Not One More Defender Attacked, Disappeared or Murdered!

February 21, 2026
Communiqué 002

Today, the human rights organizations that make up the National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations “All Rights for All” (Red TDT) declare that we are building revolution every day. We sustain this work through documentation and support across various key areas: the right to defend human rights and civic space; justice, truth, and memory; environmental justice and the defense of land and territory; the rights of women, feminisms, and the LGBTTTIQ+ community; and human mobility, integration, and liberating dignity.

In Mexico, this work is urgent because we are experiencing a human rights crisis where violence and injustice have become part of everyday life. Today, we are demonstrating in front of the Monument to the Revolution because we understand that revolution is not a historical moment of the past; it happens in every connection we forge, in every space we inhabit, and in the daily construction of dignified lives free from violence.

We don’t believe in revolutions that are finished, but in those we create today against the systems that oppress us. We stand in this public space to remember, honor, and demand justice for those murdered, disappeared, and attacked for their human rights work. We raise our voices from the heart of Mexico City to demand an end to this landscape of national violence. We are here to name those who decided that fear would not be the final word.

We know that defending rights comes at a cost, and today we remember with sorrow those who have lost their lives in this struggle and those who have been victims of enforced disappearance. Their departure leaves not only a void, but also a commitment sown in our outrage. We will not rest until justice reaches every corner of this country. Every human rights defender is a symbol of courage that we will keep alive and present today and always.

Today we place these candles as an act of resistance, for these lights are living memory, and we light them to make present those whom the State seeks to erase. We name our comrades because their struggle is our struggle and because we refuse to be forgotten.

Each person murdered, disappeared, or attacked reflects a system that fails to protect those of us who defend human rights in different territories. This constant increase reveals a security crisis that threatens to silence the voices of those who cry out for justice. In 2025 alone, the TDT Network recorded the murders of 40 human rights defenders nationwide. Of these, 12 were searchers, reflecting the extreme risk faced by those looking for their loved ones. Jalisco, Guerrero, Oaxaca, and Michoacán account for the highest number of these cases.

We observe with outrage that, as human rights defenders, we face attacks ranging from threats, harassment, forced displacement, murders, disappearances, detentions, stigmatization, defamation, digital violence, espionage, and censorship. On several occasions, our work fills the void left by the State in the area of ​​human rights, and this makes private interests, whether governmental or those of criminal groups, uncomfortable.

For more than a decade, we have pointed out something the State is determined to hide: Mexico faces a human rights crisis. As long as this continues, we will continue to exercise our right to defend human rights through denunciation, documentation, and the various actions we undertake in the territories where we are present.

We call on civil society to join this struggle. We human rights defenders do not want to walk alone. It is in this sense that we sometimes ask ourselves, and ask others, “Who defends those who defend us?” This question invites us to reflect on the fact that the defense and protection of peoples are shared responsibilities. We call on you to add your dignified voices. The defense of human rights is born from the collective heart.

Thirty-six years after the creation of the Network, we reaffirm that our strength lies in our collaboration. Faced with this siege, we demand comprehensive protection for all human rights defenders, an immediate end to the criminalization of our work, and access to memory, truth, justice, dignity, and guarantees of non-repetition.

We send our deepest condolences and support to the families; we share their outrage and stand with them in every demand. We will not back down; we will continue to forge paths in defense of human rights.

Justice!

National Network of Civil Human Rights Organizations

“All Rights for All” (Red TDT)

(Comprised of 88 organizations in 23 states of the Mexican Republic):

Academia Hidalguense de Educación y Derechos Humanos A.C. (ACADERH) (Hidalgo); Agenda LGBT (Estado de México); Agua y Vida, mujeres, derechos y ambiente (Chiapas); Alianza Sierra Madre, A.C. (Chihuahua); Aluna Acompañamiento Psicosocial, A.C.(Ciudad de México); Asistencia Legal por los Derechos Humanos, A.C. (AsiLegal) (Ciudad de México); Asociación Jalisciense de Apoyo a los Grupos Indígenas, A.C. (AJAGI) (Guadalajara, Jal.); Asociación para la Defensa de los Derechos Ciudadanos “Miguel Hidalgo” (Jacala Hgo.); Bowerasa, A.C. “Haciendo Camino” (Chihuahua, Chih.) Católicas por el Derecho a Decidir, A.C. (Ciudad de México); Centro de Capacitación y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos e Indígenas, Asociación Civil (CECADDHI) (Chihuahua); Centro “Fray Julián Garcés” Derechos Humanos y Desarrollo Local, A. C. (Tlaxcala, Tlax.); Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador, A.C. (CAT) (Ciudad de México); Centro de Derechos de la Mujeres de Chiapas (San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis.); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas”, A. C. (San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis);  Centro De Derechos Humanos Don Sergio Morelos; Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Francisco de Vitoria O.P.”, A. C. (Ciudad de México); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Fray Matías de Córdova”, A.C. (Tapachula, Chis.); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Juan Gerardi”, A. C. (Torreón, Coah.); Centro de Derechos Humanos “Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez”, A. C. (Ciudad de México); Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña, Tlachinollan, A. C. (Tlapa, Gro.); Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres (Chihuahua); Centro de Derechos Humanos de los Pueblos del Sur de Veracruz “Bety Cariño”, A.C. (Tatahuicapan de Juárez, Ver.); Centro de Derechos Humanos Digna Ochoa, A.C (Tonalá, Chis.); Centro de Derechos Humanos Paso del Norte (Cd. Juárez, Chih.); Centro de Derechos Humanos Toaltepeyolo (Orizaba, Veracruz); Centro de Derechos Humanos Victoria Diez, A.C. (León, Gto.); Centro de Derechos Humanos Zeferino Ladrillero (CDHZL) (Estado de México); Centro de Derechos Indígenas “Flor y Canto”, A. C. (Oaxaca, Oax.); Centro de Derechos Indígenas A. C. (Bachajón, Chis.); Centro de Investigación y Capacitación Propuesta Cívica A. C. (Propuesta Cívica) (Ciudad de México); Centro de Justicia para la Paz y el Desarrollo, A. C. (CEPAD) (Guadalajara, Jal.); Centro de los Derechos del Migrante (Ciudad de México); Centro de Reflexión y Acción Laboral (CEREAL-Guadalajara) (Guadalajara, Jal.); Centro Diocesano para los Derechos Humanos “Fray Juan de Larios”, A.C. (Saltillo, Coah.); Centro Kalli Luz Marina (Orizaba, Ver.); Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA) (Ciudad de México); Centro Mujeres (La Paz, BCS.); Centro Regional de Defensa de DDHH José María Morelos y Pavón, A.C. (Chilapa, Gro.); Centro Regional de Derechos Humanos “Bartolomé Carrasco”, A.C. (BARCA) (Oaxaca, Oax.); Ciencia Social Alternativa, A.C. KOOKAY (Mérida, Yuc.); Ciudadanía Lagunera por los Derechos Humanos, A.C. (CILADHAC) (Torreón, Coah.); Colectivo contra la Tortura y la Impunidad (CCTI) (Ciudad de México); Colectivo Educación para la Paz y los Derechos Humanos, A.C. (CEPAZDH) (San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis.); Comisión Ciudadana de Derechos Humanos del Noroeste (Mexicali, Baja California); Comisión de Derechos Humanos y Laborales del Valle de Tehuacán, A.C. (Tehuacán, Pue.); Comisión de Solidaridad y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, A.C. (COSYDDHAC) (Chihuahua, Chih.); Comisión Regional de Derechos Humanos “Mahatma Gandhi”, A. C. (Tuxtepec, Oax.); Comité Cerezo (Ciudad de México); Comité Cristiano de Solidaridad Monseñor Romero (Ciudad de México); Comité de Defensa de las Libertades Indígenas (Palenque, Chis.); Comité de Defensa Integral de Derechos Humanos Gobixha A.C. (CODIGODH) (Oaxaca, Oax.); Comité de Derechos Humanos “Fr. Pedro Lorenzo de la Nada”, A. C. (Ocosingo, Chis.); Comité de Derechos Humanos “Sierra Norte de Veracruz”, A. C. (Huayacocotla, Ver.); Comité de Derechos Humanos Ajusco (Ciudad de México); Comité de Derechos Humanos de Colima No Gubermantal A. C. (Colima, Col.); Comité de Derechos Humanos de Comalcalco, A. C. (CODEHUCO) (Comalcalco, Tab); Comité de Derechos Humanos de Tabasco, A. C. (CODEHUTAB) (Villahermosa, Tab); Comité de Derechos Humanos y Orientación Miguel Hidalgo, A. C. (Dolores Hidalgo, Gto.); Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos “Hasta Encontrarlos”(Ciudad de México); Comité Sergio Méndez Arceo Pro Derechos Humanos de Tulancingo, Hgo A.C. (Tulancingo, Hgo.); Consultoría Técnica Comunitaria AC (CONTEC) (Chihuahua); El Caracol, A.C (Ciudad de México); Estancia del Migrante González y Martínez, A.C. (Querétaro, Qro.); Espacios para la Defensa y el Florecimiento Comunitario (ESPADAC), (Oaxaca); Frente Cívico Sinaloense. Secretaría de Derechos Humanos (Culiacán, Sin.); Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho (Ciudad de México); Indignación, A. C. Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (Mérida, Yuc.); Instituto de Derechos Humanos Ignacio Ellacuria, S.J. Universidad Iberoamericana- Puebla (Puebla, Pue.); Frontera con Justicia A.C. Casa del Migrante Saltillo (Saltillo, Coah.); Instituto Mexicano de Derechos Humanos y Democracia (Ciudad de México); Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario, A. C. (IMDEC) (Guadalajara, Jal.); Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Occidente. Centro Universitario por la Dignidad y la Justicia Francisco Suárez, SJ (Guadalajara, Jal.); La 72, Hogar-Refugio para Personas Migrantes (La 72) (Tenosique, Tabasco); Mujeres Indígenas por la Conservación, Investigación y Aprovechamiento de los Recursos Naturales, A. C. (CIARENA) (Oaxaca); Observatorio Ciudadano Nacional del Feminicidio (OCNF); Programa Universitario de Derechos Humanos Ibero León (Guanajuato) Promoción de los Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (PRODESCAC) (Estado de México); Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (ProDESC) (Ciudad de México); Proyecto sobre Organización, Desarrollo, Educación e Investigación (PODER) (Ciudad de México); Red Solidaria de Derechos Humanos, A.C. (Morelia, Michoacán); Respuesta Alternativa, A. C. Servicio de Derechos Humanos y Desarrollo Comunitario (San Luis Potosí); Servicios de Inclusión Integral y Derechos Humanos A.C. (SEIINAC) (Pachuca, Hgo.); Tequio Jurídico A.C. (Oaxaca, Oax.);Tsikini. Brote Pro Justicia y Dignidad (Jalisco), Voces Mesoamericanas, Acción con Pueblos Migrantes AC (San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas).

Original statement from Red TDT, February 21st, 2026.
Translated by Schools for Chiapas.

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