Minnesota removes director of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office
Guadalupe Lopez was terminated less than a year after appointment
Minnesota has terminated Guadalupe Lopez as director of the state’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office less than a year after her appointment, according to MPR News. Lopez said Thursday she was “shocked” by the decision, which came one day after she participated in a National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Day ceremony in Minneapolis. State officials confirmed Lopez’s departure but did not provide a reason for the termination.
Lopez, an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, told MPR News she was informed she had made “some poor leadership decisions.” She said she believed her leadership style and advocacy did not align well within state government systems. The office was established in 2021 to address violence and missing-person cases affecting Indigenous communities in Minnesota. Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said Office of Justice Programs Executive Director Kim Babine will serve as interim director with support from Tribal Relations Director Juliet Rudie.
- 1.Andrew Krueger, Cathy Wurzer and Gracie Stockton. MPR News, .
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