A Mexican priest, famous for his commitment to the defense of human rights, was murdered on Sunday, October 20, by armed individuals in the state of Chiapas, in southeastern Mexico, the local prosecutor’s office announced. While he had just celebrated Sunday mass in San Cristóbal de las Casas, “Two men on a motorcycle shot at their vehicle”where it was later found “the lifeless body of the priest” Marcelo Pérez said in a press release. The governor of Chiapas, Rutilio Escandón, assured that an investigation has begun “so that his death does not go unpunished”.
The priest was particularly known for his denunciation of the growing violence in the region linked to drug trafficking. Violence has intensified in the state of Chiapas due to rivalries between the Jalisco Nueva Generación and Sinaloa cartels, Mexico’s two largest criminal gangs.
In late May, nine people were killed in two attacks against candidates in the June 2 general election. In June, Mexican authorities moved more than 4,000 people who had taken refuge in their homes after several days of violence linked to organized crime in the city of Tula, about 100 kilometers north of La Concordia, to shelters.
450,000 dead in cartel-related violence
Claudia Sheinbaum, the president elected in early June, was briefly detained on April 21 by hooded men on a highway in this state where she was traveling as part of her election campaign.
According to the Insight Crime analysis center, the conflict affects the control of border towns, a key area for drug and weapons trafficking, as well as the passage of migrants who cross Mexico to reach the United States.
Violence linked to cartels has left some 450,000 dead and more than 100,000 missing since 2006 in Mexico, when the then president, Felipe Calderón (2006-2012), launched a military offensive against drug trafficking.
