New intimidating messages against woman human rights defender Miryam Vargas Teutle
On 4 April 2025, journalist and woman human rights defender Miryam Vargas Teutle reported receiving intimidating messages and calls by local authorities of San Andrés Cholula, in the state of Puebla, as a reprisal for her community and journalistic work. The messages and smear campaign against her are occurring following a citizens complaint reported by radio program Cholollan Radio, linked to a case of land dispossession, potentially involving a legal advisor to these authorities.
Miryam Vargas Teutle is a Nahua indigenous communicator and woman human rights defender from the Choluteca region. She is a member of the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y el Agua - Morelos, Puebla y Tlaxcala (FPDTA-MPT) where she has been working since 2010 in defence of the territory against the implementation of the energy mega-project Proyecto Integral Morelos. She is also the community journalist of radio program Cholollan Radio.
On 4 April 2025, journalist and woman human rights defender Miryam Vargas Teutle reported receiving intimidating messages and calls by local authorities of San Andrés Cholula, in the state of Puebla, as a reprisal for her community and journalistic work. The messages and smear campaign against her are occurring following a citizens complaint reported by radio program Cholollan Radio, linked to a case of land dispossession, potentially involving a legal advisor to these authorities.
Miryam Vargas Teutle is a Nahua indigenous communicator and woman human rights defender from the Choluteca region. She is a member of the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa de la Tierra y el Agua - Morelos, Puebla y Tlaxcala (FPDTA-MPT) where she has been working since 2010 in defence of the territory against the implementation of the energy mega-project Proyecto Integral Morelos. She is also the community journalist of radio program Cholollan Radio.
Between 1 and 2 April 2025, Facebook users posted photos of Miryam Vargas Teutle with texts that attempted to discredit her journalistic work, as well as her work defending the environment and the territory of the Tlaxcalancingo people. Between 3 and 4 April, the woman human rights defender also received intimidating messages via WhatsApp and calls by staff of the municipality of San Andrés Cholula, who questioned her journalistic work and the content shared by Cholollan Radio. According to the defender, they also threatened to restrict Cholollan Radio's airtime unless they were paid for it, and demanded to get a space to share their own views on the citizens complaint reported by the radio program.
The citizen's complaint concerns the expropriation of land for the construction of a road, the Bajadas del Periférico project, which could affect the ancestral territories of the Tlaxcalancingo people and limit their access to water resources. The case could involve a legal adviser to the local authorities. An amparo ruling ordered that the Tlaxcalancingo people be consulted if the project would affect them, and that damages be calculated to allow for effective compensation in accordance with the law.
These recent intimidating actions are in addition to other acts of violence previously reported to Front Line Defenders by members of the FPDAT-MPT, such as human rights defenders being intimidated by the State police of Puebla during a peaceful protest in Santa María Zacatepec on 10 June 2021.
Front Line Defenders expresses its concern over the acts of intimidation and harassment against community journalist Miryam Vargas Teutle and the work of Cholollan Radio, as it believes to be a direct reprisal against their community work in defence of the originary territory of the Tlaxcalancingo people.
Front Line Defenders calls on the Mexican authorities to:
1. Publicly condemn the intimidation actions against Miryam Vargas Teutla and Cholollan Radio;
2. Carry out an immediate, exhaustive and impartial investigation into the intimidating messages and harassment towards Miryam Vargas Teutle, in order to identify those responsible, bring them before a competent and impartial tribunal and apply the sanctions provided for by Mexican law;
3. Ensure that all human rights defenders in Mexico are able to conduct their legitimate human rights defence work in all circumstances without fear of retaliation and free from restrictions.
