Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi, Bishop Emeritus of San Cristóbal de Las Casas and responsible for the Doctrine of the Faith at the Mexican Episcopal Conference (CEM), offers Exaudi readers his weekly article.

FACTS

Just over a year ago, in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, the Tsotsil priest Marcelo Pérez was murdered. Some families, who have held municipal power for years, considered him an enemy, even though the priest only sought peace and respect among Indigenous groups. His death wasn’t caused by an organized crime group, but by a hired assassin. We are all vulnerable. A bishop shared with us that he must travel with bodyguards because of the threats he has received for denouncing the injustices and abuses of criminal groups, including illegal logging.

About ten years ago, a distant nephew of mine, a poor farmer, was kidnapped and taken to the mountains of Guerrero. There, he and others were forced to plant, cultivate, and tend marijuana for a drug trafficking organization. They were treated like slaves and kept under constant gunfire to prevent escape. Months passed, and we received no information, nor were any ransom demands made for his release. Fortunately, taking advantage of a moment of inattention from his captors, he escaped and arrived home beaten and emaciated, as they had barely provided him with any food. This is how they treat young people, kidnapping them or luring them with job offers to force them to extort money and even kill. If they refuse, they are tortured and even murdered.

In our region, the armed group controls and extorts money from everyone; its members have become monstrously wealthy. You can’t buy construction materials except from those they designate and at the price they set. You can’t buy a cow, a pig, or a lamb from whomever you want, for example, to make and sell tacos, but only from the one they dictate. Everyone must pay a fee for everything they trade, from  snacks at the market or the local plaza to eggs, tortillas, and cigarettes. Farmers are required to pay an annual fee for everything they grow. Those who emigrate from the United States looking for work are charged thousands of dollars, and if they don’t pay, the group takes it out on their families. Taxi drivers are controlled by them, forced to act as lookouts, block roads, or deliver packages without knowing what they’re carrying; it could be drugs, weapons, or money; and if the police stop them, it’s the taxi drivers who end up in jail. Criminal groups are in charge, and everyone has to pay them for everything. Some local leaders also submit to them, not willingly, but under threat of death.

LIGHTNING

In our message at the end of the recent assembly, the Mexican bishops expressed:

“Priests, nuns, pastoral workers, and even some politicians seeking to change this situation have been threatened and murdered, leaving citizens powerless. We have mourned the deaths of several brother priests who gave their lives serving their communities. We grieve for all those who, seeking good, have been sacrificed.”

Our young people are being kidnapped and taken to camps of corruption or extermination, becoming one of the greatest tragedies in our society. All this

It speaks to the social degradation we have reached, which demands a profound conversion from those who have chosen evil. We make a strong appeal for personal and social conversion to achieve true transformation.

Forced migration continues. Thousands of Mexicans are forced to leave their homeland, not only in search of better opportunities, but also to flee violence. And those who migrate encounter new forms of violence along the way. Thousands of our Central American brothers and sisters, and others from different continents, cross through our territory, victims of extortion, kidnapping, trafficking, and death.

And in each of these realities, the Church is present with migrant shelters, refuges, human rights advocacy, and pastoral care. The face of the migrant is the face of Christ crucified today.

We must not dwell on cold statistics that merely describe these realities of insecurity, poverty, and injustice. These are real faces. These are broken families. These are mothers mourning their children. These are defenseless and impoverished communities. We, as pastors, cannot remain indifferent.

Migrant brothers and sisters, you who suffer violence, threats, fear, and forced displacement, know that your bishops are with you. We hear your cry, we share your anguish, we accompany your pain. And we want the witness of our martyrs to be a source of hope: they triumphed because Christ triumphed, and we too will triumph if we remain united to Him.

ACTIONS

Those of us who can approach authorities at any level, with all due prudence but also with courage, must inform them of these abuses, hoping they will do something to restore order. Let us pray for them, that God may enlighten and strengthen them.