The Secretary of the Mexican Episcopate says the Government’s Security Strategy called “hugs, not bullets” a Failure. He says crime must be met “with the use of the law.”
Newroom (09/07/2022 12:55 PM Gaudium Press) In recent days, several news reports from Mexico have shocked the Catholic world with it’s violence.
After the murder of two Jesuits in Cerocahui, Chihuahua state, on June 20, when a person seeking refuge in their church from members of organized crime, news broke from the Cardinal Archbishop of Guadalajara, Msgr. Robles Ortega, declaring that the Church must not only submit to state regulations, but also pay ‘tax’ to drug traffickers.
At the end of June, parishes in the state of Zacatecas, the Cardinal stated that “All those parishes that are in that zone, in order to be able to celebrate the feast of the patron saint, have to obtain the permission of the person in charge of the square. The person in charge of the square authorizes the priest to celebrate the feast of the patron saint, but he is compelled to share 50% of the proceeds of the feast.”
Cardinal Robles spoke of a para-state that is establishing itself in regions of Mexico: “The incident with the bishop [of Zacatecas], well we shouldn’t get used to that, but it is our daily bread. I went, last week, there in the north of the state, precisely on the border with Zacatecas. I was detained by two barricades. Obviously they are checkpoints of organized crime and they demand that you tell where you’re from, where you’re going, what your job is, what you do; that’s normal and natural.”
“That’s normal, it’s not the first time it’s happened to me. I’ve gone to these areas and these checkpoints are set up there with heavy weapons and with big guns. Two barricades on the same route. They do the same thing to everybody who goes through. What I say is why, with what authority, does an organized crime group stop you, arrest you, and investigate you. Why?”, also emphasized the Cardinal.
Mexico, a Failed State?
Mateo Calvillo, a priest of the diocese of Morelia who was assaulted in Michoacán, in southern Jalisco, in a “professional” way. The priest, who says he was not assaulted for being a priest, but for running over a dog, took advantage of the publicity to title Mexico a “bankrupt state,” in “social decomposition.””We are in anarchy,” he stated. “There is no one to protect the innocent, but rather to protect those who are involved in drug trafficking because they are also human beings.”
Episcopal Statements
The Mexican bishops, at the risk of being accused of intervening in politics, – which in this Aztec country is very complicated – asked the government for a change in security policy.
“This reality of violence hits us; Mexico is shedding the blood of so many dead and missing, among them 27 priests, including the Jesuit priests who were murdered by organized crime, thus identifying with the thousands of victims of our people who have met this end, with the tens of thousands of missing whose families continue to search,” pointed out Bishop Ramón Castro, bishop of Cuernavaca and secretary general of the episcopate.
Bishop Castro reiterated his positions: “The strategy of ‘hugs, not bullets’ is wrong,” and cited a study by the Mitofsky company where “69.9% [of people] believe that the government should confront crime with the use of the law. 62.1% think it’s wrong to protect the lives of criminals to avoid a confrontation with the military.”
Compiled by Florence MacDonald
