Teresa Roldán 

Organization
Asociación de Ambientalistas del Centro (Central Environmental Association)

Activity
Defense of land, territory and environment

THE FACTS – On Friday, November 6th, in the municipality of Corregidora, state of Querétaro, unknown persons threw a letter into the residence of environmental defender  Teresa Roldán; it contained death threats against her and her family and an ultimatum that she leave the state of Querétaro.  Two days later, on November 8th, while she had gone to the market, someone started fires in the vacant lot at one side of her home, where her children were sleeping.  

Before these current attacks took place, the defender had been the target of campaigns of disparagement and defamation in social networks and the news media. 

These threats and attacks may well be related to her work in defense of the environment and her denunciation of cases of changes in land use and the construction of housing projects in forest areas,  which have increased during the health emergency sparked by COVID-19. 

We of IM-Defensoras and the National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico repudiate and demand an immediate end to the threats, intimidations and smear campaigns against  Teresa Roldán and demand that the government of Mexico adopt effective measures to guarantee her protection and that of her family.  

Likewise, we express our solidarity with Teresa Roldán and our acknowledgement of her work.