“Mexico cannot accept violence as a way of life”, urged the Archdiocese of Mexico, inviting citizens to choose on June 6 the best political proposal that will help rebuild the social fabric. Through the Catholic weekly “Desde la Fe“, the Archdiocese denounced that Mexico is facing the second most violent election year in its history, recalling the previous consultations of 2018. With the elections of June 6 approaching, the number of murders and threats against candidates for office are on the rise, both at the hands of organized crime and political opponents.
The editorial of the Catholic weekly takes up data from the Secretariat for Citizen Security and Protection, according to which “from March 4 to April 30 of this year, 234 cases of threats or attacks against candidates were reported, 12 of whom were murdered”. In addition, the fourth report on political violence in Mexico 2021, prepared by the consulting firm Etellekt, “from September 2020 to May 2021, 79 politicians were murdered, 33 of them during the campaign period”. Based on these data, the editorial points out that “these figures place the current electoral process as the second most violent in history, only below the 2018 elections, in which 152 politicians lost their lives, 48 of them candidates”. “Desde la Fe” recognizes that situations of extreme violence “are highly concentrated”, however they “constitute alarm signals” that deserve to be taken into consideration and require a joint work of all the social actors to favor the family, education, and institutions.
“Choosing those options that favor the reconstruction of the social fabric will allow us to take a step forward to find the peace that our beloved Mexico, so badly needs, which refuses to accept violence as a way of life”, writes the weekly. In Mexico, the link between politics and the Church “has been very delicate”, since Church-State relations have provoked at least two major internal wars, but the Church insists on denouncing the wrong way of doing politics, seeking only personal interests or, even more serious, being an accomplice in much-discussed political actions, such as allowing the infiltration of organized crime. On Sunday, June 6, more than 90 million Mexicans will completely renew the Chamber of Deputies and 30 local parliaments, as well as 15 governors and members of 1,900 municipal councils, which is why they have been defined as the largest elections in the history of the Country. Aware of the importance of this event, the Bishops invite the national community to make the best option and participate in the vote with responsibility, committing themselves to building the future of the country.
