Balam Rodrigo PÉREZ HERNÁNDEZ

In 2024, poet and migrants rights’ defender Balam Rodrigo Pérez Hernández continued to be subject to death threats, which began in 2018, from criminal groups in the state of Chiapas, where he lives. Pérez Hernández and his family have had to temporarily leave their home on several occasions in order to protect their lives.  

In 2024, Pérez Hernández continued to report the presence of criminal groups at cultural and literary events, mainly in Mexico and the United States, that address migration issues and the violence perpetrated by these groups, which have threatened to take action against him if he continues to write or speak about the issue. He also received anonymous comments from government-linked public officials working on cultural programmes, who wrote on the copy of the books in progress that attempted to devalue and questioned his literary work, still unpublished, in which he provides evidence of massacres of migrants.  

Balam Rodrigo Pérez Hernández, born in Villa de Comaltitlán, Soconusco, Chiapas, in 1974, is one of the most prominent and recognised poets in contemporary Mexican literature. He is the author of more than 49 volumes of poetry and a book of essays. Some of his recent literary works include: Marabunta (Editorial Arte y Literatura, Cuba, 2022), Central American Book of the Dead (FlowerSong Press, McAllen Texas, USA, 2023), Ceibario (Lengua de Barro, 2023), Iceberg negro (Black Iceberg, La Primera Vértebra, Argentina, 2024). He has been awarded numerous prizes, including Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz International Literary Competition 2012, Jaime Sabines International Poetry Prize 2014, José Emilio Pacheco National Poetry Prize 2016, Amado Nervo National Poetry Prize 2017, Tijuana National Poetry Prize 2017 and Aguascalientes Fine Arts Poetry Prize 2018. His poems, published in anthologies, magazines and newspapers in Mexico and 15 other countries, have been translated into English, French, Italian, Macedonian, Polish, Portuguese and Zapotec.