The Pro Center denies that the request to review the security plan is to resume the previous ones

Jessica Xantomila and Nestor Jimenez

Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, June 29, 2022, p. eleven

The criticism from Jesuits and organizations regarding the issue of security, after the murder of the two priests in Cerocahui, in the state of Chihuahua, is not a longing for a return to the confrontations and strategies of the past, but rather an attempt to stop and recognize that things are not going well in this matter, said Santiago Aguirre Espinosa, director of the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (Pro Center), which is accompanying the case in legal terms.

The assassination of Javier Campos Morales and Joaquín Mora Salazar, he said, has been a hit very hard for the Society of Jesus, and before which, he recalled, the Jesuit provincial has recognized that there is a prompt response from the authorities with a deployment in the area. However, she asserted that it is not enough to guarantee that there is no impunity, since the person responsible is still at large.

He pointed out that the murder of the two priests was not due to a singular event, but rather is the result of an expression of broader criminal networks that have not been dismantled, that have been strengthening in recent years, benefiting from oblivion in this region for decades.

“As both the Provincial Father (Luis Gerardo Moro) and Father Duck (Javier Ávila Aguirre), we have to recognize that we are not doing well in security, and that does not mean that we forget that we were not good in the past either,” he said in an interview.

Inefficiency of the FGR

Aguirre insisted that Undoubtedly, we all have in our memory that the dramatic increase in homicide rates occurred in Calderonism, that the policies of Peña Nieto’s previous six-year term were not effective, but we have to recognize that neither is the public policy promoted by this administration, in particular the strong emphasis on militarization, neglect of local police and tolerance of the ineffectiveness of the Attorney General’s Office.

He also regretted that the security strategy is excessively centralized, which leaves local authorities to one side.

He mentioned that the Provincial Father was very emphatic in insisting that the Society of Jesus does not want to contribute to the polarization to criticize the current or previous governments.

Meanwhile, the Jesuits are also reflecting on their role in this context, and define what will be the call they will make, because they are clear about the responsibility of the moment and they do not want a problem that is deep and multifactorial to be exhausted in politicking and in the use of violence as a throwing weapon between the parties, which is what that we have had in recent years in Mexico.

At the same time, dialogue with society, churches, academia, businessmen, security specialists and with indigenous communities is essential. The openness to listen to other voices is also being lacking, because anyone who points out that the strategy is not giving the expected result is immediately stigmatized as an opponent or critic, and this is causing the wealth that there is in the country of perspective on the violence.

It is worrying, he indicated, that instead of opening up to talks, all public debate is focused on the succession of 2024 and what is next at the electoral level.