Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi, bishop emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas and responsible for the Doctrine of Faith at the Conference of the Mexican Episcopate (CEM), offers Exaudi readers his weekly article titled “Truths and Half-Truths”.
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LOOK
In the debates before the elections on June 2, we heard truths and half-truths. For example, it is said that we have improved in the country. That is true in some ways, but in others, we are very bad. Those who only highlight current achievements do not want to recognize this. Indeed, the progress achieved in some areas cannot be denied, but these are not the achievement of a single six-year term or a party, but of many factors that have come together, especially the work of the Mexicans themselves, in addition to the efforts of the government in power.
I was in Chiapas from 1991 to 2018, a State with high rates of marginalization and poverty, even extreme, particularly in indigenous areas. But since those years, especially as a result of the Zapatista uprising and with different parties in federal and state power, I witnessed that roads were improved, and new ones were made, electricity reached almost all communities, even in the jungle. More populations were provided with health clinics and schools, also with universities for indigenous people. Many houses, which were previously made of slabs or wood, were transformed with other more solid materials, also with at least piped water. Many indigenous women have increasingly attended universities, some with doctorates and other specialties, as they are very capable and intelligent. All of this, certainly, has been achieved with various government supports in the different six-year terms, and cannot be attributed to a single party. Government social programs have existed for years, although with different names and nuances, and they will continue, no matter who wins. This progress, however, is due above all to so many hard-working people. Many have emigrated within the country or abroad, and their remittances have greatly contributed to social progress. These data, like many others, can help discern the truth and half-truths in political contests.
In my region, where every weekend I share the joys and sorrows of our people, it seems that everything is at peace and that the elections can be held without fear. The candidates for municipal presidencies and councils have begun to run their campaigns without incident. This is only half the truth, because the complete truth is that organized crime is what decides who competes, for example, for municipal president. The designation of candidates does not depend on the acceptance that a person enjoys, nor on the influence in their party, but on the armed group that dominates the region. If you win, you owe your victory to them. If they lose, the winner must negotiate with them. Otherwise, they do not let him govern or threaten him if he does not agree to their demands. The criminals have ordered the removal of all the surveillance cameras that the neighbors had in their homes, so that there is no record. These are not inventions, but truths that we are experiencing in many places in the country. When the National Guard or the Army pass by, the report they give to their bosses is that everything is calm, without incident; and those are the rigged data that reaches the President. For this reason, he affirms that we are doing very well and that the country is calm. It is not true.
DISCERN
The Mexican bishops, in our Global Pastoral Project 2031+2033, when analyzing the national reality, highlight progress, but also deficiencies, and we do not attribute them only to a government or a party, but rather we are all responsible:
We recognize and thank God because our country has been moving little by little, with important advances and great efforts, towards a more flourishing and generous country for its children. There are very significant advances that reflect the work that many sectors are doing to update the human gaps that exist and offer the next generations a more prosperous and fair country. Of course, we cannot be satisfied with the progress that has been made so far, because we are very far from this new stage having brought well-being, security, peace, justice and equity to the majority of our people. There are millions of poor people who continue to cry out for what is necessary to eat decently, to have a quality education, decent housing, a stable job with sufficient salary and social security that allows them to live their daily lives without anguish.
It is necessary to recognize that, to a different extent, all citizens are responsible for this situation we are experiencing. It is undeniable that there are people who have a greater responsibility for this, because they have taken advantage of public positions, politicians or immoral influences to enrich themselves scandalously, leaving a large number of citizens in poverty and under inhuman conditions. Mexicans, as a society as a whole, have not known how to get involved responsibly in the destiny of our country, and we have often left the development of our country in dishonest hands and unscrupulous people (43-44).
ACT
Let us know how to analyze the positive and negative of reality and of successive governments, so as not to blindly cast our vote for whoever currently gives us the most money, but for those who have the capacity and experience to continue improving our country in every way. The present and the future largely depend on our free and reasoned vote. Let us encourage ourselves, supported by prayer and personal and family responsibility.
