[WHRD Alert] MEXICO / Zapotec woman defender Silvia Pérez has her home raided and computer equipment stolen, and faces constant harassment and threats.

Zapotec woman defender Silvia Pérez Yescas, founder and coordinator of Indigenous Women for Natural Resource Conservation, Research and Use (CIARENA A.C.), reported that when she returned from a community workshop on the evening of 27 February, she noticed that her house had been broken into and her computer equipment had been stolen. This serious violation of her security comes on top of the constant harassment and death threats she has been facing, which forced her to leave her home town of Santa María Lombardo, in the municipality of San Juan Cotzocón Mixe in the Tehuantepec Isthmus a year ago.

The woman defender named César Pulido Herrera as the presumed perpetrator and mastermind of the threats against her; he is an official of the National Indigenous Peoples Institute (INPI) and former municipal agent of María Lombardo. In spite of state and federal authorities having knowledge of the actors and perpetrators of the break-in and the various direct attacks against Silvia, these continue to be carried out with total impunity.

Silvia Pérez Yescas is widely recognized as a defender of the rights of indigenous women, youth and children. The risk and attacks that she is currently facing began after her organization’s work with the communities of the Isthmus exposed numerous cases of sexual assault, physical violence and femicides, especially in the area of María Lombardo.

The people of Santa María Lombardo are immersed in a context of violence and constant human rights violations. This is the location where Ayuuk women’s rights defender and lawyer Sandra Domínguez was last seen in October 2024, and has been missing ever since.

The National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders in Mexico and IM-Defensoras demand urgent guarantees of protection for Silvia Pérez Yescas and all CIARENA members, a diligent investigation of the facts and an end to the impunity with which her assailants operate.

We call for solidarity with the woman defender and we hold the Mexican State, at all levels of government, responsible for any new attack against her integrity and security.

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