Human rights defender and president of the Human and Labour Rights Commission of Tehuacán Valley (Comisión de Derechos Humanos y Laborales del Valle de Tehuacán), Martín Barrios Hernández, is being detained in the city of Puebla in southern Mexico on apparently fabricated criminal charges of committing blackmail. The state authorities have reportedly attempted to coerce him into agreeing to curtail his human rights work in exchange for his early release.
