First case related to the biggest burial pit found in Guanajuato is about to be solved; the State Judiciary has the possibility to guarantee justice to the Barajas Piña family
Joint Statement:
The following statement is related to the case of Javier and María del Tránsito, teachers, searchers and human rights defenders, who started their work for truth and justice in 2020 after the disappearance of their daughter, Guadalupe Barajas. In 2022, Javier and Maria received the Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk.
The body of Guadalupe Barajas Piña was one of the 80 bodies found in one of the biggest burial pits located in Salvatierra, Guanajuato, in 2020.
The State Judiciary has the opportunity to grant justice to her family and to guarantee the no impunity for the searching collectives in the State.
Guanajuato, as of 18 August 2024. On 20 August 2024, the Criminal Oral Court of Acámbaro will deliver a verdict against four individuals likely responsible for the disappearance of Guadalupe Barajas Piña, a young teacher from the State of Guanajuato. Her family, search collectives, and civil organizations urge the Judiciary to ensure justice in this landmark case, which is the first related to this serious human rights violation to reach trial, and to send a clear message against impunity to the entire population.
On 29 February 2020, Guadalupe Barajas Piña was reported missing, and since then, her family has focused on searching for her. In October of the same year, in a property located in the San Juan neighborhood, municipality of Salvatierra, covering 600 square meters, 80 bodies of missing persons were discovered. These bodies were found in 65 excavations, marking the largest clandestine burial site found in the State, where Guadalupe Barajas Piña’s body was also identified. To date, along with Guadalupe Barajas Piña, 65 bodies have been identified in a State that now accounts for more than 4,200 missing persons.
After the disappearance of his sister, Guadalupe Barajas Piña, Francisco Javier, along with his parents Javier and María del Tránsito, dedicated themselves to searching for her and other missing persons, even joining the State of Guanajuato’s Commission for the Search of Missing Persons. Tragically, due to his involvement, on 29 May 2021, Francisco Javier was killed by individuals connected to Guadalupe Barajas Piña’s disappearance, which caused national and international outrage. Since then, teachers Javier and María del Tránsito, the parents of Francisco Javier and Guadalupe Barajas Piña, have never ceased in their pursuit of justice for their children, earning international recognition by Front Line Defenders for their efforts. They are currently displaced due to threats and violence in Guanajuato.
On 15 June, the trial against four individuals responsible for the disappearance of Guadalupe Barajas Piña took place, marking the only case related to that burial site with significant progress. Over the course of more than a month, substantial evidence was presented that established the responsibility of the accused, in a context where the crisis of disappearances in the State persists.
The trial regarding the disappearance of Guadalupe Barajas Piña has been made possible thanks to the determination and resilience of her parents, Javier and María del Tránsito, who recently succeeded in ensuring that two individuals responsible for their son’s murder were held accountable. Now, the Judiciary of Guanajuato has the opportunity to set a significant precedent, sending a message of justice to the collectives of families of disappeared persons in the State and across the country.
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Javier Barajas y Ma. Del Tránsito Piña, parents of Guadalupe and Javier Barajas Piña, are originally from Salvatierra, State of Guanajuato in Mexico. They have dedicated their lives to teaching, which motivated them to get involved into different struggles and social causes. Now, due to the risks and threats they face for their searching work, they have been displaced away from their city, but continue to demand the truth and justice for the disappearance and murder of their children.
Furthermore, they continue their work among searching collectives and have shared their story before international instances, such as the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED), embassies and authorities.
According to the Concluding Observations on the additional information submitted by Mexico under article 29(4) of the Convention of the CED, there is no updated information regarding the current number of sentences at a national level; the last information provided by the State to the CED was of 11 sentences from January 2010 to November 2021 at a Federal level, and 36 in the whole country. This means that the sentence in the case of Guadalupe contributes to the access to justice in disappearance cases in the context of crisis that records more than 116,000 disappearances in the country.
Signatories:
Servicios y Asesoría para la Paz, Serapaz
Front Line Defenders
Plataforma por la paz y la justicia en Guanajuato
Centro Prodh
