Overview
- State prosecutors say Andrés “N” was arrested after investigators concluded he offered his 12‑year‑old Tzotzil daughter for 25,000 pesos and forced her into nearly a month of cohabitation with an adult.
- The Fiscalía has formalized charges and will seek an aggravated sentence of up to 30 years in prison for the father under the new offense.
- Authorities report the girl was rescued and that the adult who received her will also be presented to judicial authorities and face legal action.
- Chiapas reformed its Penal Code earlier this year to criminalize forced cohabitation of people under 18 with base penalties of 8–15 years and higher sanctions when the victim is indigenous or Afro‑Mexican.
- Officials frame the case as a zero‑impunity enforcement of children’s rights that challenges informal local practices used to justify forced unions and signals closer scrutiny of such arrangements going forward.