Herrera is from Michoacán and is the mother of eight children and grandmother of two stepchildren.[2] She was born c. 1949. By 2008, she had founded a business after leaving a husband whom she suspected had been unfaithful.[3] Herrera made clothes and sold gold jewelry, at first in her home state of Michoacán.[3] Her business later expanded to Guadalajara.[3]
In 2008, Herrera's sons, Raúl (19) and Jesús Salvador (24) took a trip with five colleagues to Guerrero, near Atoyac de Álvarez.[3] Her sons and their colleagues never returned.[3]
Two years later, her sons Gustavo (28) and Luís Armando (24) vanished during a work trip in eastern Veracruz.[3] She suspects her sons disappeared as a result of drug cartel violence.[4]
In 2014, Herrera founded a national network of local collectives to educate families on how to investigate disappearances.[4] She also plans conferences and gives workshops in universities on this same topic.[1]
In May 2022, Herrera met with Pope Francis.[5] In November 2022, Herrera sued the Mexican State in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Washington, for its failure to investigate her sons' disappearance .[4] In April 2023, she was included on the Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world for her activism.[4]
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