Mexico - Joint Statement: Two years on from the disappearance of José Gabriel Pelayo, we demand truth, justice, and urgent protection for the Sierra-Costa region of Michoacán

Teacher and environmental activist José Gabriel Pelayo has been missing since 19 March 2024. Coalcomán, Michoacán, was the last place where he was seen. Two years on from his disappearance, we denounce the persistent impunity resulting from the lack of effective progress in the search for his whereabouts, while the security crisis in the Sierra–Costa region continues to worsen.

The Mexican State has failed to locate José Gabriel Pelayo and to deliver results in its investigation of the disappearance. This absence of justice is a serious violation of the rights of his family and community. The case of José Gabriel Pelayo adds to the persistent impunity in the disappearance cases of Ricardo Lagunes and Antonio Díaz in January 2023¹ as well as the murder of Eustacio Alcalá Díaz in April 2023.² These cases reflect the institutional failure to guarantee life and peace for the communities of the Sierra–Costa region. Since 2013, these defenders have denounced, both publicly and through the courts, the territorial control exercised by armed groups fighting over strategic routes from the Pacific coast to Tierra Caliente, as well as the threat to their territory posed by mega-projects for the extraction of minerals and natural resources.

Recently, media outlets published a strategic map found in a hiding place attributed to the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, confirming that the Sierra-Costa region of Michoacán is a central trafficking corridor for the cartel’s territorial, logistical, and economic control.

Two years after the disappearance of José Gabriel Pelayo, the authorities must recognise that he worked as an environmental defender in a “region that is key to the trafficking of drugs and chemical precursors”³ by criminal groups, and take this key fact into account for their investigation. The disappearance of José Gabriel Pelayo is not an isolated incident but forms part of a broader pattern of violence, disappearances, and impunity affecting communities in the region.

Urgent demands on the Mexican State:

In light of this situation, we demand that the Mexican State - at both federal and state levels - immediately fulfil its constitutional and international human rights obligations, which must translate into concrete actions of:

1. An immediate and effective search for José Gabriel Pelayo, with the active involvement of his family and full access to information regarding the progress of the investigation.
2. Conduct prompt, impartial, and exhaustive investigations to identify and punish all those responsible for his disappearance, including any intellectual authors and complicit networks.
3. Open federal investigations into the territorial, logistical, and financial networks linked to the trafficking corridors identified in the region.
4. Implement a security strategy centred on the protection of the Sierra-Costa communities, with a human rights-based approach and respect for community authorities..
5. Immediately adopt measures to prevent attacks using explosives, armed drones, and other devices employed by criminal groups against civilian population.
6. Develop a justice and peace plan with the direct and effective participation of communities to guarantee the rights of all people, while respecting processes of self-determination and autonomy.
7. Investigate and punish any form of omission, cover-up, or collusion between authorities and criminal organisations that facilitates organised crime’s territorial control.

Two years after the disappearance of José Gabriel Pelayo, his family and community continue to wait for truth and justice, to bring an end to the uncertainty that his disappearance has left those who search for him tirelessly and with the anguish of not knowing where their loved one is.

Signed by the following organisations:

• Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez, A.C.
• Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental
• Espacio OSC para la Protección de Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas
• Front Line Defenders
• Ibero – Clínica Jurídica de Defensa Penal
• Ibero – Incidencia/Derechos Humanos
• Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos “Todos los Derechos para Todas, Todos y Todes”.
• Red Solidaria de derechos Humanos
• Redes por la Diversidad, Equidad y Sostenibilidad A.C.
• Servicios de Inclusión Integral y Derechos Humanos A.C.
• Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz, A.C.
• Voces del Territorio
• With the accompaniment of Peace Brigades International – Mexico Project

1 “Ricardo Lagunes y Antonio Díaz: defender un territorio en donde los cerros son de metal” (Mongabay, 2023).

2“Eustacio Alcalá: otro defensor comunitario del ambiente asesinado” (Centro Prodh, 2023).

3“El mapa estratégico de “El Mencho”; buscaba apoderarse de corredor de coca y precursores químicos” (El Universal, 2026).