Killing of Samir Flores Soberanes

Samir Flores Soberanes (2 August 1982 – 20 February 2019) was a Mexican environmental activist, community leader, and community radio host from Amilcingo, in the municipality of Temoac, Morelos. Born into a farming family, he studied computer science and completed one year of law school. He was married to Liliana Velázquez, with whom he had four children.

Flores Soberanes became a prominent critic of the Proyecto Integral Morelos (PIM), a federal infrastructure initiative formalized in 2012 that included the construction of two thermoelectric power plants in Huexca, Yecapixtla, a gas pipeline through Tlaxcala, Puebla, and Morelos, an electrical transmission line, and an aqueduct in Cuautla. In 2013 he founded the community radio station Amiltzinko, through which he discussed the project and amplified local opposition. He was a member of the Permanent Assembly of the People of Morelos and the National Indigenous Congress, and he opposed efforts to privatize communal lands in his community.

In the days before his death, Flores Soberanes took part in protests against President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had scheduled a public consultation for 23–24 February 2019 on the future of the project. On 19 February 2019, he attended an informational assembly in Jonacatepec led by Hugo Eric Flores Cervantes, the federal government's delegate in Morelos, where he publicly challenged the government's information and accused officials of promoting disinformation. Witnesses saw him arguing with Flores Cervantes and other officials. Early the next morning, around 5:30 a.m. on 20 February 2019, Flores Soberanes was shot and killed outside his home by three unidentified individuals.

The Morelos state attorney's office declined to investigate his opposition to the PIM as a potential motive. Authorities identified three potential suspects, and in October 2021 one was arrested in Cuautla in connection with the case. The Morelos Attorney General's Office, led by Uriel Carmona, reported efforts to execute arrest warrants for the remaining suspects. Governor Cuauhtémoc Blanco stated that Carmona knew the identity of the killers but would not disclose it out of fear, citing the involvement of many people. A separate line of investigation pursued by independent groups identified four suspects allegedly linked to a criminal group reportedly connected to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and to the mother-in-law of Temoac's municipal president. As of February 2025, the case remained under investigation; the person arrested in 2021 was reported to have been acquitted in March 2026, one suspect was reported killed, and another disappeared.

Following the killing, the Frente de Pueblos en Defensa del Agua y la Tierra called for investigations into several officials and the former governor of Morelos over alleged involvement, and Indigenous and Zapatista organizations condemned the killing. President López Obrador called the murder "vile and cowardly" and said the consultation would proceed. Flores Cervantes denied any involvement. A school in Amilcingo was renamed in Flores Soberanes's memory in August 2019, and memorial busts have since been installed in Amilcingo, Mexico City, and elsewhere.