On Indigenous Peoples’ Day, 9 August, global civil society alliance CIVICUS urges the Mexican authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Indigenous land rights campaigner Kenia Hernandez, and to free all Indigenous activists behind bars for their work protecting and promoting human rights.
In March 2022, 32-year-old Kenia was sentenced to 11 years in prison on politically motivated, trumped-up charges relating to her work as a leader of Zapata Vive, a land rights organisation, and co-founder of the National Movement for the Freedom of Political Prisoners.
In October 2020, Kenia was arrested and detained on false charges of aggravated robbery after allegedly instructing two accomplices to steal money from a tollbooth during a demonstration. On the day of her release, she was re-arrested for being violent on public roads after reportedly obstructing cars during a protest, and referred to a maximum-security prison.
During Kenia’s unfair trial she was denied access to the courtroom and prevented from meeting her lawyer confidentially. She faced discrimination due to her Indigenous roots - the trial judge in Ecatepec, a municipality north of Mexico City, thwarted Kenia’s efforts to find an interpreter for her native Amuzgo language, even though this is her right as an Indigenous person under the Mexican constitution.
Kenia has also faced discrimination as a woman and has been subjected to archaic gender stereotypes. While in pretrial detention the judge said he would not apply a gender perspective to his decision on imprisonment as she was too intelligent and insufficiently submissive.
“When it comes to activists behind bars, Kenia’s case is one of the most shocking examples of the misuse of the criminal justice system against a human rights defender under a government,” said Antonio Lara Duque, a human rights lawyer with Zeferino Ladrillero Human Rights Centre (CDHZL), which protects activists and Indigenous rights defenders in Mexico.
“Kenia has been discriminated against due to her Indigenous Amuzgo heritage and because she is a woman. Her case reveals how the Mexican state will punish anyone who takes a stand and raises their voice. The cruel and unjust imprisonment of Kenia is seriously worrying because it reverses decades of hard-won social gains and massively delays the opening-up of democratic space,” he continued.
CIVICUS is also concerned that the detention of Kenia Hernandez violates United Nations Rules for the Treatment of Women Prisoners, which state that women be detained close to their homes and given priority for non-custodial sentences. The incarceration of Kenia in a maximum-security prison in Coatlán del Río, Morelos state, undermines the United Nations (UN) rules and has had a devastating effect on Kenia and her family.
“It is scandalous that an activist who has spent her life campaigning for the protection and promotion of rights should be behind bars in a maximum-security prison. I urge the Mexican authorities to release Kenia without delay and drop all charges against her. The criminalisation of social protests and the vilification of human rights defenders in Mexico must stop,” said Duque.
The killing of Indigenous people, land and environmental defenders is a chillingly common occurrence in Latin America, and Mexico is one of the world’s most dangerous countries for activists. CIVICUS has long been concerned about gender-based violence in the country, as vicious attacks against Mexican women journalists, human rights defenders and land campaigners continue unabated.
Civic space in Mexico is rated as "Repressed" by the CIVICUS Monitor
Kenia Hernández is one of the faces of the #StandAsMyWitness campaign, a global call to free imprisoned human rights defenders.