Lagunes and Díaz disappearance near Ternium Las Encinas mine (Mexico)
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Ricardo Lagunes Gasca and Antonio Díaz Valencia disappeared on 15 January 2023, hours after a meeting about the Las Encinas iron-ore mine of Ternium in Michoacán. They remained missing as of January 2026.
Ricardo Lagunes Gasca and Antonio Díaz Valencia; still missing as of January 2026.
Status As of January 2026: the two men remained missing; no intellectual authors named.
- Ricardo Lagunes Gasca and Antonio Díaz Valencia — Disappeared; still missing as of January 2026.
What happened
Ricardo Lagunes Gasca and Antonio Díaz Valencia disappeared on 15 January 2023 on the Colima–Michoacán border, hours after a meeting about the mine. They had opposed Ternium's Las Encinas iron-ore mine in San Miguel de Aquila, in a Nahua community.
After the disappearance the mine was halted. It restarted in July 2023. Ternium said: "We have received a request to restart our operations from the community." The company has said it "categorically rejects" any link to the disappearance.
The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances issued an urgent action and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) requested precautionary measures. A non-governmental organisation wrote to Ternium in January 2025.
No intellectual authors have been named in the sources reviewed. The men were still missing as of January 2026.
- 2023Lagunes and Díaz disappear on 15 January; the mine is halted, then restarted in July
- 2025Non-governmental organisation letter to Ternium (January)
What was said
“We have received a request to restart our operations from the community.”
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Said it categorically rejects any link.
How it looked
Shown
- Ternium said the restart followed a request from the community.Ternium · Mining Weekly
Recorded
- The two men disappeared on 15 January 2023 on the Colima–Michoacán border, hours after a meeting about the mine.
- The mine was halted after the disappearance and restarted in July 2023.
- No intellectual authors have been named; the men were still missing as of January 2026.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- ternium (2023): Said it "categorically rejects" any link to the disappearance.
- ternium (July 2023): "We have received a request to restart our operations from the community." · Mining Weekly
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.
Accounts
- Disputed Is the disappearance linked to the mine?
Record
- None on record No intellectual authors have been named.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not describe the environmental effects of the mine.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: two people were ordered to stand trial in about April 2023 as material co-authors, and one suspect was reported acquitted in March 2026.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: an OECD complaint was filed in 2025.
Did the harm stop?
The mine restarted in July 2023; the men remain missing.
Who paid?
The sources reviewed do not say.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Ternium restarts Mexico mine operations after hiatus when activists disappearedMining Weekly · 2023-07-06
Communities and civil society
- Letter to Ternium SAICAR · 2025-01
Connected cases
- Celedonio Monroy abducted in 2012 after opposing Peña Colorada mine Mexico · 2012
- Ternium (Company) — here: Operator of the Las Encinas iron-ore mine; there: member of the consortium operating the Peña Colorada mine