Comité Cerezo México

Comité Cerezo México (CCM) is a Mexican human rights organization based in Mexico City. It was founded on 13 August 2001 as a solidarity and volunteer collective by family members and friends following the arbitrary detention, torture and imprisonment of brothers Alejandro, Héctor and Antonio Cerezo Contreras, together with Pablo Alvarado Flores. The four had been accused of placing three explosive devices at different banks in Mexico City and were charged with terrorism, organized crime, possession of cartridges, weapons stockpiling, damage to property and modification of artifacts — charges later attributed to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias del Pueblo. After securing the release of the four, the organization consolidated itself to document, defend and promote human rights. The Committee's stated objectives include working for the freedom of the Cerezo Contreras brothers — sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and transferred to the high-security prisons of Puente Grande and Matamoros — and of Pablo Alvarado, an Indigenous Nahuatl man held at the high-security La Palma prison and sentenced to five years. It also seeks to support the freedom of all political and conscience prisoners in the country and to document and publish an annual report on political and conscience prisoners in Mexico. It defends and promotes human rights through training workshops, including a human rights monitors workshop and a case documentation workshop aimed at state Cerezo Committees, social organizations, victims of human rights violations and their relatives. The organization's education area organizes, plans and schedules workshops for the training and strengthening of human rights defenders, and is responsible for systematizing them and producing the necessary materials. Its goals include broadening defenders' knowledge of human rights as a tool of struggle, creating awareness of the importance of documentation, and providing the knowledge and tools needed to document human rights violation cases independently. Over its history the Committee has maintained a permanent monitoring role, presenting annual reports on attacks, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearance and arbitrary detentions against human rights defenders in Mexico. After having seven Cerezo Committees in different states, currently only one Comité Cerezo México exists, with its seat in Mexico City. The collective continues to accompany victims of forced disappearance and other violations, participating in public mobilizations such as the march for the 12 years of the Ayotzinapa case, and maintains campaigns including the National Campaign against Forced Disappearance and #Terrorismo de Estado (2010–2026).

Comité Cerezo México was born on 13 August 2001 as a solidarity and volunteer collective created by family members and friends after the arbitrary detention, torture and imprisonment of brothers Alejandro, Héctor and Antonio Cerezo Contreras, along with Pablo Alvarado Flores. The four were accused of having placed three explosives at different banks in Mexico City. They were charged with terrorism, organized crime, possession of cartridges, weapons stockpiling, damage to property and modification of artifacts — crimes that were later attributed to the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias del Pueblo. The Cerezo Contreras brothers were sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and transferred to the high-security prisons of Puente Grande and Matamoros, while Pablo Alvarado, an Indigenous Nahuatl man, was held at the high-security La Palma prison with a five-year sentence. The initial purpose of the collective was to secure the release of the four detainees. After achieving their freedom, the organization consolidated itself to document, defend and promote human rights. It adopted a permanent monitoring role, presenting an annual report on attacks, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearance and arbitrary detentions against human rights defenders in Mexico. It also expanded its objectives to support the liberation of all political and conscience prisoners in the country and to publish an annual report on political and conscience prisoners in Mexico. Over time the Committee developed a training dimension. Its education area organizes, plans and schedules workshops for the formation and strengthening of human rights defenders, and is responsible for systematizing these workshops and producing the necessary materials. Two central workshops are the human rights monitors workshop, aimed at state Cerezo Committees, social organizations, victims of human rights violations and their relatives so they can draft urgent actions, and the case documentation workshop, which equips participants to document their own cases and seek acceptance by national and international NGOs. At its peak the organization had seven Cerezo Committees in different states. Currently only one Comité Cerezo México exists, with its seat in Mexico City. The collective has remained active in public advocacy, participating in mobilizations such as the march for the 12 years of the Ayotzinapa case and maintaining campaigns including the National Campaign against Forced Disappearance and #Terrorismo de Estado (2010–2026). In September 2026 it gathered in Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Querétaro, to reaffirm its opposition to forced disappearance, with member Perla Santos stressing that the right to be searched for is not recognized in law.

• Comité Cerezo México is founded as a solidarity and volunteer collective by family members and friends after the arbitrary detention, torture and imprisonment of the Cerezo Contreras brothers and Pablo Alvarado Flores.

• The four detainees are accused of placing three explosives at different banks in Mexico City and charged with terrorism, organized crime, possession of cartridges, weapons stockpiling, damage to property and modification of artifacts.

• After securing the freedom of the four, the organization consolidates to document, defend and promote human rights.

• The organization expands to seven Cerezo Committees in different states before reducing to a single Comité Cerezo México based in Mexico City.

• The #Terrorismo de Estado campaign begins, running through 2026.

• The collective gathers in Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Querétaro, to reaffirm its opposition to forced disappearance and calls for recognition of the right to be searched for.

A grassroots, collective human rights organization born from a case of arbitrary detention, focused on political prisoners, forced disappearance and the defense of human rights defenders in Mexico.

• Annual report on political and conscience prisoners in Mexico

  A yearly publication documenting political and conscience prisoners in the country.

• Annual report on attacks, extrajudicial executions, forced disappearance and arbitrary detentions against human rights defenders

  A permanent monitoring report on violations against human rights defenders in Mexico.

• Human rights monitors workshop

  Training for state Cerezo Committees, social organizations, victims and relatives to draft urgent actions on human rights violations.

• Case documentation workshop

  Training to document one's own case and seek acceptance by national and international NGOs.

1. 1Comité Cerezo México - Organización de Derechos Humanoscomitecerezo.org
2. 2Comité Cerezo México - Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Comité Cerezo - Wikipedia (Spanish)es.wikipedia.org