July 20, 2026

Jesús Plácido Galindo is a prominent son of the “people of the rain” (na savi), originally from the community of Buenavista, San Luis Acatlán, Guerrero, Mexico. He is part of a lineage of prominent social activists from the Costa-Montaña region, with Cirino and Bruno Plácido—founders of the Regional Coordination of Community Authorities–Community Police (CRAC-PC)—as his primary mentors. He spent his childhood playing and listening to how communities organized their struggle through assemblies. For many years, he could only communicate in tu’un savi because he had not learned Spanish. His life was the ñuu savi people, the people of the rain.

His conviction for justice led Jesús to dedicate his efforts to defend the lives, territory, and safety of Indigenous peoples. Thus, he founded the Indigenous and Popular Council of the State of Guerrero – Emiliano Zapata (CIPOG-EZ) and became its leader. For years, he has fought tirelessly to organize the state’s indigenous communities in defense of their rights.

However, in recent years, CIPOG-EZ and its communities have had to face increasing attacks by organized crime. From 2014 to 2026, a criminal group murdered 84 people and forced another 25 to disappear, all of whom belonged to CIPOG, CRAC-PF, and the CNI.

The violence reached its peak in May 2026, when a criminal group indiscriminately attacked the indigenous population with high-caliber weapons and drones carrying explosives, displacing approximately 2,000 people. Jesús stepped forward to stand up for the communities, taking up their defense and denouncing the abuses committed by a criminal group and the collusion of government officials with organized crime. The government felt exposed by these statements and set out to delegitimize Jesús’s work as a human rights defender.

In early July 2026, Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit—which is responsible for investigating transactions involving illicit funds and terrorist financing—froze Jesús’s bank accounts. This was nothing more than a ploy to try to portray him as someone engaged in criminal activities. In reality, freezing his accounts became laughable when it was revealed that Jesús had $280 MXN on his debit card. He is not a criminal getting rich; like many Indigenous people in Guerrero, he is a peasant. He spends his days planting small plots of sugarcane, pineapple, corn, beans, and squash so his wife and children have something to eat throughout the year.

This process of criminalization reached its peak on July 17, 2026, when the Mexican government launched an operation to arrest Jesús Plácido Galindo at a highway checkpoint. Approximately 40 members of the Army, the National Guard, the state judicial police, and the Guerrero state police participated. The government held him incommunicado and refused to tell his family where they were taking him. As a punitive measure, they transferred him to the Almoloya prison. Although he is accused of a state crime, the government committed an unjustifiable act by sending him to a maximum-security federal prison, which keeps him away from his family and his lawyers, violating his human rights and undermining his ability to mount an adequate defense.

The case of Jesús Plácido demonstrates the government’s refusal to accept the possibility that indigenous peoples might exercise their autonomy and assert their rights. Although he is a beneficiary of the Federal Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists, the efforts made by all three levels of government to criminalize Jesús are clear proof that the defense of human rights remains an uncomfortable activity for Mexican officials, which is why they spare no resources to detain those who dare to imagine a more just world. We, the national and international civil society, stand behind the impeccable reputation of Jesús Plácido and CIPOG-EZ in defending the human rights of indigenous peoples in the state of Guerrero and throughout the country, while demanding that his work as a defender be recognized and that the State provide protective measures for him, his family, and members of CIPOG-EZ.

For the emancipation of the peoples, freedom for Jesús Plácido!

Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan

Coordinación Alemana por los Derechos Humanos en México / Deutsche Menschenrechtskoordination Mexiko

Espacio de Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil para la Protección de Personas Defensoras de Derechos Humanos y Periodistas [Forum of Civil Society Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists]  (Espacio OSC). The organizations that make up the Espacio OSC: ARTICLE 19 México y Centroamérica; Casa del Migrante Saltillo; Centro de Derechos Humanos de la Montaña Tlachinollan; Centro de Derechos Humanos Zeferino Ladrillero (CDHZL); Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental (CEMDA); Centro Nacional de Comunicación Social (Cencos); Comunicación e Información de la Mujer A.C. (CIMAC); Consorcio para el Diálogo Parlamentario y la Equidad Oaxaca (Consorcio Oaxaca); Instituto de Derecho Ambiental (IDEA); Iniciativa Sinaloa; Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos Todos los Derechos para Todas, Todos y Todes (Red TDT); SMR: Scalabrinianas, Misión con Migrantes y Refugiados; Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz (Serapaz); Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales (PRODESC). The OSC Space is supported by Peace Brigades International (PBI) – Mexico Project

Oficina Ecuménica por la Paz y la Justicia / Ökumenische Büro für Frieden und Gerechtigkeit e.V.

Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos «Todos los Derechos para Todas, Todos y Todes» (Red TDT)