“Two years after the death of environmental activist and reporter Abisaí Pérez, whose body was found in the community of San José (Tula, Hidalgo) in February 2023, there has been no significant progress in the investigation. Family members claim the case file is full of omissions by prosecutors and that ‘from the beginning, there was a lot of misinformation and unanswered questions,’ according to Sandra, a close relative who prefers not to give her real name.
Pérez, a student from the Autonomous University of Mexico City, was investigating environmental crimes as part of his social service in the same region where he was found dead—one of Mexico’s most polluted areas, designated by the United Nations in 2006 as the most contaminated city in the world. He was also involved in creating an environmental justice atlas and shared information on his YouTube channel about corruption and violence, including the murder of his colleague and activist Jesús Bañuelos, known as Chuy. Bañuelos was a member of the Collective of Communities in Defense of Life and Territory in the Toltec Region, a group to which Pérez also belonged.”
