Four People Arrested In Guadalajara Fare Hike Protest Released
This article originally appeared in the January 12, 2026 edition of Desinformémonos.
Editor’s note: Pablo Lemus Navarro is the Governor of Jalisco, from the neoliberal Movimiento Ciudadano party, and a former President of the Jalisco branch of COPARMEX, the notorious bosses’ “union” which provides organizational backing and coordination for Mexico’s ultra-right.
Mexico City. Four men arbitrarily detained by Jalisco police on January 10th following a protest in Guadalajara against the public transportation fare increase approved by the government of Pablo Lemus have been released.
Groups and organizations denounced the arrests as illegal deprivations of liberty and “kidnappings to intimidate those who want to participate in future marches against the fare hike,” which represents an increase in the fare from 9.50 to 14 pesos.
Despite their release on Sunday morning, the State Attorney General’s Office assured that “the investigation file will continue to be compiled to determine in due course whether or not it will be brought to court,” since the four detainees were accused of the crime against health in its form of simple possession.
The January 10th mobilization, the third organized in Guadalajara against the fare hikes, proceeded from Parque Revolución to the Government Palace without incident or violence.
When the march concluded, several state and traffic police patrols followed a group of protesters from the government building, closed traffic on Avenida Juárez to contain them, and arrested two protesters first in front of Parque Revolución and then two more near the University of Guadalajara’s Rector’s Tower.
According to the ministerial agent who handled the case, the “crime” for which they were accused “does not warrant preventive detention,” so he released the four accused.
During Saturday’s march, more than a thousand people protested to demand that the governor of Jalisco reverse his decision to increase public transport fares, in a context where other public services such as water have also become more expensive.
The protest was attended by young people, families searching for their missing loved ones, collectives and organizations, who added to their complaint the link between the fare hike and the upcoming World Cup, which Jalisco will also host, while the security and violence crisis continues in the state.
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