Baja California’s State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) flatly refused to allocate budget funds for compensating human rights victims, the state Human Rights Commission (CEDHBC) told legislators on April 17 in Mexicali.
While the state government and all seven of Baja California’s municipalities agreed to include victim compensation line items in their 2026 budgets, the FGE was the only institution to reject the request. The disclosure came during a session with state lawmakers where the CEDHBC’s ombudsperson presented the commission’s findings on institutional compliance.
Nine Recommendations Against FGE This Administration
The commission has issued nine human rights violation recommendations against the FGE under the current state administration. Two of those cases are tied to failures in protecting women who were later killed, according to the CEDHBC presentation.
One case involved a woman in Mexicali who repeatedly sought protection orders against the man who eventually killed her. In a separate case, a dentist in Tijuana was murdered after the FGE failed to act on warnings. In both instances, the commission found the attorney general’s office had not taken adequate steps to prevent the killings.
The FGE is the state agency responsible for criminal investigations and prosecutions across Baja California. It is the office residents, including foreign nationals, must deal with when reporting serious crimes such as assault, robbery, or threats.
Commission Proposes Financial Penalties and National Registry
Without a dedicated budget line for compensation, the human rights commission’s recommendations carry no enforcement mechanism. The CEDHBC told lawmakers that this gap leaves victims and their families with no clear path to restitution, even after the state formally acknowledges wrongdoing.
To address this, the commission proposed two reforms during the legislative session. First, it called for financial penalties applied directly against individual public officials found responsible for human rights violations, rather than against the institution as a whole. Second, the CEDHBC proposed a national registry that would bar proven human rights violators from holding public office in the future.
The state government and all seven municipalities, including Tijuana, Mexicali, Ensenada, Tecate, Playas de Rosarito, San Quintín, and San Felipe, have agreed to include the compensation budget lines for 2026. The FGE’s refusal puts it in direct conflict with the rest of Baja California’s public institutions on the issue.
The CEDHBC’s presentation to legislators was first reported by Punto Norte on April 17.