Erik Saracho, director of the Jaguar Alliance, survived an armed attack at his home in the Mexican state of Nayarit on March 11. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, he recounted greeting the hitman with 'good morning' before the assailant opened fire. The event coincided with the release of a report documenting violence against environmental activists.
Erik Saracho, an environmentalist and journalist dedicated to protecting jaguars, described the attack during a press conference hosted by the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA). 'I told the hitman 'good morning',' he recalled, 'and at that moment he opened fire with a pistol.' Saracho activated a panic button provided by the federal government due to prior threats, but waited over 25 minutes for medical assistance that saved his life. The state prosecutor's office released video footage of the incident and announced a reward of 100,000 pesos for information leading to the attacker. The Jaguar Alliance condemned the assault in a social media statement, calling for an 'immediate, exhaustive, and transparent investigation' and describing Saracho as an 'inconvenient target' for his environmental work. CEMDA's report detailed 10 killings of activists in Mexico in 2025, along with 135 other aggressions including stigmatization, defamation, robbery, and surveillance. Gustavo Alanis, CEMDA's executive director, stated that the Mexican state was 'the primary perpetrator of aggressions' in 76 cases involving federal, state, and municipal authorities, though no state agents were linked to the homicides. Over the past decade, CEMDA has recorded 199 murders of environmentalists defending natural resources.
