Cristina Erandeni Parades Lachino
Cristina Erandeni Parades Lachino is a member of the Comité de Familiares de Personas Detenidas Desaparecidas del Estado de Michoacán “Alzando Voces” - COFADDEM (Committee of Relatives of Detained Persons Missing from the State of Michoacán - “Raising Voices”). The organisation works with the relatives, friends and companions of people who were detained and disappeared in the states of Michoacán, Veracruz, Puebla y Guerrero, due to the activities of paramilitary groups and militias, many with the support of state forces. COFADDEM calls for a stop to the disappearances, advocates for the right to truth and tries to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice.
Human rights defenders (HRDs) and journalists in Mexico are subject to intimidation, legal harassment, arbitrary detention, death threats, acts of physical aggression, enforced disappearances and killings as a result of their activities in defence of human rights and the exercise of freedom of expression and journalism.
Disappearances are endemic in Mexico, often happening with collusion from the state. HRDs working on the issue face serious risk, up to and including death. HRDs working in the defence of territory, particularly indigenous territory, face a similar level of risk. They are criminalised, imprisoned, defamed, and often killed. Journalists working on any of these issues, or issues related to the drugs trade and the government's complicity in this, also run the risk of losing their lives.
