"Whenever a Pasta de Conchos memorial comes up, people seek me out to speak to me and I tell them again why I collect rubbish... As if I did it for fun.  My son lived with me and was the one who sustained me... Because of the authorities, I have been working in a rubbish tip since my son died.  I leave at six in the morning after drinking a cup of coffee with biscuits.  I take a tin of tuna, tortillas or whatever I can eat in the rubbish tip... I get home in the afternoon...

From PBI we observe certain important actions from AMLO´s new government that favour the protection of human rights defenders in Mexico, however at the same time we have noted a few tendencies that concern us.  In this article we look at a few achievements and challenges for the new government and the reactions from Mexican and international civil society about the first few weeks of the MORENA government.

In this month of January 2019 we commemorate for the second year in a row the anniversary of the killings of two indigenous Rarámuri leaders in the Sierra Tarahumara in the State of Chihuahua in the North of Mexico.  Isidro Baldenegro Lóperz, killed on 15th Janurary 2017, was an environmental defender, particularly focused on illegal logging in the municipality of Guadalupe and Calvo.  For a long time his work was backed up and recognised

2018 has been a challenging year for human rights across the world.  Many of those defending human rights have been threatened, attacked and undermined, despite the celebration of 20 years of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders.  PBI remains committed to protecting the space in which human rights defenders continue their arduous work in steadfast conviction that only when this protection is truly guaranteed will peaceful and democratic societies advance across the world.