SAN ANDRES LARRAINZAR, Mexico (AP) — Hundreds gathered Monday to mourn Catholic priest Marcelo Pérez, an activist for indigenous peoples and farm workers who was killed in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.
It was a killing that many said was a foretold tragedy, in a state where drug cartels have forced thousands of people to flee their homes.
Mourners gathered in San Andres Larrainzar, near the town of San Cristobal de las Casas, where Pérez was killed on Sunday.
Pérez, a leading activist for peace in the violence-torn state, was from San Andrés Larrainzar. A Mass was held in his honor on Monday in Spanish and Tzotzil, the indigenous language he spoke.
Pérez, 50, had often received threats but nevertheless continued to work as a peace activist. Human rights activists said Pérez was not receiving the government protection he needed.
“For years we have insisted that the Mexican government address the threats and aggression against him, but they have never taken measures to guarantee his life, safety and well-being,” wrote the Fray Bartolome de las Casas human rights center.
While there was no immediate information on the killers — President Claudia Sheinbaum said only that “investigations are being conducted” — Rev. Pérez’s peace and mediation efforts may have angered one of the two drug cartels currently battling for control of Chiapas.
The state is a lucrative route for smuggling both drugs and migrants.
“Father Marcelo Pérez was the subject of continued threats and aggression on the part of organized crime groups,” the rights center said, adding that his killing “occurred in the context of a serious escalation of violence against the public in all regions of the country. Chiapas.”
Over the past two years, the Sinaloa and Jalisco cartels have been engaged in bloody battles that have killed entire families and forced villagers to take sides in the dispute. Hundreds of Chiapas residents had to flee to neighboring Guatemala for their own safety.
“They must look for an intelligent way to disarm these groups,” said Cardinal Felipe Arizmendi, who was once bishop for the area. “They shouldn’t wait for people to file complaints, and people are going to file complaints because their lives are in danger.”
Coupled with ongoing drug violence in the northern state of Sinaloa and the killings of six migrants by the military earlier this month, Pérez’s killing was another embarrassment for the government.
Sheinbaum took office on October 1 and has pledged to follow the policy of her predecessor and mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of not confronting the drug cartels. The policy has failed to significantly reduce violence.
“This is a reflection of the entire country,” Cardinal Arizmendi said after Mass for Pérez. ‘They shouldn’t say that everything is going well in Mexico. Please.” he continued. “This strategy hasn’t worked.”
Prosecutors said Rev. Pérez was shot dead by two armed men as he sat in his van just after he finished celebrating Mass.
He served in the community for 20 years and was known as a conflict negotiator in the mountainous region of Chiapas, where crime, violence and land disputes are rife. Pérez also led several marches against violence, which earned him several death threats.
The UN Human Rights Office said Pérez was the seventh human rights defender killed in Mexico so far in 2024.
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