The Sixtieth Civil Court of Justice of the Superior Court of Justice of Mexico City issued an agreement on January 22, 2026, ordering the restitution of possession of a property located in Cuajimalpa to the Refugio Franciscano, A.C., after its members were expelled from the land during the night and early morning of December 10-11 of last year. The resolution, signed by Judge Ana Miriam Yépez Arreola by Law, complies with a final suspension granted to the Franciscans. This suspension stems from an amparo filed against the sentence issued by the Sixtieth Civil Court of Mexico City on December 8, 2025, which ruled in favor of the Haghenbeck Foundation for possession of the land. The Haghenbeck Foundation issued a public statement on January 23, 2026, rejecting the court's ruling, calling it a “legal chicanery” intended to “unduly favor the Refugio Franciscano” in the litigation between the two parties. In its communiqué to the public, the organization denounced that the decision contradicts the court's own recent criteria. According to the Foundation, as recently as January 14, 2026, “the same judge ruled on the inadmissibility of the restitution of the fraction of the property to the Refuge,” a position that changed radically with the published agreement ordering the delivery of the property. The private assistance institution stated that this discrepancy in the authority's conduct constitutes a “serious legal irregularity” and attributed the change of criteria to factors extraneous to the law, asserting that the decision “responds to political and/or media pressures,” which violates the principles of certainty, legality, and impartiality of the Judicial Branch. Faced with this scenario, the Antonio Haghenbeck Foundation announced that it will immediately activate its legal defense, anticipating that it will “immediately file all pertinent legal defense remedies,” with the aim of safeguarding the Rule of Law and preventing what they consider the consolidation of “a precedent of impunity.” Finally, the organization made an exhortation to the Government of Mexico City and the capital's Judicial Branch to cease what they called “any attempt at simulation.” In its message, the Foundation reiterated its accusations against the Franciscans, requesting the authorities to act impartially in a conflict that, in their words, “revealed the biggest, cruelest, and most documented case of animal abuse in Mexico City, perpetrated by the so-called Refugio Franciscano.” This ruling led to last December's eviction, distinct from the operation on January 7, in which Mexico City authorities removed the dogs and cats from the place. The Refugio Franciscano filed a complaint against the eviction, after which it obtained a provisional suspension that orders the immediate restitution of possession of the site. Thus, the January 22 agreement cites that the federal order was issued “so that no act of execution of the interlocutory of December 8, 2025” is carried out and, fundamentally, so that “the complainants are immediately restored in possession of a fraction of the property on the Mexico-Toluca Highway, km 17.5.” To carry out the order, the court set the time for 12:00 PM on January 30, 2026. The proceeding must be carried out by the Clerk of the assignment, who will be responsible for drawing up the respective delivery act, starting at the property to be restored. The judicial authority warned that, in the event that the property is not returned, a fine equivalent to $20,000 pesos will be imposed “for impeding compliance with the final suspension granted.”
