Sr. Horacio Culebro Borrayas
President of the State Commission for Human Rights of Chiapas
Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico
August 27, 2025
Dear Sir:
We are dismayed to learn of the raid conducted at the private home of Dora Robledo, the director of Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas Human Rights Center (FRAYBA). The incident that occurred on the night of July 22 in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, happened just days after Dora Robledo was confirmed as the organization’s director.
FRAYBA has a long and respected reputation for defending human rights. In Chiapas, FRAYBA has been outspoken in defense of Indigenous communities that have been victim to political violence, paramilitary violence, extractivist dispossession, territorial and religious conflicts, and organized criminal activity.
As FRAYBA conducts its legitimate work of denouncing the systematic rights violations against communities (and accompanying them in their search for justice), its members are subject to repeated attacks and false accusations. The context of harassment, intimidation, threats, and systematic surveillance of FRAYBA members has escalated. This is the second raid conducted on a FRAYBA member in less than ten months. That is why the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has granted precautionary protection measures to FRAYBA.
We urge that authorities in Chiapas and the federal government:
(1) conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the raid on the home of Dora Robledo, arrest those responsible, and publish a public statement explaining who conducted the raid and why
(2) uphold the precautionary (protection) measures issued by the IACHR by ensuring the efficacy of the Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
(3) instruct officials in all levels of government in Chiapas to comply with their obligation to guarantee the safety and protection of all persons that are part of FRAYBA
Sincerely,
Brian J Stefan-Szittai and Christine L Stonebraker-Martínez
Co-Coordinators
copies
Patricia del Carmen Conde Ruiz,,Secretary General of the Government in Chiapas ~ via email
María del Rosario Piedra Ibarra, President of the National Commission for Human Rights (CNDH) ~ via email
Sr. Gobernador Eduardo Ramírez Aguilar, Governor of the State of Chiapas ~ via email
Esteban Moctezuma Barragán, Ambassador of Mexico to the US ~ via email
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Andrea Pochak, Rapporteur for Mexico and for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ~ via email
US Embassy in Mexico City: Ambassador Ronald Johnson ~ via emaill
US State Department, Office of Mexican Affairs ~ via email
US Senators from Ohio (Husted and Moreno) ~ via email
US Representatives from Ohio (Beatty, Brown, Jordan, Joyce, Kaptur, Latta, Miller, Rulli, Sykes) ~ via email
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