Nuevo Laredo, Mexico - Well-known Mexican human rights activist Raymundo Ramos was at his home near the US border last month when he began receiving dozens of texts from friends, family, and supporters – all worried about the news.
The US government had just imposed sanctions on him.
"They're giving me exposure," he told AFP, shrugging off the measures. "They're giving me an importance that I didn't think I had."
Ramos has spent decades denouncing military and police killings, leading to international outcry over abuses that he uncovered and even earning government apologies.
But the US Treasury Department has accused him of alleged ties to the Cartel del Noroeste (CDN) drug gang, saying he led a "disinformation campaign" to "discredit law enforcement actions against the cartel."
Ramos (55), who denies all the allegations, said that it is an escalation of a years-long attempt to silence his work that often criticizes Mexican forces who work closely with US allies on the border.
"I've been doing this work for 30 years," yet the authorities "still haven't succeeded in criminalizing me," said Ramos, who is based in Nuevo Laredo, in the state of Tamaulipas.
The Treasury Department says Ramos "solely advocates for violent cartel members by filing false complaints against the Mexican military, paying individuals to attend protests, and protecting the reputations of fallen or arrested" cartel members.
Raymundo Ramos campaigns for families of people killed by Mexican soldiers
In 2018, US-trained Mexican Marines were involved in the "disappearance" of at least 27 people in Nuevo Laredo, according to Mexico's National Human Rights Commission – leading the Marines to eventually offer their first ever public apology.
Ramos, who investigated and publicized the case, said, "I'm now convinced that the sanctions came out on April 16 because a documentary that denounced those enforced disappearances."
"They've tried to silence me. Why? Because the Marines special operations force receives training from the United States."
In 2023, Ramos also helped organize protests for the families of five men who were killed by Mexican soldiers in their car while out partying. Four soldiers were sentenced to over 40 years in prison for the killings.
Months later, Ramos did the same for the families of five more men who were armed when soldiers detained them. The soldiers disarmed and executed them in an act caught on security camera. Seven soldiers face trial over the killings later this year.
Ramos, head of the Committee for Human Rights of Nuevo Laredo, additionally campaigned for justice for two little girls killed by crossfire and for eight people dressed up as hitmen and executed by state police.
Mexican officials have not commented on the sanctions against Ramos – which freeze any assets Ramos has in the US and ban American citizens from working with him.
Mexico's military spied on Raymundo Ramos
In 2020, anonymous social media accounts circulated an unsourced audio of an alleged CDN gang commander calling Ramos.
Ramos said the audio was about smearing his work, adding "no Mexican authority took responsibility for that audio."
Documents have also proved that Mexico's military spied on Ramos by infecting his phone with Pegasus spyware.
Guadalupe Correa Cabrera, an academic expert on cartel violence, told AFP that the sanctions against Ramos – the first ever targeting a Mexican human rights advocate – were "really worrying, it doesn't have to do with justice."
Over 13,000 people have disappeared in Tamaulipas, according to Mexican NGOs. Government reporting in the state shows that military shootouts – and civilian killings – are the highest in Mexico.
Ramos, who has government protection due to threats against him, has accompanied victims of these abuses, connecting them with journalists and human rights organizations.
One was former Amnesty International and UN researcher Madeleine Penman, who investigated disappearances in Tamaulipas between 2015 and 2019.
"When you see the people he works with, victims of grave human rights violations, who really don't have any support, and the hard work he puts in, there's a lot to be said about the commitment he has to the cause," she said.
Penman said similar accusations against Ramos within Mexico have failed to result in arrests.
"It’s not the first time Raymundo has had allegations of links to drug cartels," she said.
Andrew Glazer, director of the documentary on the 2018 disappearances, told AFP that Ramos is accused of paying actors to fabricate allegations against the military. "In the case we examined, that is demonstrably false," he said.