There is a region in Michoacán whose landscape looks like something out of a fantasy: rich natural surroundings, hot springs set amid a lush, towering forest, and living traces of a volcanic past. That place is called Los Azufres and it is located in the community of Agua Fría, a settlement of fewer than 200 inhabitants that is home to the family of José Luis Silva Andrade, the activist and land defender who was kidnapped on July 15 when he left his home to check on the reported presence of illegal loggers on nearby land. Twenty-four hours after the 60-year-old left his house, saying he would return by lunchtime, a man allegedly linked to a criminal group operating in the area went to his home and told his sisters that Silva Andrade had been detained and that they must “negotiate with the boss,” the international human rights organization Front Line Defenders reported, documenting recent assaults by criminal groups in the region.
The abduction of Silva Andrade is not an isolated incident. The community of Agua Fría, in the municipality of Hidalgo, around 20 miles east of Morelia, the state capital, has in recent months been under pressure from illegal loggers tied to criminal groups operating in the area who are trying by all means to seize the region’s land and natural resources. In addition, Silva Andrade is the brother of fellow land defender and activist Rolando Silva Andrade, a man who has been persecuted and previously threatened and who recently left his community with his family to seek safety amid continuing threats and pressure to cede their land.
On July 17, two days after José Luis Silva’s disappearance, the civil organization Services and Advice for Peace A.C. (Serapaz) published: “The Guardian Community of Agua Fría, Michoacán, remains under siege from interests that want to illegally exploit its territory. José Silva Andrade, brother of environmental defender Rolando Silva Andrade, has been deprived of his liberty by a criminal group.”
The Litigation Group for the Protection and Defense of Human Rights (Prodedh) characterized the event as an “enforced disappearance” and noted that the family of both environmental defenders has long led efforts to protect natural resources and territory in their community. “For more than four decades, Rolando Silva Andrade has devoted his life to defending the forest, the water and the land against illegal logging, land dispossession and violence by criminal groups. Yet instead of receiving protection, he has faced threats, harassment and a growing risk of criminalization,” the group said.
Front Line Defenders’ information indicates that the community of Agua Fría has already filed formal complaints with the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Human Rights (FEMDH) and the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime (FEMDO) over threats received between February and March, when at least four of them — considered serious — were directed at Rolando Silva. The organization also documented, in March, the incursion of “actors from organized crime” who sought to pressure the community to dispossess them of their territory and take control of the forest.
Moreover, according to what was documented, a formal request had already been made to include Rolando Silva, his family and the entire community in the National Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders and Journalists. “To date they have not received a response regarding the reported acts, nor updated information about the progress of the investigation,” they said. “Front Line Defenders considers that the community of Agua Fría is at imminent risk of forced displacement and of suffering further physical violence. The kidnapping of José Luis is clearly an act of retaliation against the community of Agua Fría for defending their land and territory,” they concluded in one of their posts.
The state prosecutor’s office has not publicly commented or released information about Silva Andrade’s abduction, but the state government has confirmed that the investigation into the disappearance is with the Attorney General’s Office (FGR), through FEMDH, and with the National Victim Assistance Commission and the National Search Commission. The Secretariat of the Interior, they confirmed, is also supporting the search.
“Tell Rolando to divide up the forest; if he doesn’t, we’re coming for him”
Rolando, Silva Andrade’s brother and until now the main target of threats, is recognized in the community as one of the defenders of its forest, water and land against illegal logging and attempts at dispossession driven by local sawmill groups that, he has said, are colluding with criminal organizations, with “state public officials and actors with economic interests in the area,” the defenders’ organization says. “Rolando plays a key role as a healer and moral authority, in addition to being an environmental defender safeguarding the local sulfur springs, an activity central to social, economic, cultural and spiritual life in the community of Agua Fría.”
According to the organization’s account, threats increased in the days following Silva Andrade’s kidnapping. The activist’s sisters were told to appear as witnesses so Silva Andrade would sign documents ceding the land and, if he did not, he would be beaten and then disappeared.
These threats were not new. On February 25, amid the escalation of harassment against Agua Fría, four armed men allegedly tied to a criminal group operating in the Los Azufres area approached Rolando Silva’s family and told them: “Tell Rolando to divide up the forest because we are going to occupy it; if he doesn’t, we are going to come for him.” More than a week later they returned and demanded to know why the activist had not “reported.” The messages did not end there, and days later several armed men threatened the community and demanded that if the land was not handed over, “they would take the people from the community.” And so it has transpired, despite complaints filed with various state agencies.
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