UN Experts Condemn Killing of Afro-Mexican Rights Defender

The experts expressed their condolences to Silva Cisneros’ family, friends, colleagues, and the Afro-Mexican community, describing his death as a serious loss for the fight against discrimination and inequality.

United Nations human rights experts have strongly condemned the killing of Sael Silva Cisneros, a lawyer, Afro-Mexican activist, and human rights defender, who died in an armed attack on 5 June 2026 in Cuajinicuilapa, Guerrero. The attack took place on the Acapulco–Pinotepa Nacional federal highway, only hours after Silva Cisneros spoke at a seminar on "Afro-Mexican dissidences in Guerrero: history, justice and rights." The event focused on the rights, dignity, and recognition of Afro-Mexican communities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other gender-diverse people. He had also recently met members of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent during their official visit to Mexico.

UN calls for thorough and independent investigation

The experts expressed their condolences to Silva Cisneros' family, friends, colleagues, and the Afro-Mexican community, describing his death as a serious loss for the fight against discrimination and inequality. They urged Mexican authorities to carry out a prompt, independent, impartial, and transparent investigation in line with the Minnesota Protocol, an international standard for investigating potentially unlawful deaths. They said investigators should examine every possible motive, including his work as a lawyer, academic, community leader, and human rights defender, while also considering the broader context of structural racism, discrimination, and violence affecting Afro-descendant, Indigenous, rural, and LGBT communities.

Protection of human rights defenders remains essential

The UN experts stressed that attacks on Afro-descendant human rights defenders have consequences far beyond the victims themselves, creating fear within communities and discouraging others from speaking out against injustice. They called on the Mexican Government to strengthen protection measures for human rights defenders, community activists, researchers, Afro-descendant leaders, and advocates for LGBT rights. The experts also urged authorities to address the underlying conditions that allow such violence to continue and to ensure truth, justice, full reparations for the victim's family, and guarantees that similar attacks will not happen again.