Kenia Hernández, Mexico

I am Kenia Hernández, the coordinator of Zapata Vive, a peasant movement that defends land rights, collective identity and promotes different forms of peaceful resistance against unfavourable development models imposed by the Mexican State. I am also the leader of the National Movement for the Freedom of Political Prisoners.

I have been subjected to repeated harassment because of my work as a human rights defender. I was arbitrarily arrested on 18 October 2020 at a toll booth on the Amozoc highway in the state of Puebla by unidentified police officers.

I was later transferred to prison, facing unfounded charges of "violent robbery."

On 19 February 2021, the Trial Court of the Judicial District of Almoloya de Juárez, State of Mexico, sentenced me to ten years and six months in prison based on fabricated charges of "robbery with violence."

In 2024, I was transferred to a local facility in the State of Mexico, where illegal practices by staff were uncovered. This led to internal changes but also triggered reprisals and further attacks, resulting in my transfer to Tepozanes, Nezahualcóyotl Sur, where I continue to organise with other women.

The arrest of human rights defenders and political leaders in Mexico is illustrative of a system that creates fear and abuses power with impunity.

The CIVICUS monitor rates Mexico as repressed.

Call for my release by going to the TAKE ACTION section below.