Naviel Pérez Pérez, a 24 year-old young man from Coatzacoalcos, who had been reported missing since the 4th of January of 2016, was found dead next to the highway, in Minatitlán. Naviel had taken part in 2015 in protests to support family members of missing young men, allegedly abducted by elements of the Civil Force.
Naviel Pérez Pérez, who lived in the community of Trópico de la Rivera, was intercepted by a group of unknown people in the same zone where he lived. They took him while he was driving a Nissan Tsuru car with licence plate YKM-2438 from the state of Veracruz. The body of Naviel Pérez Pérez was identified by his wife Cintia Granados, who stated that although she had filed a complaint, no action was taken, they sent her back home and asked her to come back in 72 hours. The body of Naviel, who had been beaten to death, was found on the side of the highway Cosoleacaque-Sayula on the morning of Saturday 9th of January.
Naviel had actively participated in protests and blocked access to Coatzacoalcos last May, after the abduction of two young men that had taken part in a football match inside the prison of Coatzacoalcos was revealed. The abducted young men were Iván Arévalo Pérez y Diego Antonio Corro Ruiz. Elements of the Civil Force allegedly made them get out of the car that they were travelling into when coming out of the match in the prison. For two days, Pérez Pérez and other young people blocked the access to Coatzacoalcos to demand that the government of Veracruz give back the young men taken by force.
The protests caused rejection from multiple sectors of the population. The president of the Public Safety Secretary himself, Arturo Bermúdez Zurita, criminalized them saying that they were linked to delinquents. The general comment of these protests was this one: those who had disappeared were members of the cartel of Los Zetas and that they had entered the prison to play football with other Zeta members imprisoned here. After the protests, the young men were given back to their family. Months after, Iván Arévalo Pérez was allegedly killed in a confrontation with the police in Coatzacoalcos.