Media Defence mourns the passing of Sara Mendiola Landeros, Executive Director of Propuesta Cívica, and one of Mexico’s foremost legal advocates for journalists. Mendiola died on 5 September 2026 in Mexico City, at the age of 41.
Ms Mendiola holds a law degree from the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, a human rights specialisation from UNAM, and a master’s in criminal law from INACIPE. Before joining Propuesta Cívica, she worked as academic coordinator at the Ratio Legis Institute of Studies, SC, training various state prosecutors on criminal justice reform. She has also collaborated with several law firms and the San Luis Potosí State Human Rights Commission.
She became executive director of Propuesta Cívica in May 2017. The organisation, founded in 2011, provides free legal representation and psychosocial support to victims of violence against the press and human rights defenders. Under her leadership, Propuesta Cívica took on legal representation in some of the country’s most consequential cases of violence against journalists, including that of Javier Valdez Cárdenas, the Ríodoce founder murdered in 2017, and provided legal accompaniment to the families of Miroslava Breach, Regina Martínez, María Elena Ferral, Julio Valdivia, Miguel Ángel López Velasco, and Gustavo Sánchez Cabrera.
Several of these cases resulted in criminal convictions. In October 2023, Mendiola represented the news magazine Proceso in its successful petition before the Supreme Court to be recognised as an indirect victim of Regina Martínez’s murder.
Beyond litigation, Mendiola built structures of collective support for those affected by violence against journalists. She established Tejidos Solidarios, a network of relatives of murdered and disappeared journalists, and directed public awareness initiatives such as #HistoriasQueSobreviven. She was a consistent voice for structural reform of Mexico’s prosecutorial institutions, maintaining that existing protection mechanisms were insufficient and that responsibility for safeguarding the press extended beyond journalists themselves.
We last met her last year at our Litigation Surgery in Costa Rica, organised in partnership with the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR). On that occasion, she said: “In Mexico, the deadliest country for the Press, it’s becoming increasingly important for civil society organisations to defend freedom of expression, defend the press and defend journalists”.
Tributes have followed from across the sector. Sergio Aguayo, president of Propuesta Cívica, described her as a sophisticated lawyer who confronted risk with prudence, and said her death had taken something from the organisation itself. The Committee to Protect Journalists credited her work as fundamental to securing justice for journalists victimised by violence in Mexico, and the Centro Prodh recognised her dedication to exposing violence against the press.
Ms Mendiola’s death is a significant loss for press freedom advocacy in Mexico, a country where journalists continue to face among the highest rates of violence and impunity in the world. Media Defence extends its condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues at Propuesta Cívica, and reaffirms its commitment to standing with those who carry this work forward.
