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As the 2026 FIFA World Cup edges closer, activists in Mexico are turning the global spotlight on corporate complicity in human rights abuses. Protesters have organized rallies targeting Hyundai, the South Korean automaker, over its business ties to Ternium, a major steel and iron ore producer whose mining operations in Mexico have become a flashpoint for violence and forced disappearances.
The campaign centers on the fate of two community leaders, Indigenous leader Antonio Díaz and attorney Ricardo Lagunes, who vanished in January 2023 after attending a community meeting opposing Ternium’s Aquila iron ore mine in the state of Michoacán. They haven’t been seen since.
The supply chain under scrutiny
Hyundai has been identified as a downstream buyer of steel sourced from Ternium, which means the automaker sits at the end of a supply chain that begins in a region plagued by violence and enforced disappearances. Activists are calling on Hyundai to conduct a thorough assessment of that supply chain, arguing that purchasing from Ternium effectively subsidizes operations tied to human rights abuses.
Ternium, for its part, has denied complicity in the violence surrounding the disappearances of Díaz and Lagunes. But the company’s own regulatory filings tell a more complicated story. Ternium acknowledges that its operations carry security and community risks.
Mexico has documented over 130,000 missing persons as of 2023, a number that has ballooned since waves of violence began intensifying in the mid-2000s. Many of these cases are connected to organized crime, but a significant number involve community activists and leaders who opposed powerful economic interests. The disappearances of Díaz and Lagunes fit a grim and well-documented pattern.
Using the World Cup as a megaphone
Rallies have been organized in Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s host cities for the 2026 World Cup, with activists aiming to prevent the tournament’s spectacle from drowning out the country’s human rights crisis.
Hyundai’s involvement as a FIFA sponsor makes it a particularly effective target. The automaker benefits from the visibility that the World Cup provides, and protesters are leveraging that connection to demand accountability for enforced disappearances and to draw attention to the link between global commerce and local violence in Michoacán.
What this means for investors
Ternium trades on the New York Stock Exchange, and its acknowledgment of security and community risks in regulatory filings means investors can’t claim ignorance. The question is whether those disclosures adequately capture the operational and legal risks that come with mining in a region where community leaders opposing its operations have disappeared.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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