“There can be no peace in Chiapas and Mexico if there is no justice.” Father Omar Sotelo, Mexican priest and journalist, begins by thinking about the last priest killed in his country, Father Marcelo Perezand the violence suffered by churches and religious institutions throughout Mexico.
Father Omar, a Pauline priest, has been reporting and denouncing for years (despite threats) the pressures and violence that religious people, catechists and priests suffer in Mexico. In-depth research and analysis are carried out starting from Mexico City, the capital, then moving to the remote states of the great Latin American country, by the group of volunteers and collaborators who, with Father Sotelo, animate the Catholic Multimedia Center.
The assassination of Father Perez occurred in one of the poorest states in Mexico. What is the reality in Chiapas, a wonderful land, rich in natural resources, where the Zapatista army clashed with the military for years?
«The assassination of Father Macelo Pérez on Sunday 20 October in the Cuxtutali neighborhood at the end of a mass makes us see, once again, the terrible reality that the Chiapas people live through. Organized crime, paramilitarism, poverty, discrimination and marginalization are just some of the serious problems that have afflicted a state in which there has been no governability for decades.”
Broadening our gaze to the rest of the country we see that after Lopez Obrador, from October 1st, his dolphin Claudia Sheinbaum took over to lead the country, assuming full powers after the electoral victory in June. Do you think the situation can improve?
«Presidents come and go, governors come and go, and even Chiapas continues to bleed. The assassination of Father Marcelo Pérez, a great defender of indigenous rights, the first crime in the six-year term of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, is unfortunately the announcement of the continuation of a story whose path is bathed in blood.”
With his work at Catholic Multimedia Center You and your team were able to take stock of the violence against the clergy. How can we summarize this work?
«In the six-year administration (the two presidential terms are three years) of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, ten priests were killed, another ten suffered various violence. In the same administration seven bishops were threatened and attacked. One of them, Monsignor Faustino Armendáriz, the bishop of Durango, came close to dying. These figures speak for themselves.”
What is your reaction to the latest crime, that of Father Marcelo Perez?
«We cannot be indifferent in the face of such a deplorable fact as what happened in Chiapas, because they didn’t just kill a human rights fighter, they murdered a shepherd, a father, bringer of grace and blessing for those lands so affected from crime and violence.”
How should civil society and politics react?
«There is little point in asking for justice when many authorities are indifferent to these facts, or unfortunately many of these same authorities are colluding with organizations that bring death and destruction to Mexico. I repeat: there can be no peace in Chiapas and Mexico if there is no justice.”
What do you think about the future?
«In Mexico, men and women who, like Father Marcelo, gave their lives for the good of their brothers will continue to die. It’s hard to admit, they will probably criticize us for these comments, perhaps in the mañanita (the morning press conference held by the President of the Republic, ed.) will downplay episodes like this, stating instead that nothing happens here, ignoring the blood of people like Father Marcelo who soaked the mandate of the first female president. We truly want Father Perez’s murder to be the last, even if the cold and harsh reality of our country tells us that this will not be the case.”
(In the photo: Father Omar Sotelo)
