Chiapas: Activist and Defender of Indigenous Peoples, Alberto Perez Gelvez, and Cousin Disappeared 

@ La Jornada Maya

On December 24th, 2021, Alberto Perez Galvez, poet, activist doctor and defender of the indigenous peoples of Chiapas, along with his cousin Luis Mario Garcia Castro, disappeared. His relatives urgently request the activation of the search protocol.

His last sign of life was an attempted video call at 04:30 in the morning, since then both men are considered missing. They were traveling from Motozintla, bound for Comitan in a KIA Sportage pickup with PY J718C license plates.

In a document drawn up by family members, friends and social organizations they explain that “the area through which (Perez Galvez) was traveling by car to his destination Comitan, Chiapas, in recent months has gained relevance due to the presence of armed groups (paramilitaries) and drug cartels, so we have a well-founded suspicion that he could have been kidnapped and disappeared along with his companion Luis Mario Garcia Castro.”

In addition, they demand the governor of the state, Rutilio Escandon Cadenas; the Undersecretary of Human Rights, Population and Migration, Alejandro Encinas Rodriguez; the head of the National Commission for the Search of Persons, Karla Quintana, and the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), the immediate execution of a protocol for the search and presentation of the disappeared alive.

According to the latest news, the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) initiated proceedings to locate the two men and established communication with state and federal authorities, as well as with relatives of the disappeared.

For more information in Spanish:

PIDEN activar protocolo para encontrar a activista desaparecido (El Sol de Chiapas, 28 de diciembre de 2021)

Desapareció en Nochebuena Alberto Pérez Gálvez, poeta y defensor de los pueblos originaros de Chiapas (Infobae, 28 de diciembre de 2021)

Desaparecen en Chiapas, el poeta Alberto Pérez Gálvez y su primo (La Jornada Maya, 28 de diciembre de 2021)

CNDH investiga desaparición del activista Alberto Pérez Gálvez (Milenio, 28 de diciembre de 2021)

For more information from SIPAZ:

Oaxaca: Pink Alert for Disappearance of Environmentalist Irma Galindo Barrios (November 12, 2021)