, of which 289 were inadmissible: 70.66%.”
And they cautioned: “These barriers to access, added to the deficiencies in the care of beneficiaries, have serious consequences. Some people have lost their lives while they had protection measures or were waiting to be reinstated.”
Starting on September 20, 2025, Manuel Jabonero Prieto, the advocacy coordinator for the Peace Brigades International-Mexico Project, accompanied Héctor Hugo Arreola Galván and Elizabeth Guadalupe Mosqueda Rivera from the Civil Society Space of Organizations (Espacio OSC) in Ottawa to present proposals to strengthen the Protection Mechanism for Human Rights Defenders and Journalists.
Toronto Star reporter Linda Diebel knew Digna and wrote the book “Betrayed: The Assassination of Digna Ochoa” that was published in 2005.
