On Sunday, the Mexican Catholic Church called on the Government to review its security strategy, after the murders of priests and a tourist guide, which occurred last Monday in the state of Chihuahua, and pointed out that a river of blood runs through the country by the growing violence and impunity.
Last Monday, Javier Campos Morales, 79, and Joaquín Mora Salazar, 80, tried to help and provide protection to tourist guide Pedro Palma, who entered the church fleeing from armed people, for which they were killed.
“The murder of the Jesuit priests reinforces the call to examine the security strategy in Mexico, since we are experiencing a wave of historic violence: the number of murders so far this six-year term exceeds 122,000 people,” said the Archdiocese of Mexico in its editorial of the weekly “From faith”.
The Catholic organ pointed out that the pain left by their deaths is great, “but greater is the pain of knowing that there are thousands of dead in Mexico.”
In addition, he reproduced the words of the representative in Mexico of the Society of Jesus, Luis Gerardo Moro, who on Saturday said that “the blood of Pedro, Javier and Joaquín joins the river of blood that runs through our country.”
(Graciela López/Cuartoscuro)
“We want justice and we want peace. We want a safe Mexico and we want to see an end to this shameful impunity. If in 72 hours they managed to recover the bodies of 2 priests and a layman, and make progress in the investigations, why not do this with so many and so many unpunished cases?” Moro said.
On Sunday, there was a body mass present in the community of Creel, in Chihuahua, and later the bodies of the priests were transferred to Cerocahui where they were veiled and buried in the same church where the murder occurred.
The Archdiocese of Mexico also indicated that the promise (by the authorities) to catch the murderer of these Jesuit priests “is no longer enough”, since catching a leader of organized crime will not solve the violence in Mexico.”
“We want a promise of a better future, where peace and justice reign, where impunity is null and where people can walk the streets safely,” he said.
He recalled that in their most recent message, the bishops of Mexico called for a national dialogue with the purpose of undertaking concrete actions to build this path to peace.
“We subscribe to this call: we want to work together to build bridges, leave polarization behind and rebuild the social fabric for the benefit of a better Mexico,” he concluded.
On Saturday, at the funeral mass celebrated for the death of the Jesuit priests, religious of that congregation asked the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to review his security strategy and pointed out that the country is invaded by violence.
“I respectfully ask, we ask, Mr. President of the Republic, to review your public security project, because we are not doing well, and this is a popular outcry,” said Jesuit priest Javier Ávila, community leader in Cerocahui, Chihuahua, during the mass. .
On Thursday, López Obrador promised that the murder of two Jesuit priests would be “thoroughly” investigated.
That same day, authorities from the Mexican state of Chihuahua, the National Guard and the Mexican Army apprehended, in the municipality of Urique, César Iván PP, who was identified as the cousin of José Noriel Portillo Gil, known as “El Chueco”, and who is related to with the three murders.
