Uncontrolled violence has stolen peace; children are not going out to play, warns the Church

Elio Henriquez

Correspondent

The newspaper La Jornada
Saturday, August 3, 2024, p. 4

San Cristóbal de Las Casas, Chis., The Catholic parishes of Pantelhó and Chenalhó expressed their Concern over the uncontrolled violence shown in blockades, continuous shootings and clashes, which have caused the displacement of communities and the death of innocent people in those municipalities.

They added that Communities have lost their daily peace due to fear of gunshots; children live in fear, not understanding why they have to leave their homes to seek refuge in the mountains or elsewhere (they cannot go out to play); and their parents do not go to work for fear of being mistaken and hit by a bullet..

In a document, they highlighted the pain of the suffering people and the indignation at the ungovernability that we are experiencing in the state and the minimization that President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has made in the face of the violence that has gone viral in these municipalities.

They said they didn’t understand In whose hands is the fight against organized crime, since we see that criminals are becoming stronger every day in the presence of the military and the National Guard, or are they protected by them? And because those in charge of our security, state and municipal, are suspected of their complicity with said criminals..

The two parishes, belonging to the diocese of San Cristóbal, demanded that the authorities of the three levels of government respect and defense of the economic, social and cultural rights of communities suffering from the invasion of organized crime.