The director of Minnesota’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office has been terminated less than a year after being appointed to the position.
Guadalupe Lopez told MPR News on Thursday morning that she was “shocked” by the move, which happened the previous day. Her departure from the state office on Wednesday came just one day after she took part in a ceremony marking National Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Day.
State officials confirmed Lopez’s departure, but said they could not comment on the reason for it.
Lopez said she was told she had “made some poor leadership decisions.” But she told MPR that she did not think her leadership style and advocacy worked well within state government.
“I think that it is hard for an Indigenous person to be in state systems. The cultural competency definitely wasn’t there,” she said.
“It doesn’t give leeway for humanness,” Lopez said of her experience within state government. “Not everything is going to be cookie-cutter.”
Lopez started in the role last summer after serving four years as the executive director of Violence Free Minnesota and with years of prior work in the field. She is an enrolled member of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe.
“I know my work ... like the back of my hand, the understanding of missing and murdered, of sex trafficking, of domestic and sexual violence — but what I didn’t understand was how to do that in the state,” she told MPR on Thursday. “And that’s, I think, what was my downfall, is not how to play nice within (the) state, or do it appropriately, or be the yes person. That’s my opinion.”
When asked if she thought — as the third person to helm the office since its 2021 inception —the position was set up for success, Lopez said, "I can't speak for the other people, but I will speak for myself. And no. No, it wasn't."
In a statement on Lopez’s departure, state Department of Public Safety Commissioner Bob Jacobson said “our dedication to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives Office continues, as does our commitment to the Indigenous community.”
When her appointment was announced last summer, Jacobson applauded Lopez’s work with families and relationships with law enforcement. “I have no doubt she will lead with the same clarity, compassion and strength that have defined her career," his statement in August read.
Jacobson said Office of Justice Programs Executive Director Kim Babine will lead the MMIR Office on an interim basis, with support from former MMIR Office Director Juliet Rudie.