An assassination with worldwide repercussions. However, the death of Father Marcelo Pérez, killed on Sunday October 20, in Chiapas, in southern Mexico, is far from being an isolated case. The facade adjoining the Sagrada Familia church in Mexico City is decorated with a colorful fresco. In the center of the painting, two men, gray hair, visible wrinkles. One wears glasses, the other a straw hat. “They are Fathers Javier Campos and Joaquin Mora”describes Gonzalo Rosas, the parish priest.
Inaugurated this year, the fresco pays tribute to these two Jesuits, killed in 2022 in Cerocahui, a village in the state of Chihuahua, in northern Mexico. “A tourist guide was pursued by an armed group, he found refuge in the church of Fathers Javier and Joaquin. The killer ultimately murdered all three of them,” he summarizes, his gaze lost.
The Catholic Multimedia Center, a Catholic news agency, has documented nearly 80 assassinations of priests in the country since 1990. “Mexico is neck and neck with Colombia, the most violent country in Latin America towards clerics”assures Salvador Maldonado Aranda, professor of anthropology, specializing in subjects related to violence at the University of Michoacan. This state in western Mexico is popular territory for cartels to the detriment of the population, who are regularly targeted.
Priests and activists
“When an emergency situation arises, state systems do not react quickly enoughdeplores the academic. The priests are already there. They do a painstaking job. They help residents on a daily basis, they listen and collect testimonies. This is why today vulnerable populations turn first to their parish priest. »
In Michoacan, as in other Mexican states, many priests have made their churches available to populations forcibly displaced by the cartels. “The work of priests in these areas goes beyond the religious mission, explain Salvador Maldonado Aranda. Often, they end up switching to the side of activism. They feel the frustration of populations who feel abandoned, so they mobilize and openly call on institutions to respond more quickly. They become references, and that does not please the armed groups, because they highlight what should not be done. They are disturbing. »
Targets of armed groups
“On October 17, 2023, I was in the car, says Father José Filiberto Velazquez, when a motorbike came up to me. There were two of them. While the first was driving, the second fired several shots in my direction. » By a miracle, this priest based in Chilpancingo, capital of the state of Guerrero, in southwest Mexico, emerged unscathed. Since then, he no longer goes out without an escort. “Father Marcelo Pérez should have had one, too. He would still be here today.”he sighs. Like the murdered priest on Sunday October 20, José Filiberto Velazquez claims his double role: man of the Church and activist: “Six years ago, when I arrived in Chilpancingo, I founded a human rights organization. »
Named “Minerva Bello”, the center welcomes relatives of missing, displaced or killed people. “My work as a religious and my commitment to Minerva Bello led me to serve as a mediator between organized crime groups and the State”explains the priest. A dangerous role, making him a prime target for cartels. Since the double assassination of Fathers Javier Campos and Joaquin Mora, in 2022, a “national dialogue for peace” emerged in an attempt to limit violence against clerics.
But locally, solutions are still awaited, and the lives of priests hang by a thread. “Several times I was suggested to leave Chilpancingo, to flee Guerreroadmitted José Filiberto Velazquez. But I’m still here. As long as there is work, I will continue to fight. »
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The Church demands justice for Father Marcelo Pérez
The Catholic Church in Mexico has called on the authorities for a total end to violence and corruption in Chiapas, following the assassination on Sunday, October 20, of indigenous priest and human rights defender Marcelo Pérez. “We demand from all three levels of government a total end to the violence plaguing our state, the result of impunity, complicity and corruption”wrote in a statement the diocese of San Cristóbal de las Casas, to which the 51-year-old priest belonged. In its statement addressed to the government and civil society, the diocese also called for the crime to be elucidated “until we arrive at the true intellectual and material authors”.